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Meetings and Boulder and Jefferson County

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

In the middle of this past week, Dan Slater and I had the opportunity to address the Democratic Women of Boulder on Wednesday. There were 200 people in attendance, who patiently listened to us talk about the process of being an unpledged delegate. There were lots of questions about the different campaigns, and a great opportunity to educate folks about what we expect to happen in the 2008 nomination process and in the upcoming fall elections.

After this great event, I went to the University of Colorado to meet with the Journalism Board. It was a fun hour talking to students. I was on a panel with Adam Schrager from 9News and Elizabeth Shue, who teaches journalism and politics. The students in attendance had great questions about how to cover politics. And both Adam and Elizabeth, who have written the news, shared their personal experiences.

The next morning I had an opportunity to speak to the Board of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. I talked about the election results in Colorado and the huge participation of voters in the caucuses. With the assistance of the Host Committee, I was able to give some statistics on the economic boon that having the Democratic National Convention brings to Denver and at least the seven surrounding counties. Also having 15,000 journalists covering the Convention spotlights our state for the nation and the world. Finally, I talked about what it is like being a “Superdelegate” and all the attention it brings.

On Saturday I visited Boulder County’s Assembly. Over 1,000 people attended the meeting in Longmont. Deb Gardner, the County Chair, was doing a great job overseeing the assembly. I heard that similar results occurred from in the convention that afternoon. As in every county I have been to, most of the people were there for the first time.

Then it was off to the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Over 3,000 people were in the gymnasium, and their enthusiasm was infectious. Most again were there for the first time. Dick Barkey, chair of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, was relishing in the turnout. He began this journey with me in 2005 when we began the work to open up the Colorado Democratic Party.

Today, the Platform Committee had it first meeting in Denver. This meeting laid out the process for beginning our consideration of what we as Democrats believe we stand for.

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Posted in CDP, Counties, National Convention 2008, Presidential Campaign 2008 | Comments Off

On The Road Again

Friday, March 14th, 2008

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

Wednesday was quite a day for driving.

I began the day with a drive up to Boulder for the monthly luncheon of the Boulder Democratic Women’s Club. State Chair Pat Waak and I were speakers. It was a robust crowd — over 200 present, including Joan Fitz-Gerald and Jared Polis, who are running for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District. A number of local candidates and elected officials were also present.

Pat and I both spoke about a number of issues, and then we took several questions from the audience after our talks. Most of the questions surrounded the Presidential race, and our roles as Superdelegates. Pat reiterated her long-standing view that her role as the chair of the host state party for the National Convention is to stay neutral for as long as possible. We faced questions about the tenor of the campaign, about Michigan and Florida, and about our two remaining candidates. It was a very refreshing and stimulating discussion, and a nice change of pace from all of the different county assemblies and conventions we’ve been attending lately.

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After Boulder, I headed back to Canon City — literally just long enough to stop at my law office and check the mail — before getting back on the road to head south to Walsenburg. There, I attended the Huerfano County Democratic Assembly and Convention.

Walsenburg hosted another good crowd of Democrats. I kicked off the meeting with a short speech, and then they moved into the convention portion of the program. Several people spoke about their choices for President before taking the preference poll — most were very respectful of the other candidates, although there was one who tried to quote from a supermarket tabloid in opposition to one of the candidates. In the end, the vote was 30 to 20 in favor of Sen. Obama, giving him 7 of the county’s votes to 4 for Sen. Clinton.

County Chair Cindy Campbell, who was leaving the post due to health reasons, did an outstanding job getting through the county convention, and there seemed to be a truly positive atmosphere there when I left.

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But I wasn’t done yet. After leaving Walsenburg, I raced up to Pueblo, where I was the guest on the CSU-Pueblo student radio station’s political talk show. “Rev 89,” as the station is called, is not your average college radio station. I don’t know the current ratings, but when I first moved back to Southern Colorado a few years ago, it was the top-rated station in the Pueblo market, beating out all of the commercial radio stations.

The show was very interesting — the three co-hosts are pretty equally divided: one is an Obama supporter, one is a Clinton supporter, and one is a McCain supporter. Over the hour that I was on the show, we talked about a number of issues, and I used every opportunity to point out the differences between Sen. McCain and our two candidates. We talked about the state of the Presidential race, and my role as a Superdelegate and DNC Member. The co-hosts were unbelievably well-prepared, with notes on a number of very divergent issues on which they wanted to talk. I was impressed, and the hour went quickly, and was very entertaining.

By then, it was late, and I had to head home to Canon City — bone tired. Tonight, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m off to Southeast Colorado for a pair of assemblies / conventions. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Posted in CDP, Counties, DNC, National Convention 2008, Presidential Campaign 2008 | 1 Comment »

A Busy Weekend = A Long Post

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

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

I’ve been swamped here at the office with my mortgage-paying job the past couple of days, so I have not yet had a chance to write about my incredibly busy weekend traversing the state. So here it is.

We began on Friday night, driving up to Hugo in Lincoln County for the Lincoln County Dems’ Convention and Assembly. Chair Jim Bowen is well-known on the Eastern Plains, and he does a great job running the county party. Over 40 people showed up for the meeting at the Hugo Community Center — a pretty impressive increase from 2004, when I had last stopped in Lincoln County for their Convention and Assembly.

