Continuing with my weekend catch up visits to outlying areas, I was down in the Southwest in late April. On Saturday, the 26th, I met with about fifteen good Democrats in Cortez. In addition to the officers, like chair Toni Gurnea, Hazel Perkins, chair of the Dolores County Democrats, drove over with husband, Delano. We had a great morning talking about the statewide turnout for caucuses and all the work going forward for the campaigns in 2008.

Montezuma County Democrats are growing again and excited about rebuilding their local party after some rough times. They sent a table full of people over to Durango for the evening dinner.

In Durango, the La Plata County Democrats filled the room with tables and enough excitement to raise the roof. Jean Walters, Chair of the local Democrats, led off an evening of speeches. Wally White has launched his campaign for re-election as County Commissioner. And Peter Tregillus is also running for another commissioner seat. I know that Joelle Riddle, who won in 2006, is eager to keep Wally and have another Democrat on the county commission.

State Sen. Jim Isgar had a chance to talk about the accomplishments of the current legislative session. U.S. Rep. John Salazar also gave an update from the U.S. Congress. But the highlight of the evening was former Texas Agriculture Commissioner, author, and radio show celebrity, Jim Hightower. He gave his usual humorous assessment of the issues, even though he is quite serious about the need for us to “agitate.”

I got to say my words and then ran in to Jim Hightower the next morning. We talked about the changes going on across the country.

On my way to Otero I stopped off at the CD6 Assembly and Convention. The turnout was great but put huge demands on the credentialing system. We learned a lot and elected our first delegates to the national convention.

CD6 also nominated Hank Eng as the Democratic nominee for Congress. Steve Clark and Ivan Botvin were candidates as well, and we thank them for stepping up. Hank received an overwhelming 88% of the vote, which is a tribute to his hard work over the past few months. Hank has a great background, including some similarities to mine - former Peace Corps Volunteer and former USAID employee. He will work hard to earn the support of voters in the district.

This past weekend I attended the annual Tri-County JFK dinner in La Junta, along with 160 other guests. Otero County Democrats presented a check for $500 to me for the state convention. Hooray for Otero County Dems!!! They also gave checks to State Rep. Wes McKinley and the local commissioner candidates.

Rep. McKinley was the evening emcee. Speaker Andrew Romanoff talked about the state legislative session. He did his usual great job.

Betsy Markey talked about her Congressional race in CD4. We are so lucky to have Betsy as our candidate. She will be officially nominated on May 16, but she already is working really hard across the district.

I followed Betsy and talked about the process, the upcoming state and national conventions. It was a message that Democrats in this part of the state were eager to hear. Then Sal Pace addressed the group about his House District race. Finally we heard from Ronnie Carleton on behalf of U.S. Rep. John Salalzar.

Thanks to Ed Morris for his fine work organizing the dinner. It was great to see Otero Chair Diane Ritkoff. I also had a chance to talk to Crowley Democratic Chair, Tom Flores, about the fires around Ordway. And I sat between Mayor Lawrence Sena, former Bent County Chair, and Alex Netherton, current Bent County Chair. It is the best part of being CDP Chair, being able to spend time with hard-working Democrats throughout the state.

We have gone from the County Assembly/Convention circuit to what I call the Luncheon/Dinner circuit. But before I mention that, the Larimer County Democratic Breakfast Forum was held on April 2, 2008 in Fort Collins. In addition to a room full of Democrats, Jeff Brady from National Public Radio was there to record my remarks on being a “superdelegate.” I just had a chance to listen to his remarks today. He didn’t use all my comments, but his story is one of many on the “superdelegate” process that is part of NPR’s coverage. Check out the website.

On Saturday, April 12, I went to Sterling for Logan County’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. Sixty people attended a lovely dinner served by the local 4-H club. Delinda Korrey, a reporter with the South Platte Sentinel, covered the dinner and took photos. Delinda is also a delegate to the state convention this year.

Dorothy Davis was presented with the Service Award for all her efforts on behalf of the party. Jennifer Felzien, the great chair of Logan County Democrats, did a terrific job of presiding over the dinner. And Jack McLavey honored the Democrat of the Year while all of the past Democrats of the Year were honored as well.

I had a chance to talk about turn out in the state and the upcoming state convention. There were several new people in the room, as well as Democrats who are coming back into the party.

