On Tuesday, Michelle returned to Colorado for her second visit in October, this time traveling south to Colorado Springs, where she spoke to around 2,500 people about the election and the importance of early voting.

Before the event started, Michelle shook hands with the 300 people who listened to the event outside after the auditorium filled up. During her speech, Michelle expressed her delight at retuning to Colorado at the end of the campaign. She said:

It has been 21 months and I can probably count down the hours. We have seven more days and once we get through this day, we’ll be almost done, it will be six! This journey has been wonderful for the Obama family — we have seen so much. And I have been traveling around even more this week, because we’re in the final days. But it is good to come back to the states that have given us so much. Colorado is really one of those states — you guys have been amazing.

Michelle talked about the incredible sacrifice of the military members and families in the Springs. She said:

Our hearts go out as I think about all of our troops our men and women who are away today and fighting and taking care of this nation across the seas. But it also reminds me that we cannot forget the loved ones left at home. Whether you are a parent or a child or a grand parent, we have to remember that when our troops go to war our families go with them, which means that we have to make sure that they come home to families that have been cared for.

That is one of the reasons that the conversations that I have been having with military families all across this country has meant so much to me — it has opened my eyes to the challenges that you uniquely face. And I know that once this nation understands more about those challenges we will be unified around solutions around answers around discussions to make your sacrifice not so hard.

Today is the last day to vote early in Colorado. You can find your early vote location here.

(Cross-POsted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

Last night, we traveled back up to Colorado Springs once again — this time to attend the only Fifth Congressional District debate of the election season where Congressman Doug Lamborn would be present. Mind you, there have been several other opportunities to debate over the past few months; however, Doug Lamborn has always been too busy until now to show up and talk about the issues with the Democratic nominee, Hal Bidlack.

Indeed, Lamborn indicated to Bidlack earlier this month that he would only be willing to do one debate — on the eve of the election, after over half of the voters had already voted. Oh, yes, and that debate had to be sponsored by the “Republican Club of Falcon.” For the uninitiated, the Republican Club of Falcon is informally known as the “Lamborn wing” of the El Paso County Republicans.

But Hal Bidlack is a good sport, and he’s serious when he says he’ll debate Doug Lamborn any place, any time. So he jumped on the offer.

Last night, though, the Republican Club of Falcon looked a lot more like a Democratic hangout.

At Sand Creek High School — in the northeast portion of Colorado Springs (the “conservative” part of El Paso County) — a casual observer might have mistaken Hal Bidlack as being the “home team” at this Republican Club of Falcon debate. By the end of the debate, it was clear that at least 75% — a count I heard from several people — of the crowd was cheering for Hal Bidlack, not Doug Lamborn.

Congressman Lamborn looked a lot like Sarah Palin up there — almost entirely reading from prepared notes, and nervously hoping just to not screw up. His debate performances in 2006 became legendary, even to the point where a widely-circulated video of him telling an audience member to “Shut Up” was featured in Jay Fawcett’s television ads. Indeed, discussing the issues has never been a strong suit for Lamborn, and it wasn’t last night either.

The first five questions were scripted. All three candidates (Constitution Party candidate Brian Scott was also present) were given the questions beforehand by the Republican Club of Falcon. What was interesting was that apparently Marilyn Musgrave would also fit right into the GOP Club of Falcon. Of the five issues that were thought to be the most important — so important that they required pre-written questions — two of those five most important issues were abortion and gay marriage. Left off the list of the five most important issues to Republicans in Falcon? Education. Health care. Social Security. The Environment.

Even though I had a lovely Lamborn supporter over my left shoulder who insisted on muttering comments to every single thing Hal Bidlack said, he shined. And Lamborn? Eh, not so much. For instance, he may be the only person left in America who thinks we can drill ourselves out of the energy crisis: “I strongly disagree with those who say we cannot drill our way out of this problem.” Really? Really?

Lamborn’s only saving grace is that he wasn’t necessarily the strangest duck on the stage. No, Constitution Party candidate Brian Scott strove for that honor. He indicated that he would set up a Congressional office in Baghdad to work on ending the war in Iraq single-handedly. And he was clear: “I won’t vote on legislation; I won’t sponsor legislation; I won’t caucus. I’ll be camped out in Baghdad. I recognize this is an abdication of many of the core responsibilities as a congressman.” And before you get too comfortable with the fact that he’s got an anti-Iraq War position, remember that he also made it clear that he supports outlawing abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.