As I’ve seen in most places, there was a respectful discourse about the Presidential race. In the end, the preference vote was a dead even tie, sending 2 delegates each for Sens. Clinton and Obama to the State and 4th CD Conventions. In the U.S. Senate preference poll, while there were a couple of votes for Mark Benner (he had served a couple of years ago as Lincoln County’s vice-chair), only Mark Udall reached the 15% viability point in the preference poll.

It was a wonderful atmosphere, with some homemade cookies and coffee off to the side, and wonderful informal discussion of the candidates and issues. What was particularly touching was that Jim had ordered some little stuffed donkey goody bags for all of the delegates — his wife arrived just in time to deliver them to all of the folks there.

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Brandy and I then drove up to Fort Collins, where we spent the night in preparation for a pretty hectic day. We started at the Larimer County Assembly and Convention at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins. There was no doubt driving up what was going on — if the candidate signs were not a dead giveaway, the 20-foot high inflatable donkey out front adorned with Obama stickers and signs probably let folks know there were Democrats afoot.

Larimer County was emblematic of a problem larger counties were having — too many people and not enough space. Fossil Ridge High School is a wonderful new facility with the latest green technologies. However, its auditorium seats only 600-700 people. Larimer County had 800 delegates (that’s not including alternates!).

Their solution was about the only thing you could do: about 100 delegates had to literally sit in seats on the stage behind the speakers. Mind you, they probably had the best view, but it was pretty amazing to see the crowd. Furthermore, entry into the auditorium was limited solely to delegates — alternates had to sit in the commons area outside and watch a video feed. I was even a little surprised that I could make it in without credentials without too much trouble.

Pat Waak was there, and she opened the assembly with some words of inspiration — as with nearly everywhere else we go, the vast majority of hands shot up when she asked for first-timers to identify themeselves. Chair Adam Bowen led a wonderful team in Larimer that planned well for crowds at registration, and the meeting actually started almost on time (maybe 5-10 minutes late, but that has to be credited as “on time” compared to a lot of the other counties). We heard brief words from Sen. Bob Bacon, and Reps. Kefalas and Fischer, as well as Betsy Markey, who is running for Congress. Markey certainly had the crowd on their feet when she was through — she has become a pretty amazing speaker in this short run for Congress to date.

After some preliminaries, I spoke for three minutes (and, shockingly, kept to the time limits) for Senator Obama, followed by three speakers for Senator Clinton. The vote was not until later, and I had to scoot to the next stop….

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… Which was Greeley. Because I spent so much time in 2006 working with the folks in Weld County preparing for the State Assembly, I know many of the key people in the Weld County Dems. But I had never seen a crowd like this — a gymnasium packed to the edges with Democrats. Weld County has undergone a transformation in the past few years, but this truly has to take the cake — from the sounds of the crowd, you’d be hard pressed to believe that Republicans even have a chance in historically-red Weld County.

As I was preparing to speak for Senator Obama, Weld Vice Chair (and Greeley City Council member) Pam Shaddock caught my arm, “Doesn’t this crowd look like the crowd we had at the State Convention in 2006?!” It was clear that Weld County Dems were busting their buttons with pride over the swelling ranks of Democrats in Weld County.

Pam wrote to me later and told me that they had well over 1,000 at the county assembly and convention. Maybe not as many as the State Assembly in 2006, but certainly respectable — maybe even more so when you consider that the Weld County Republicans met the same day and apparently had less than 350 in attendance there!

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Already well behind schedule, I zoomed down to Aurora for the Arapahoe County Assembly and Convention. Another convention, another room crowded with people taking up every available cubic inch of space. There were people sitting in stairwells and along the edge of the stage. I spoke briefly with County Chair Mike Hamrick, who was working hard with Vice Chair Karen Hart to get final tabulations on the Presidential Preference Poll (the results there were 65% Obama, 35% Clinton). Mike told me that the auditorium there at the high school was the largest meeting space in Arapahoe County — further pointing out the difficulties of planning a convention in these people-flushed times.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter was there when I was there, and spoke a little before I spoke. He did a wonderful job talking about the importance of political involvement, finishing with a reading from George Washington’s Second Inaugural address. Congressman Perlmutter certainly has the support of the people, and he is proving to be an amazing choice representing the Seventh CD in Congress.

Pat Waak arrived after a stop in Adams County, and she spoke just before I did — and the same experiment proved successful, another crowd of first-timers. I then spoke very briefly of the need to keep these first-timers involved in order to be successful in November.

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After leaving Arapahoe, I tried to race down to Castle Rock for the Douglas County Convention and Assembly. Sadly, though, (and after a stop at a middle school I mistook for the high school) I was too late. As I arrived, the leaders of the Douglas County Dems were packing up to go — they had a dictate from the school to be out by 2:00, and it was ten until 2 when I got there. Chair Paul Thompson did report that the meeting went well and smoothly, with a large crowd.

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Sunday, I had planned to drive down to Saguache to assist with their County Convention and Assembly, but was called by the Obama campaign to attend a meeting in Adams County to confirm the selection of the delegates to the congressional districts and state conventions. The meeting went well, and smoothly, and Adams County has a full delegation to all of the later conventions.