But Scott was a sideshow to the main event. Lamborn versus Bidlack. And Lamborn continued to show the pettiness that makes him one of the least-liked Republican leaders in Colorado. Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack has proven himself as a servant of his country. He has served as an ICBM launch officer; he’s worked in the State Department; he was literally in the Pentagon on 9/11 when the airplane crashed into the building. And he’s taught Constitutional law at the Air Force Academy. How did Congressman Lamborn address Lt. Col. Bidlack? Every time his name was mentioned, Lamborn — with a sneer — referred to him as “Professor” Bidlack. It amazes me that someone with such disrespect for the military service of an opponent represents such a heavily military-based district.

The zingers of the evening, though, were exclusively Bidlack’s. He received huge cheers when, in response to a question about gay marriage, he said, “I’m troubled by this notion of the right wing Republicans that we want as limited a government as possible, except for reading your e-mail and except for in your bedroom!” After Congressman Lamborn spent a great deal of time talking about his work to bring a veterans cemetary to the region, Bidlack calmly praised that work, but then said that he felt we needed to focus more on supporting veterans while they are alive, too. Another resounding round of applause.

One of the strangest moments was when an audience question about torture and Guantanamo Bay arose. In a scene eerily familiar of the Bob Schaffer playbook, Lamborn stated, “I did tour Guantanamo Bay and I did not see any evidence of torture.” He then went further and argued that terrorists “do not follow the Geneva Convention. Should we be required to grant them the protections of the same Geneva Convention?” When the crowd erupted with an impromptu simultaneous shout of “Yes,” Congressman Lamborn had that familiar deer-in-the-headlights look about him. Apparently, he doesn’t quite understand the Geneva Convention’s requirements of participants in the treaty.

In the end, though, the audience questions, submitted on index cards before the beginning of the debate were pretty good questions, dealing with issues such as Pinon Canyon, the Patriot Act, energy sources and economics. On Pinon Canyon, Congressman Lamborn insisted that the purchase could be made without any use of eminent domain — stating that all of the sellers in the controversial expansion were “willing sellers.” I’ve spent more than a little bit of time down in southeast Colorado, and his description simply does not match up with what I know to be true. He seems to be living in quite a fantasy land when it comes to Pinon Canyon.

In the end, it was another wonderful example of why Hal Bidlack would be leading this race by 20-30 points in any other congressional district. And it’s another example of why this race, like the one with Hank Eng in the 6th CD, could be out-of-nowhere surprises on Tuesday night.

Of course, don’t take my word for it; feel free to watch the debate online at:
http://www.gazette.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1155184276&bclid=1155106690&bctid=1890047711

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

I’m sure you all are familiar with Tom Strickland, the United States Senator that Mark Udall is running to replace, right? What’s that? He’s not a Senator? Oh, yeah, that’s right — he lost.

I last ran into Tom Strickland at an event during the Democratic National Convention in August. It was a brief meeting, but it certainly brought up a lot of memories of the campaign trail in 2002. Tom seemed to be doing okay — enjoying his life in the “private sector”; however, I know that Colorado (and America) would have been much better if he had won in 2002 instead of Wayne Allard.

It was this very point in 2002 — the weekend before the election — that I was standing on a stage with Strickland at Pueblo’s Union Depot, just a few hundred yards from where Senator Barack Obama will be speaking on Saturday. The atmosphere was quite upbeat; a new statewide poll by one of the Denver newspapers had put Strickland up by something like 6 points. There was a clear air of confidence that we were standing with our next United States Senator.

A few days later, Colorado’s voters had a different message to send.

In 2004, the polls taken at this point in the election cycle — less than a week left before the election — showed John Kerry with a one-point lead in Colorado. He lost by around five points.

Look, I’m not trying to pour cold water on the idea that we can win Colorado; we most certainly can. But we have to work like we’re five points down. We cannot let up any bit. This is still the sprint to the finish line. For those of you looking at this on the Internet, this short video is instructive (and funny):

(For those reading this via e-mail, you can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xnk9aqih8o

Now, I’m going to do something “rogue” right now. I’m NOT going to encourage you to see Barack Obama in Pueblo Saturday. If you’re interested, the event will be at the corner of Union and D streets, and the gates open at 1:00 for the 3:00 event. But you can do a LOT more good for the campaign if you spend that time knocking on doors and making phone calls for the campaign.