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Tomorrow morning, I head up to Boulder County. Pat Waak and I will be addressing the Democratic Women of Boulder County on the state of the races in Colorado, as well as our roles as superdelegates and the process generally. I think the RSVP deadline is passed, but here is the link for more information. Maybe I’ll see you there!
http://www.bouldercountydems.org/events.aspx?date=3/12/08#evtid_1636

Saturday, it appears that I will NOT be where the rest of the political world will be, in Boulder and Jefferson Counties. Instead, I am currently planning on being in Lamar for Prowers County’s convention on Friday night, and possibly in Springfield for the Baca County convention and assembly later on Saturday morning. (I’m off to Amarillo overnight Friday to pick up my kids for Spring Break!) I’ll report from those, as well as from the lunch tomorrow, when I get a chance.

Posted in CDP, Congressional Races, Counties, Presidential Campaign 2008, US Senate Race 2008 | 1 Comment »

Larimer, Weld, Adams, Arapahoe and Denver

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Saturday, March 8th was a big day for Democrats in Colorado. Although I could not get to every county assembly/convention, we did make it to five of them. And the participation was in record numbers.

We started our day in Fort Collins at Fossil Ridge High School. This is the new “green” school, and it was easy to spot with the huge donkey set up outside. Larimer County attracted over 8,000 voters to their caucuses on Feb. 5, 2008. That meant that over 1,000 people were at the county meeting.

Adam Bowen, county chair, opened up the meeting with elected officials and candidates lined up behind him. Senator Bob Bacon was joined by his colleagues on the House side, Rep. John Kefalas and Rep. Randy Fischer. They all were scheduled to speak later in the morning.

Betsy Markey, who is running for U.S. House of Representatives in CD4, gave a great speech. The crowd may be coming out for Presidential candidates, but they are just as eager to send Marilyn Musgrave into retirement.

I then had my chance to speak to the spectacular and enthusiastic Larimer County Democrats. We are taking our country back, and Larimer County is playing its part.

We then traveled to Weld County. We arrived at Michener Library on the UNC campus to find that the Weld Democrats had moved to Heath Middle School. We walked in to find a gymnasium filled with about 1,000 voters.

Weld County is my home county, and we really carried the whole county for Governor Ritter by 100 votes. Rep. Jim Riesberg had a great re-election campaign, and over 2500 people turned out to caucus on February 5th.

I was so excited to be in Weld County and look out on the sea of faces participating in the county assembly/convention. County Chair David Delegado introduced me, and the audience responded. After my remarks it was great to stop and talk with many friends including Cheryl Hauger, Roy Waddell, Pam Shaddock and Chuck Olmstead.

Then we raced to Adams County. Over 1,000 people filled the Exhibit Hall at Adams County Fairgrounds. I arrived in time to hear Don Quick’s nomination for District Attorney. It gave me the opportunity to talk about the great job Don is doing in his Judicial District. Also I acknowledged the work of County Chair, Pat Moore.

Adams County had a caucus turnout of over 5,000 people. I had the opportunity to talk to the county delegates and encourage their continued participation in all of the campaigns. It was exciting once again to see so many new faces in the audience.

By this time we were running about an hour behind. However, we arrived at Arapahoe County’s meeting in time to hear the end of U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s speech.

I was pleased to be introduced by Harold Thyfault, a long-time Democratic activist. As I have done in every county, I asked how many were there for the first time. Almost every hand was raised. Arapahoe saw over 12,000 people on Feb. 5th and about 1800 attended the county meetings. Mike Hamrick, Arapahoe County Chair, did a great job and was ably assisted by Carolyn Boller.

My last stop was Denver County. Denver Chair, Jennifer Coken, sure had her hands full. I arrived in time to see the aftermath of voting in Senate District 35. Former City Councilwoman Joyce Foster and Rep. Alice Borodkin vied for support. Foster came out ahead, but the final votes will be counted in a multi-county meeting this coming weekend.

I was able to say just a few words as HD6 began its meeting. I also wandered into HD2, HD3, HD4 and HD5. It was great to see so many good Democrats from Denver County. Denver Dems turned out over 26,000 voters on Feb. 5th. The crowd on Saturday was about 5,000. Sherry Jackson and Billy Compton spent the day helping the county with its meetings.

On a last note, Don Wiegel, the staff person for the House Majority Project, is leaving this week. He will be really missed in this office. He has been a great partner and worked hard to recruit candidates for House seats. Don is off to manage a Congressional campaign in Alabama. We wish him well.

It promises to be another busy week. Wednesday I will be speaking at the Democratic Women of Boulder County’s luncheon. The next day I am speaking at a breakfast of the Board of Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Saturday I plan to make the Boulder and Jefferson County assembly/conventions. And then there are all the thing in between.

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Posted in CDP, Congressional Races, Counties, Presidential Campaign 2008, State Legislative Races | Comments Off

"I Think We Have a Quorum!"

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

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

This has been quite a whirlwind of a weekend — and it was only about half as busy as next weekend promises to be!

There were a lot of wonderful moments, but one of the best came in Woodland Park, at the Teller County Convention and Assembly on Saturday afternoon.  Chair Laurie Glauth kicked off the meeting by announcing that there were 96 possible slots to be filled, and there were 95 delegates seated in those slots.  Then, in a mastery of understatement, she announced, “I think we have a quorum!”