If you DO insist on going, then you need to do one thing: bring somebody with you who is not quite sure about voting for Senator Obama. I totally understand the appeal and allure of seeing history in Southern Colorado. I do. But make sure that you’ve got somebody with you that still needs a little convincing if you’re going to go. We’ve proven to the world that Coloradans will show up for Barack Obama — some reports say last Sunday’s event in Denver was the largest political rally in the history of our nation.

We now need to prove to the world that Colorado will VOTE for Barack Obama. And Mark Udall. And Betsy Markey. And Hank Eng. And Hal Bidlack. And John Salazar, Ed Perlmutter, Diana DeGette, and Jared Polis. And our many great State House and State Senate candidates.

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Speaking of Hank Eng, have you heard the news? The latest polling in the 6th CD shows him well within striking distance of GOP nominee Mike Coffman!!! With a GOP nominee below 50% in the 6th CD, I think we might have the biggest surprise in the Nation in the South Denver Metro area!

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I do have a couple more quick points / corrections / thoughts to add at the end of this. First, I’ve gotten a few e-mails from the Durango area about John McCain’s visit to Durango a little over a week ago. What went mainly un-noticed in the rest of the state was the Democratic response to McCain down there. Here is part of what La Plata County Chair Jean Walter wrote to me (with quotes from the Durango Herald):

We lined Main Avenue Friday afternoon with about 1,000 to 2,000 pro-Obama supporters. From the Durango Herald: Rochford said New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley told her Durango was the most beautiful stop he’s seen in months on the campaign trail. He also said the number of Obama supporters was the most he’s seen at any McCain event. He even commented about the civility shown by supporters and opposition toward each other.

I’m very proud of how the whole thing went. McCain can visit anytime, especially after he’s retired.

Jean, I’m very proud of how the La Plata Dems are dominating the coverage down there!

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I often write these DemNotes quickly and sometimes screw things up. I think I’ve done that at least twice now with Rep. Karen Middleton. Karen has a superb record of leadership in this Party, having served as Arapahoe County Chair and as a member of the State Board of Education. In my write-up of the Denver rally earlier this week, I wrote that Karen was a “candidate” for the state legislature. In reality, Karen serves currently in the State House of Representatives, representing House District 42. My humblest apologies to Karen.

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Finally, Party Secretary Carolyn Boller wrote asking that I re-emphasize how easy and simple it is to vote early. I voted early in person, but Carolyn voted by mail, and she wants to encourage folks to do that if they can. Here’s what she writes:

I voted weeks ago–right after the mail ballots came out and I too voted for Obama and Biden–and it really was simple–just check that box and vote the downticket and away it went with just 2 stamps and into the hands of the USPS.

At this point, if you’re voting by mail, it is probably safest to drop it off at your local election drop-off point by hand. Don’t let there be any chance your vote won’t be counted on time!

Tonight, I’m headed to — where else? — Colorado Springs to attend the one and only debate between Hal Bidlack and Doug Lamborn in the 5th CD. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

From the Colorado for Obama blog:

Ordinarily, you might think it would be a struggle to get students to spend an hour at a political event during the weekend, but this is not your average election and Zach Braff is not your ordinary political speaker.

That’s why 1,000 students turned out at Mary Rippon Amphitheatre on Saturday. The star of ‘Scrubs’, as well as Ben Harper and Laura Dern, spent the sunny autumn afternoon entertaining the students and talking about the critical role they play in the election.

Zach told the crowd:

For months and months, I’ve been trying to get young people to vote, and my main message has been it doesn’t matter who you vote for — you get out there and vote. The most important thing is that you vote. I’ve been saying that for so long, and I’m tired of saying that. So I’m now going to come out and say “you’ve got to vote for Barack Obama.”