Teller County was another of the pictures we’ve been seeing across the state — rooms filled beyond capacity, with people standing along the edges of the rooms and peering through the doorways because the capacity had been met.  Everyone there was clear:  this was the largest county assembly Teller Dems had recalled ever seeing.  I kicked off the meeting by talking about how important it was to keep people involved beyond March, and into September and October.  Hal Bidlack, who is running for Congress in the 5th Congressional District, continued to impress everybody he meets by giving a great speech filled with humor, hope, ideas, and experience.

Then, something amazing happened:  people started running for office.  Laurie Glauth had not expected to be able to field a candidate for either of the County Commissioner seats.  Instead, two people volunteered to run — one for each seat — and both proved to be amazing speakers, with experience and ideas to match.  For the first time in a long time, Teller Dems will be fielding a full ballot of Dems — and not just place-fillers; these are folks who will give the Republicans a real run for their money here.

After the nominations, the Presidential preference poll was taken.  The vote was 61 for Obama, and 33 for Clinton, leading to 12 Obama delegates and 7 Clinton delegates.  But regardless of the outcome, it was an inspiring day to be in Teller County!

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It was an inspiring weekend to be a Democrat, and if you weren’t at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on Friday night, you missed a great show at our annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.  Virginia Senator Jim Webb did a great job talking to the audience about his lifetime of work, as well as the challenges facing us in the U.S. Senate, and in the 2008 elections.  Beyond Webb, we honored a great number of leaders — both for lifetimes of work, as well as for the promise that they show for a lifetime of service. 

Heck, even the food was pretty decent!  It was wonderful, most of all, to see so many friends and people who are working hard across the state to win elections in November.  Kudos obviously go to the dinner committee, as well as to the State Party staff (led by Sherry Jackson) for their tireless dedication to making this a wonderful event.

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Saturday morning, I drove back up to Denver, and after attending a brief meeting at Adams County Dems’ HQ on their county assembly rules, I stopped by in Broomfield to briefly speak to their county assembly and convention.  Broomfield Dems had an excited full house of delegates as well (158 in all), and Chair Kevin Kreeger was running a tight ship.  I spoke to the crowd as they were finalizing some credentials issues, and it was great to see so many energetic Democrats in Broomfield. 

I was there just in time to witness the allocation of the convention delegates.  Broomfield is one of those counties that elects the majority of their convention delegates on caucus nights, so they were only electing a few “at large” positions.  For the 2nd Congressional District convention, they elected 5 more Clinton delegates and 10 more Obama delegates; for the State Convention, they elected 3 more Clinton delegates and 6 more Obama delegates.

Again, it was a truly great weekend.  Wednesday, I head down to Walsenburg for the Huerfano County assembly, and Friday I head over to Hugo for the Lincoln County assembly before heading to a number of counties on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.  Maybe I’ll see you on the road!

Posted in CDP, Congressional Races, Counties, County Races, Presidential Campaign 2008 | 1 Comment »

Colorado Springs Prepares Quite a Weekend

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

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

Last night, I went to Colorado Springs to attend a couple of events for the planning of the upcoming State Convention and Assembly there on May 16-17. What is happening is pretty incredible.

I first attended an informational meeting held by a group of local businesspeople who are looking to really showcase Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region as Democrats arrive in May. They have all sorts of events planned. In particular, they are working on three tours (so far) — a tour of “progressive Colorado Springs,” including open space areas and areas of interest to progressives (sending the message that not all of El Paso County is a monolithic “Focus on the Family” group); a tour of the many El Paso County military installations, led by former 5th CD candidate Jay Fawcett; and a tour of the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. They are also working on arranging for a “Progressive Night for Progressives,” featuring a street party with a “progressive dinner” — food from several different restaurants downtown. There is an incredibly intense interest in showing Colorado Democrats a good time when they visit Colorado Springs.

In addition to those efforts, the local Democrats and the State Party are working hard to make sure that delegates and alternates are treated well, and plans are being made to do just that. After leaving the first meeting, I attended a meeting of local committee chairs. As I told the committee last night, there is simply no way we can over-estimate the crowds we will see in May. Plans are being made to double the estimates of the crowds we usually have (and the crowds we usually have are pretty big), but we really could see a lot more than that even. We are working to make sure that the State Party learns from the crowds seen on caucus night and at the county assemblies, and that we make sure that the plans are in place to deal with those crowds effectively and efficiently.

There are a number of efforts already underway. We have a committee working to ensure that transportation issues within Colorado Springs are handled well. Another committee is focusing on accessibility issues, and working to keep focused on planning for delegates and alternates with disabilities. Yet another committee is working to be sure that registration runs smoothly; another committee is focused on being certain delegates and alternates are warmly welcomed to Colorado Springs and questions are answered quickly (and correctly). We even have a committee focused entirely on “greening” the convention — making sure our efforts are as environmentally-friendly as possible. And that’s just a handful of the committees. The planning is going very well!

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A couple of days ago, I mentioned the Denver Film Society’s “Cinemocracy” efforts in conjunction with the National Convention. Well, the Host Committee has issued a press release this morning with more details. Here is some of that release:

Building upon the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee’s Call to Democracy effort, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) and Denver Film Society (DFS), producers of the Starz Denver Film Festival, are pleased to announce the creation and launch of the Cinemocracy Film Festival, an open source film festival to coincide with the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As an official event of the Host Committee, Cinemocracy calls for open participation in the political process.

Info at a Glance:

– 2008 Cinemocracy Film Festival addresses the topic of “How do you define Democracy?”
– Top-ranked films will be publicly screened in Denver during the week of the 2008 Democratic National Convention (August 25-28).
– For submission guidelines and official rules, visit www.denverfilm.org/cinemocracy.

During a year of monumental change, the Host Committee, DOCA and DFS invite citizens of the world to speak out and share ideas on what democracy is (or isn’t) through the creation of short films. All films submitted via free upload will be judged by the online public and the top 10 will be screened at a free public event in Denver during the week of Aug. 25-28.

Additionally, the winning film will be screened as part of the official program of the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival (November 13-23). The film festival is one of many events planned that underscore the Host Committee’s Call to Democracy efforts, encouraging public engagement and civic awareness in the democratic process.

Submitted films can be up to five minutes long and can be uploaded from March 1 through July 15 to www.denverfilm.org/cinemocracy. Voting will remain open until Aug. 1.

If you’re an amateur (or maybe even better-than-amateur) film-maker, take a look at this and do your submission ASAP. And, heck, you might even see your submission in May at the State Convention if you get things done and submitted early enough! I have had a preliminary discussion with the Denver Film Society, and we may be able to show a few of their submissions at the State Convention on May 17 (if you attended the State Convention in 2004, you may recall we used some Moveon.org submissions in a similar contest during that convention).

Posted in CDP, National Convention 2008 | 1 Comment »

El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont and Douglas Counties

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Saturday morning we left Erie, Colorado for Colorado Springs at 8am. Arriving at the El Paso County convention/assembly, we discovered a line outside, a lobby crammed with people, and an auditorium filled into the balcony. I had the opportunity to open up the events by asking how many people were at the convention/assembly for the first time. Most of the people raised their hand.

El Paso County had over 7,000 people at their precinct caucuses. John Morris, the county chair, is seeing a new interest in party politics. Between 1600 and 1700 participants were at the meeting on Saturday. It was great to see Hal Bidlack, candidate for the 5th Congressional District. Also Sen. John Morse and Rep. Mike Merrifield were enjoying this huge turn out.

From there we drove to Pueblo. Pueblo County precincts had almost 2500 participants on Feb. 5. Out of 600 delegates elected to the county convention/assembly, 520 participants were there on Saturday. We listened to the nominations for Pueblo County Commissioner. Commissioner John Cordova and State Rep. Dorothy Butcher both gave campaign speeches.

Terry Hart, Chair of Pueblo County Dems, introduced me and once again I asked for a show of hands on “first-timers.” Most of the participants were new. I talked about the excitement around the Presidential campaign but how important it is to be active on all the campaigns. Rep. Mark Udall arrived after me and really got the crowd cheering.

It was great to see my old friends Deann Martinez and Matt Pujol. They used to live in Fort Collins and moved to Pueblo some time ago. Deann was my campaign coordinator in 2005, and it is great to see that she is so involved in Pueblo County politics.

From Pueblo we traveled to Fremont County. I had not been to Fremont in a while, so it was great to get over and see the Chair, Kevin Bradley and the other officers. Fremont County had 660 attendees at the precinct caucuses and over 200 attended the county meeting. Once again most of the participants were there for the first time.

Rep. Udall’s niece spoke on his behalf. Hal Bidlack gave a great speech for his CD5 campaign bid. I was delighted to see so many friends in Canon City before we headed out.

The last stop was Parker, Colorado. Douglas County Democrats held their Clinton-Carter Annual Dinner. The attendance was 235 strong Democrats who came to listen to Sen. Lois Tochtrop, Rep. Alice Borodkin, Speaker Andrew Romanoff and me. I talked about the pride they were all feeling in Douglas County because they had a turn out of over 5,000 people on Feb. 5. it was over 1,000 more than the Republicans. Earlier in the day Douglas County Democrats had to change meeting sites because their central committee had grown so much.

Paul Thompson, Chair of the Douglas County Democrats, has done a fantastic job of getting the county organized, along with
Ron Clark, Ralph Jollensten and so many others. We had the chance to hear from Mike Collins and Hank Eng, who are both running for CD6. Imagine that. Two Democratic candidates for CD6.

We returned home at 10:30pm, weary but exhilirated. The excitement we continue to see just is a reminder of the energy acrosse the country. We will win the White House, and I believe add another Democratic Senator from Colorado, pick up some more Congressional seats, and add to our state house and senate majorities. We will change the face of America and be able to provide what is best for Coloradans and the rest of the country.

Pat Waak

Posted in CDP, Counties | Comments Off

So Proud to be a Colorado Democrat!

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

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

Lines snaked. Cars were towed. Traffic was jammed. People voted. Delegates were elected.

And Colorado Democrats proved their mettle.

I’m so proud this morning to be a Colorado Democrat. And, no, it isn’t because my candidate won.

No, I’m so proud because of how revitalized this Party is today. In 2004, we had between 10,000 and 15,000 people show up to caucus. Last night, we had about ten times that number — a 1,000% increase in attendance!

I’m proud because the Democratic Party — with fewer registered Democrats than registered Republicans — had over twice the turnout of the Colorado Republican Party. Not in percentages, but in raw numbers of people.