I’ve been watching the news and they keep saying that Colorado is the new Florida. So I said, “get me on a plane to Colorado and tell those young people who use the interweb that they got to vote.” You have to vote, you guys. You can vote early up until Halloween at the Rec Center. I love the Rec Center, it’s the best. You can do a lot of things at the Rec Center, I’m sure — I’ve never actually been to the Rec Center. But if I were to go to the Rec Center, I would vote.

Rebecca was at the event, proudly sporting her “I voted early for Barack Obama” button. She told me why she had voted early for Barack:

I voted because I’m tired of oil companies running our country. I want to bring to change to America. I think there are a lot of people who are suffering and it’s not right.

I didn’t want to wait in those lines. I would have, if I had put myself in that situation. But it’s so easy to vote early. Why put yourself in that situation? It could take you a couple of hours on election day, it took me 10 minutes the other day.

From the Colorado for Obama blog:

There are only eight days until Election Day and the excitement is growing across Colorado. People from across the country are visiting Colorado to take part in helping Barack win the Rocky Mountain state.

Last Friday, Senator Hillary Clinton was one of those people. She visited Aurora, where she spoke to around 1,600 people about why Barack must be elected on November 4th.

She said:

This election is too important for anyone to be on the sidelines of history. This election will determine whether or not America gets back on the right track for the kind of future that all of us, our children and generations to come deserve.

Hillary has been fiercely campaigning for Barack, traveling all over the country to talk to folks about why they should vote for him. She said she has seen strong support for him wherever she goes:

I have been all over the country and from Florida to New Hampshire to Pennsylvania where I was this morning. Everywhere I go people are being convinced that they must join with us.

I believe that on the merits, voters are recognizing what the Obama/Biden ticket offers. I also believe that the economic crisis that we have been enduring and that unfortunately will continue to play out over the months ahead is a wake up call to all Americans because for the months a head because, as the governor was saying, just looking at the returns here in Colorado and the number of people who have already voted, Barack Obama will be elected not only by Democrats, but by Independents and Republicans who know we have to change.

From the Colorado for Obama blog:

On Tuesday, Joe Biden came to Colorado for the first time since August. It may have been a few months since he was last here, but the vice presidential nominee certainly made the most of his visit — stopping in Greeley and Commerce City on Tuesday and Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Wednesday. Over 7,000 Coloradans came out to see him over the two day trip.

The Senator spoke about the state of the economy, Barack’s and his dedication to helping the middle class and the importance of voting early in Colorado. Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd at Sierra Hills High School in Colorado Springs, he said:

I want you to turn off the TV about red states and blue states. I want you to turn it off. I want you focusing on one thing — get out now and vote now. Because you know something is going to come our way. You know these guys are not only going to throw the kitchen sink, they’re going to find the bathroom sink. There’s going to be a lot coming our way. Maybe I’ve been down this road too many times before, but we cannot afford to wait. So for those of you who have not voted yet… you have no excuse, go vote now.

We have the best ground operation this state or any state has ever seen. We have committed volunteers, we have over fifty offices… We are not taking a single thing for granted. The stakes in this election could not be higher. This is the single most important election any of you no matter how young or old you are in this gymnasium will have ever voted in.

After his two rallies on Monday, the Senator stopped at the office in Parker, thanking the volunteers for their hard work and encouraging them to give all they can to the next two weeks.

Patrick was one of the volunteers at the office when Joe showed up.

He said:

I got a phone call saying that somebody might come in the office that night, so I stopped by to make some phone calls. It was amazing seeing Biden, there was just this energy that filled the office when he entered the room. He was right there in front of me, while he gave his speech. He even pulled my baby brother out of the audience and held him while he was talking. He was incredibly nice and it was really inspiring to get to see him in person.

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

Yesterday, I spoke at a couple of great events up in Colorado Springs. The first event was a rally and march to early voting in north Colorado Springs. Some called this the “holy land” because of its high proportion of religious right-wing voters (this is the home to Focus on the Family, after all). But there are plenty of Democrats in “the holy land,” it turns out.

Well over 60 folks were on North Academy when I arrived, waving Obama signs and flags and about every other thing you can imagine at the heavy traffic driving by — and the response was, well, it was Boulder-like. Honks and thumbs up abounded! For a minute, I forgot I was in El Paso County! Barbara Thummalapally described the scene quite well in her e-mail to Colorado Springs Obama supporters:

We had a joyful rally and march to the polls (Starbucks on Academy and Briargate - to Chapel hills mall) for early voting, this evening from 5-6pm.
We had about 60 people show up for the march and it was wonderful!

Dan Slater, CO Democratic Vice Chair, fired us up with some inspiring words of encouragement and advice and then we marched… ~ whooping, hollering, whistling and chanting…. to the polling place at the mall!

People mostly honked their support when they passed and we all had a great visual effect in Northern Colorado Springs. You would all have been proud to see such a display of Obama presence in “Focus country” or the “holy-land,” as someone put it!

Since Vinai had managed to get in early, he set up some tables and chairs at 6pm so that some of us marchers from HD 14 were able to congregate at the office after the march, to do a phone bank!!

It was a great scene. And there WERE a lot of people. I know some of you out there may not believe me, but maybe this will change your mind. Those of you who have heard me speak know that I can get loud. Microphones are usually not necessary. But for the folks in the furthest corners of the crowd to hear me, I actually had to use a BULLHORN! Yep, that’s when you know the crowd is big.

I then hurried down the Interstate to the main Colorado Springs office on Limit Street, around Old Colorado City. As I drove up, I realized that I had an ironic relationship with this particular location. You see, in January, when Sen. Obama came to Denver for the pre-caucus event at D.U., our car broke down in Colorado Springs on the way up. Rather than miss the event, we dropped the car off at the Saturn dealership and rented a car to drive up to see Sen. Obama. The car rental place? Well, that is now Obama headquarters in the Springs! (By the way, thanks to our renting of the car, we did make it up to Denver on time, and I not only got to meet Sen. Obama, but I also helped talk Rod Smith into publicly endorsing Obama at the rally!)

Anyway, I was scheduled to talk to a group of veterans doing a phone bank that evening. The operation in the Springs is massive, and it is impressive. When I arrived, every computer terminal along the wall was filled with a volunteer entering data — easily nine or ten people alone doing that. Alongside the computers, in the middle of the room, was a set of tables for phone banking, with the seats filled with another dozen or so folks calling voters. And that was just one room. All around the office you could find staffers, interns, and volunteers busily making phone calls or welcoming the steady stream of volunteers coming in and out of the office.

When it was time for me to say a few words, I actually felt pretty guilty. I had been asked to come in and give a pep talk, but I’m not really sure that anybody needed a pep talk. When I was introduced by the coordinator, he said I would speak for a “few minutes”. I grinned rather sheepishly — “I’m not going to talk for a ‘few minutes’ - just a minute or two. Because I know that every minute I talk to you is a minute that isn’t being spent making calls or entering data.” So I gave a shortened version of my talk about the importance of what they were doing. I was well-received, but as soon as the applause was over, the friendly command was given: get back on the phone. And they did, happily.

In talking with the coordinator, I did find something a little concerning. Even though the place was buzzing, there were still a few volunteers that didn’t show up for their shifts last night. It was a problem of overconfidence. I’ve heard some anecdotes of this before, and so it was concerning to see it in person.

Let me be clear: the polls show this is still a VERY CLOSE race — maybe still within a point or two, according to the latest polling — in Colorado. Don’t buy the misinformation that the McCain campaign is leaving Colorado: Sarah Palin and John McCain were both here this week. They wouldn’t be wasting their time here if they didn’t still think they could win Colorado.

Our job is clear: sprint, not coast, to the finish line!!!!

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If you needed more inspiration for how important the sprint to the finish is, just take a look at who’s coming to Colorado from our side. You may be getting this too late, but if you haven’t heard, Senator Hillary Clinton is coming to Colorado today. Come by the event this afternoon, if you can. Here are the details:

General’s Park
1561 North Quentin Street
Aurora, CO 80010
Gates Open: 3:30pm

Also, Sen. Obama will be in Denver and Fort Collins on Sunday. Here are the details for his visit:

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26
EARLY VOTE FOR CHANGE RALLY WITH BARACK OBAMA IN DENVER
Civic Center Park
Central Denver Park District
Denver, CO
Entrance: Greek Theater on 14th Avenue Parkway between Bannock and Broadway. No entry via Colfax Ave.
Gates Open: 10:00 AM

EARLY VOTE FOR CHANGE RALLY WITH BARACK OBAMA IN FT. COLLINS
The Oval on the Colorado State University Campus
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Public Entrance: University Ave. and West Drive
Gates Open: 1:30 PM MT

Limited public parking is available around the Jack Christianson Memorial Track and surrounding areas. Again, car pooling and public transportation are recommended.