I’m proud because that turnout came even though Democratic caucuses are more complicated beasts than the Republican caucuses (from what I can tell, you just show up and cast your secret ballot at Republican affairs). Dick Wadhams must be trembling with what he saw in Colorado last night.

I’m proud because, for the most part, our county parties handled the massive influx of new people pretty well. As I predicted yesterday, there were periods of chaos, but we still made it through without any complete breakdowns of the system.

I’m proud because — even with the longer meetings and the heavier turnout — the Colorado Democratic Party reported its results much faster than the Republicans. At every stage last night, we were at least 20% ahead in terms of precincts reporting — by about 10 or 10:30, we had around 95-98% of the precincts reporting to the 70-75% of the Republican precincts reporting. We gave county chairs as close to a mandate as we could: have your results to us by 9:30. I’ve spoken to some who say the Republican mandate was to have their results reported no later than 7:30. This is just more proof that you can’t trust elections to Republicans — they have proven time and time again they can’t even run their own elections efficiently!

I’m proud of the county chairs and other county party officers and leaders out there who worked their rear-ends off to pull off this historic evening. I’m also proud of the State Party staff and my fellow officers, who have spent the last few weeks tirelessly answering phone calls and e-mails and taking questions from voters about this process. Because of the intense interest in the caucus, the CDP put in nine new phone lines — and they were constantly lit!

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Last night, from the very beginning, something was different. I showed up at Washington School a little after 5:00 to help set up, along with the other key Fremont County Dems who had been planning the caucuses. Already, three people were sitting down in the lobby of the school waiting to check in two hours early. School officials advised that they had at least a dozen Democrats stop by during the day looking for the caucuses — they eventually had to put a sign out in the front door to keep people away.

By 6:00 — an hour before the beginning, the line stretched to the door. Parking was at a premium. Already, more people were at the school than had attended all of the caucuses in Fremont County in 2006 or 2004. Thankfully, Fremont Dems had planned for this well. They had a dozen people to check folks in, and the line moved smoothly. Volunteers for Clinton and Obama greeted people at the door. Beyond the registration table was a classroom set up as a “hospitality suite” for the Obama and Clinton campaigns, with both offering water, cookies, and other treats for caucus-goers.

Here, most of the classrooms were open, with each room serving as the caucus location for either one or two precincts, depending on the size of the precinct. Long-time Democrats showed up and their jaws just dropped. The crowds of Democrats were unbelievable. Later on in the evening, I caught up with former State Representative Bob Shoemaker. He just smiled and shook his head. “Back in my day, this would have been the whole county’s turnout for the Democrats,” motioning to the packed room serving as a caucus site for two precincts. “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

At 6:30, organizers asked people to gather in the school’s auditorium. While quite ample, it still was not big enough for the crowd of Democrats (at the end of the evening, we learned that about 450 Democrats caucused at this location alone). I kicked things off by pointing out that we were told Fremont County did not have any Democrats. “If we can get this kind of turnout at caucus for the Democratic Party in Fremont County, we can sure get this kind of turnout in September and October, when we need your help to elect a Democratic President in Fremont County!” The crowd cheered, and there was real excitement in the air about Democrats.

Then, at about 10 minutes to 7, we dispersed into our precinct rooms. I was in Precinct 9, and as one of the larger precincts historically, we had been assigned the school’s library. Nearly 50 people gathered around the library tables, and we read the rules and elected our officers. We then heard about 20 minutes of discussion about the candidates. I spoke for Sen. Obama. A wonderful lady I had never met gave a moving speech for Sen. Clinton. Then a few more folks said a few words about Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton. After a straw poll determining that both candidates would meet viability, we voted. The results (I think – this is from memory): Obama 27, Clinton 18.

We then went on to elect delegates and do the other things required at caucus — the vote for Sen. Udall was unanimous. A few people left after the Presidential vote, but to my surprise, most people stayed through the end.

In the end, Obama narrowly won in Fremont County with record turnout, 336 to 319. There was a great cheer among those who remained at the school when the results were announced.

As we left around 9:30, a gentleman drove up looking for the Republicans. We smiled. “We think they’re at the Abbey, or maybe the High School. Anyway, they’ve probably been finished for quite a while now.”

It was an AMAZING night to be a Democrat!

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A few statistics from the results reported last night in Colorado.

The tally now stands at Obama – 79,344 (66.2%) to Clinton 38,587 (32.2%), with 3165 of 3208 precincts reporting.

Denver had the highest vote for Obama, at 17,942, followed by Boulder with 13,100.

Denver also had the highest vote for Clinton, at 7806, followed by Jefferson with 5,208.

Cheyenne and Sedgwick both had the lowest votes for Obama, with 7 votes, followed by Jackson and Kiowa, with 8 votes apiece. Hinsdale had the lowest vote for Clinton, with 7 votes, followed by San Juan with 8 votes.

Percentage-wise, Obama had his best night in San Miguel, Ouray, La Plata, Pitkin, Hinsdale, Archuleta and Boulder, with a range in those counties from 86% (San Miguel) to 74% (Boulder). Clinton did best in Sedgwick, Kit Carson, Jackson, Costilla, Prowers and Las Animas counties, with her percentage in those ranging from 67% (Sedgwick) to 57% (Las Animas).