Tickets are not required, but it is requested that you RSVP to: www.co.barackobama.com

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Finally, I do have more pictures up online. I’ve added photos from the Rural Policy Tour stops in Salida and Canon City, as well as the Biden events a couple of days ago in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. I have more pictures from yesterday in Colorado Springs, but have not been able to get them up yet. If you want to see the pictures that are online, go to:
www.demnotes.com/photos

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

Yesterday, I spent the day in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, attending the rallies with Senator Joe Biden. Both events were exciting and energizing examples of the Campaign for Change in Colorado.

The day started with a chilly morning in Colorado Springs at Sierra High School. The cold didn’t seem to deter anybody from coming to see Joe Biden, though. The lines were long, but the folks I saw seemed just happy to be there. Thankfully, the actual speech was indoors, rather than outside in the 30-degree chill. Once inside, the room continued to pack, until every seat was taken. Indeed, it was truly a “standing room only” crowd. The response in Colorado Springs to Joe Biden was so positive that the fire marshall had to actually restrict entry to the room — there were people who could not get in due to the crowd. It was truly electric.

Once the program began, we heard from a variety of folks. Sure, we had the standard politicians, with great inspirational speeches, like Hal Bidlack, former Gov. Roy Romer, and Sen. Ken Salazar. But we also heard some very touching personal stories, too. We heard from a 16-year old high school senior who spends 30-50 hours a week volunteering for the campaign. She talked about how important the volunteer work will be in the coming two weeks.

We also heard from a lady who worked — along with her husband — for United Airlines. We heard of their sacrifice to help save the airline, and we also heard of how the corporation left them in the dust when they declared bankruptcy and gave the money they had saved the airline to executives as bonuses. She talked of her battle with medical bills and successful fight against cancer. And she explained how she — a life-long Republican — was going to vote for and work for Barack Obama and Joe Biden this year. Her story clearly touched Senator Biden, whom she introduced.

Senator Biden, of course, brought the crowd to their feet. He had some great lines — talking about the eerie similarities between President Bush’s economic policies and John McCain’s economic policies. He even posed in a Sierra High School baseball cap for the crowd, which included several students from the school.

One of the best points Biden brought up, both in Colorado Springs and in Pueblo, was the need for us as a Nation to come together after the election. He said we needed to remember that Americans didn’t have red hearts or blue hearts — but we have “purple hearts”. He truly embraced Senator Obama’s message that we are a nation of patriots; a nation of people who, regardless of our political beliefs, love America.

After the event, we headed down to Pueblo for the afternoon rally. The Pueblo rally was outside, in front of the always-impressive Union Depot. I will try to get photos uploaded soon to show you how beautiful it was — framed on one side by the historic depot, and on the other side by the brownstone office buildings with a massive “HOPE” banner on the side of the building. It was a great place for a rally.

But it was cold. When the sun was out, it wasn’t so bad, but there were some clouds rolling in. In talking to some of the local Democrats, there was a concern that the weather would keep people away from the rally. But the weather didn’t really seem to have that effect — there were hundreds of folks there; the crowd stretched back as far as I could tell. It did seem to have an impact on when people arrived — I was concerned that I would be stuck toward the back after driving from the Springs, but I essentially ended up one person back from the front row, right in front of the podium. People arrived in droves — they just arrived closer to the scheduled start of the event than in Colorado Springs.

It was a very festive atmosphere in Pueblo. One person noted that there was a clear difference between the kind of dour, negative-toned crowds that seem to be showing up for McCain and Palin rallies versus the very upbeat, excited crowds that were showing up to Obama and Biden rallies.

And, of course, what was most impressive was the organization of the Campaign for Change at both rallies. Exiting both events, we were approached by several campaign volunteers offering to load us up in a bus to take us to early vote, or to sign up and volunteer. Buses were filling up with folks going to vote — the campaign never seems to miss an opportunity to get people out to vote or volunteer.

This afternoon, it looks like I’ll be heading back up to Colorado Springs to help with several early vote and canvassing efforts. I’ll write about those when I can.