Clinton won 14 counties; Obama won 49 counties; one county (Bent) was an exact tie. I have created a map of the counties won by each and it is in the web version of this post at www.demnotes.com.

The highest turnout counties were: 1. Denver (26,096); 2. Boulder (17,910); 3. Jefferson (14,595); 4. Arapahoe (12,224); and 5. Larimer (8,637).

The lowest turnout counties were: 1. Jackson (20); 2. Kiowa (23); 3. Cheyenne (24); 4. Washington (29); and 5. (tie) Sedgwick, San Juan, and Hinsdale (30).

Statewide, Democratic turnout was at 13.61%. The highest turnout percentage counties were: 1. Hinsdale (25.42%); 2. Boulder (23.81%); 3. Ouray (22.82%); 4. San Juan (19.48%) and 5. Larimer (17.20%). The lowest turnout percentage counties were: 1. Rio Grande (4.53%); 2. Otero (5.69%); 3. Pueblo (5.76%); 4. Baca (5.77%) and 5. Logan (5.94%). Other large counties: Adams – 8.08%; Arapahoe – 12.83%; Denver – 15.91%; Douglas – 16.54%; El Paso – 11.39%; Jefferson – 14.28%; La Plata – 14.74%; Mesa – 11.97%; Weld – 8.90%.

Posted in CDP, Counties, Presidential Campaign 2008 | 3 Comments »

Weekend Caucus Training Included Pueblo, Canon City, and Pagosa Springs

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

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

This weekend, I was busy traveling the state for training (and a little R&R).

The weekend began with me driving over to Pueblo to attend their caucus training. I wasn’t giving my traditional caucus presentation; instead, my job in Pueblo was to introduce the crowd to the concept of “preference polls” for the Presidential race. Easily over 150 Pueblo Dems attended the standing-room only training at the Steelworkers Hall.

If you’ve attended any of my caucus trainings, you know that I briefly mention that you should not try to explain the way the other 62 counties do caucuses to folks in Pueblo and Adams counties, because they have a very different way of doing things there. In most counties, you just elect delegates to the county assembly and the county convention — and electing just those two sets of delegates can sometimes be confusing enough. In Pueblo and Adams, however, caucus-goers elect six different types of delegates. In addition to the county assembly and convention delegates, they also directly elect congressional district and state assembly delegates, as well as congressional district and state convention delegates.

(Warning: arcane rules discussion ahead!) One of the reasons that they’ve been able to do this is because they have worked under the assumption that all delegates that are elected are elected as “Uncommitted” delegates. In other words, they simply replace the complex math formulas used for the preference poll with the complex variety of delegates elected. That has worked for quite a while now because nobody has challenged this paradigm.

However, the Party rules are very clear: you have to have a preference poll on the Presidential race, and you have to use the results of that poll to apportion these delegates. The rules do allow counties to select their state and congressional district delegates from the precincts if they so choose, but they still require the use of a preference poll. Presidential campaigns are depending on the results from Colorado to determine who will win on February 5, and it is certainly possible that one (or more) might challenge Adams or Pueblo if they choose to proceed without a preference poll.

In any event, my explanation of the caucus math worksheet received mixed reviews, at best. One gentleman got up and said it was too complicated for anybody to do. My response? It’s not too complicated for the 62 counties that already do it; I had confidence that Puebloans could figure it out. His next complaint? This process would result in lawsuits, because it discriminates against those who are poor at math. (It hasn’t yet, and essentially the same math process is used in other states, such as Iowa and Nevada, with nary a lawsuit.)

In the end, it was an interesting venture into Pueblo Democratic Party politics. In fact, I had assumed that I’d see a lot more complaints and negativity than I saw on Saturday. For the most part, Pueblo Dems were very nice and accommodating to the news I was delivering. Chair Terry Hart has been very helpful throughout this process in working with the State Party and the campaigns in resolving this issue.

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After Pueblo, I had to rush back to Canon City. There, I was greeted with a great surprise. I was to do caucus training for Fremont County Dems. The organizers expected around 30 people for the training. In 2004, only about 90 people even attended Democratic caucuses in Fremont County.

Boy, were they wrong! Nearly 100 people packed the Golden Age Center to hear my presentation and to participate in a mock caucus (using ice cream flavors as candidates). It was so exciting to see the same levels of excitement in my home county that I’m seeing everywhere else I go. The Fremont Dems even re-created the check-in procedure, issuing caucus credentials (don’t worry if your county doesn’t have caucus credentials — this is the first time I’ve seen that level of organization in a county caucus organization), and checking names.

There were a lot of new faces there — and plenty of supporters of all three of the major Democratic candidates for President. It was a good send-off for my trip to Southwest Colorado. And with the training in Fremont County, I estimate I’ve trained at least 1,500 people on caucuses this cycle (remember, there were only about 15,000 people who attended the Dem caucuses statewide last time, and my trainings have pretty much been outside of the Denver / Boulder / Colorado Springs metro areas).

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We then headed down to Durango. I was going to be doing a caucus training on Sunday in Pagosa Springs, and we turned it into a very miniature vacation. We took a short trip over to Mesa Verde on Sunday morning, went to the Pagosa hot springs on Sunday afternoon / evening, and went skiing on Monday at Durango Mountain Resort / Purgatory (outstanding beginner ski trails!!!).

Sunday afternoon, I met with a group of about 30 Archuleta County Dems, along with Jean Walter, the provisional county chair for La Plata County, to go over caucus training with them in Pagosa Springs. They are definitely hardy souls. I arrived with a warning from Bob Nash, the county chair, that the meeting room would be a bit cold. It was — forty degrees cold. After about thirty minutes of the heaters working, when the meeting started, the room was about 46 degrees. About the only pocket of warmth was that right around the computer projector.

But nobody left. Nobody even really complained. They just sat there and asked questions about the caucus process.

Archuleta county Dems are looking at a potential primary for county commissioner — which is pretty amazing, considering that the county has historically been pretty Republican. Democrats in Archuleta County are looking forward to seeing some real gains in 2008, and it looks like there will be an impressive push to elect a Democratic county commissioner there. It was a very heartening trip, to say the least.

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Tomorrow night is my last scheduled caucus training, to be combined with a National Convention conversation, in Alamosa. After that, I think I get to go back to making more entertaining speeches. Here is a bit from the State Party’s press release:

In keeping with the mission of creating a regional Convention for the Rocky Mountain West, Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) Deputy CEO for Intergovernmental Affairs, Sky Gallegos will conduct a Convention Seminar on Wednesday, January 23 at 5 p.m. at the Alamosa Family Recreation Center, 2222 Old Sanford Road, Alamosa. Gallegos will discuss opportunities for involvement in the 2008 Democratic National Convention, including running for delegate and volunteering opportunities. Democratic National Committee (DNC) member Dan Slater will join Gallegos and lead a delegate training session for attendees.

“Our mandate is clear: to make the 2008 Democratic National Convention the most inclusive, accessible and engaging in our Party’s history,” said Gallegos. “We aim to make this a reality by traveling the state and hearing what folks have to say. We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get involved in the Convention experience.”

The Neighboring communities in the San Luis Valley are also urged to attend the seminar in Alamosa.

Originally, State Chair Pat Waak was to attend, as well. However, her father passed away in Texas late last week, and she has been in Texas with her family taking care of the arrangements down there. Please keep Pat in your thoughts and prayers as she goes through this difficult time. Here is the information on what you can also do, if you would like:

Flowers are accepted. However, you may give a contribution in memory of Boxly Waak to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633.

Cards can go to Pat at her home at 4225 County Road 1.5, Erie, Co 80516.

Posted in CDP, Counties | Comments Off

Faith and Politics

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Yesterday more than 200 people were on hand for the Engaged Spirituality Forum at Iliff School of Theology. We will be posting copies of remarks and a video of the proceedings on the website in the near future. However, I want to provide some highlights from the day on this site.

After a wonderful opening mediation with George Tinker, David Trickett, President of Iliff gave his welcome. To follow are his remarks:

“Welcome to our second collaboration with the Colorado Democratic Party. Thank you for your continued interest in and support of this undertaking. It is my goal that we will collaborate effectively with all contenders for public service, no matter one’s affiliation, for we are called to be a community asset for reconciliation and healing of deep division. In truth, we know that the fratricidal tendencies apparent in some highly visible public arenas are adding toxins to the body politic–and such conditions are not sustainable.

I will share with you why I believe this kind of event is worth continuing, and not just before election cycles but also throughout the less hectic periods of our life together: public service is to be a calling, a vocation. Certainly privilege accrues to those who serve and lead us, but at the heart of it all is properly to be a sense that a public leader is actually working not for small interests but in truth for the common good. And far too many of us have allowed this inconvenient realization to slip from the center of our focus.

I grew up in a context–the Deep South–where hardball politics has been part of the culture since before the end of the War Between the States. My hometown was the last spot on the North American continent where the flags of the Confederacy were furled (some two months after Appomattox, since my ancestors refused to believe that General Lee had made a good decision by surrendering). I have seen the good and the bad, the smarmy and the exciting: LBJ used to visit my father’s business; we lived around the corner from Huey Long’s widow, and Russell Long was a family acquaintance; I dated the daughter of a governor of our state, and he (John McKeithen) used to spend hours in the late nights when I was at the mansion talking to me about the “human” side of being a public servant; and the very first burning cross I saw was up the street at the home of our local member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He stood for something that incurred the wrath–actually, the deep fear–of those who refused to see that civility and equity were truly for all and not merely for some. And then I lived and worked in Washington, DC for almost exactly twenty years before coming here. So I, like many of you perhaps, have seen a lot.

I’ve spoken several times with one of our distinguished speakers today, Leah Daughtry, about a dream for a certain big political event that will take place here in Denver this August. Rather than merely view the event as an occasion to rally forces for the election of a very good leader of this nation, what if it was a platform for a clarion call to this whole nation for renewal? For the renewal of pride in citizenship, for the renewal of hope that we can navigate the whitewaters of societal uncertainty together, for the renewal of the change that all can have a voice at the table?

It is in this spirit that I welcome you to this place and encourage you to discern afresh the bigger-picture value of what we’re all about today. Thank you for being part of this vital conversation. We here at Iliff very much want it to continue, and aim to be a partner with you.”

With this welcome, much of the discussion centered around a call to public service. I have asked Leah Daughtry, CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee, to povide a copy of her remarks so we can post them as well–here and on the website.

Posted in CDP, Democratic Issues | Comments Off

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