From the Colorado for Obama blog:

With less than two weeks left until November 4th, Colorado is shaping up to be one of the most important states in the election. As proof of Colorado’s importance, Tim Kaine, the governor of another important battleground state, Virginia, traveled out west to campaign for Barack.

Speaking to a crowded room in Loveland, the Governor said:

They have me camped out in Virginia all the time because Virginia is like Colorado, we could go either way. Most of my weekends are spent campaigning in Virginia. I said I’ll give you one weekend out-of-state between Labor Day and Election Day and they said come to Colorado.

Governor Kaine described three of the most important issues to Americans today: becoming energy independent, fixing our economy by supporting the middle class and small businesses and establishing universal health care. He outlined Barack’s policies for each of these issues explaining why Barack offers the best solutions for America.

Governor Kaine explained that Barack will give tax cuts to 95% of Americans and will eliminate capitol gains taxes for small businesses.

He said:

I want big businesses and wealthy individuals to do well but they just don’t need our help, they’re going to do well. The people who need our help right now are the small businesses and the middle class. We need to help the middle class and the small businesses that are the backbone of the economy. Small businesses are responsible for the overwhelming majority of job growth in this country, an overwhelming majority of Americans work for small businesses. We ought to be targeting our strategies to them.

Senator Obama and Senator McCain define success differently and their definition of success tells you how they’ll govern. I want somebody who is going to govern by putting the middle class and small businesses first. And that person is Barack Obama.

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

Two weeks.

Two weeks from tomorrow, we will find out whether our hard work has paid off.

Two weeks from tomorrow, we will know exactly how much field organization in Colorado has helped.

Two weeks from tomorrow, we will have a better idea where we are on this transformation of Colorado from a red state to a blue state.

A lot can happen in two weeks. I’m sure you’ve all heard about the polls showing a lead this way or that, but remember that it only took less than a week for Barack Obama to build a lead in the polls in Colorado. It could take less than a week for that to reverse itself and for John McCain to build a lead in Colorado.

This is NO TIME for complacency. This is NO TIME to assume we have this one “won”.

We only need to look back to 2002. I recall a lot of happy faces the last couple of weeks of 2002 — folks convinced that Tom Strickland would be our new United States Senator. Polls were showing him 5, 6, 7, 8 points in the lead over Wayne Allard. Senator Allard’s obituary was being written. Everywhere I went, Party leaders where smiling and happy over the state of the race.

Then something happened. Colorado voted. And Tom Strickland lost.

“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” We cannot forget the history here in Colorado. This is not an easy state for Democrats to win. This is not an easy state for Barack Obama to win. This is not an easy state for Mark Udall to win. This is not an easy state for Betsy Markey, or any of our other Congressional candidates, to win.

So here’s my message: if you’ve signed up to volunteer for the campaigns, make sure you show up and work your ass off. Then, sign up for another shift. If you haven’t signed up to work, for crying out loud, SIGN UP NOW!!!! We have field offices and county party offices all across the state. Find yours and SIGN UP NOW!!!!

And if you haven’t voted yet, get out there and vote today — early voting begins today.

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If you don’t think that the work you do out in the field means anything, take notice of this quiet piece of history that was released over the weekend: The number of active registered Democrats in Colorado is now greater than the number of active registered Republicans. And we now have over a million registered Democrats in Colorado — just 14,000 fewer registered Democrats than Republicans. (The difference between the number of registered voters and the number of “Active” registered voters is that “Active” only include those that have voted in a recent election.)

This news is taking a lot of people, including me, by surprise. I had known we were doing well with the voter registration program we were implementing across Colorado. I just did not realize that we were doing this well. To give you an idea how well Democrats are doing, here are the stats. Since November 2006 — two years ago — Democrats have gained about 142,000 voters. Unaffiliated registration has also jumped by 54,000. But Republicans? Republicans have actually LOST 10,000 registrants since 2006.

Again, though, we cannot afford to leave this job unfinished. We must do whatever we can to get every one of these new voters to the polls between now and November 4; otherwise, all of this will have been in vain.

Don’t let up now. This is the time to spend every last piece of energy fighting for every single vote. We owe that to America.

(h/t to ColoradoPols)