Betsy Markey gave a great speech about her run for the 4th Congressional District. She also announced that she would be back in Sterling to hold a town meeting with local voters in the coming week.

I enjoyed talking to Debi and Nita Wyatt who are doing the job of Co-Secretary. Nita has long been involved in Logan County politics. Now her daughter, Debi, is partnering with her in business and politics.

This past Saturday I attended Morgan County’s annual Big Ten Dinner. It was especially important because our friend Linda Iungerich attended and received the Democrat of the Year award. Linda has been ill over the past several months, and I had called to see if I could drop by on my way to the dinner. I was delighted to hear that Linda was coming to the dinner.

Tom Procter, chair of the Morgan County Democrats, emceed the evening. We heard from Bruce Bass, who received an award. Monisha Merchant spoke on behalf of Senator Hillary Clinton. Bill Winter spoke on behalf of Senator Barack Obama. And Adam Bowen, chair of the Larimer County Democrats, spoke on behalf of Rep. Mark Udall and his run for the U.S. Senate.

Betsy Markey had a chance to speak, as did I. However, the keynote speaker was state Senator Brandon Shaffer. He gave a great speech on the progress being made on behalf of Coloradans by the state Senate. “All politics is local” was reflected in his comments.

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

Saturday night, I was honored to co-emcee the annual F.D.R. Dinner for the Fremont County Democrats. My co-host was our great candidate for Fremont County Commissioner, Gloria Stultz (who just finished a very successful stint as the President of the Canon City Chamber of Commerce). Gloria is a great example of the wonderful successes we are seeing across Colorado in recruiting some of the best candidates for 2008 that the Democratic Party has ever seen.

The F.D.R. Dinner is certainly very meaningful to me. When I first moved back to Colorado after law school, the first event I attended for the local Dems was the F.D.R. Dinner. I met a lot of people who have done much since then. That’s where I met Tim Knaus and Chris Gates, who were running against each other (and the incumbent, Phil Perrington) for State Party Chair. In the end, both served terms as State Chair. I sat next to Margaret Atencio, who is now the Second Vice Chair of the State Party, and who was exceedingly nice to me. I also saw this energetic young Democrat who I’d met a couple of weeks earlier in Pueblo at a Young Democrats of Southern Colorado meeting — someone named “Buffie” McFadyen. Looking back, I’m amazed at the potential that existed in that room in February 1999.

During that dinner, the county chair, the late Beatrice Kauffman, announced that the local party needed people to volunteer to run for county party officer positions. Afterward, I went up to Beatrice and introduced myself (I’d just moved to Canon City about two months prior as a new attorney at a local law firm). I told her that I’d been heavily involved in politics at my college, and had worked on a number of campaigns, so I’d be happy to help out as, say, the county party secretary or treasurer. Beatrice responded, “You know, I really don’t want to be the county chair any more. I’ve been doing this for too long. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to be the county chair, would you?” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast-forward to 2008. The crowd was easily more than twice the size of the 1999 crowd. The faces were different in many respect, but the energy level and potential were not. There were still candidates for Party office (Ray Plumery, who is running for the Democratic National Committee, along with three or four who are running for National Convention delegate slots). Buffie was still there — but this time, she’s a senior-level State Representative.

And so was our next United States Senator. Mark Udall came down to Canon City with his campaign manager, Mike Melanson (who served, by the way, as the State Party’s Executive Director under the aforementioned Tim Knaus). Congressman Udall did a great job talking about his positive vision for America’s future. He focused on the need for a better national security and foreign policy agenda, and he also spent a great deal of time talking about the need for a common-sense energy agenda that focuses on new technologies and renewable resources. Congressman Udall was a huge hit, exciting the crowd so much he received two rousing standing ovations.

We also heard from other candidates. Hal Bidlack (candidate for Congress in the 5th CD) spoke at the beginning of the agenda, and he was funny, heart-warming, and insightful as usual. He seems to be a natural candidate, and he’s doing a good job of getting all around the district and meeting folks. Anna Lord, who is one of the most tireless campaigners out there, was present to talk about her follow-up bid for HD21. Cal Cali, who is a candidate for HD60, was also there to explain his thoughts and his campaign. Finally, we heard from Buffie McFadyen, who is running for her final term as a Representative for HD47. So far, the Republicans have not been able to field a candidate to run against her — they’ve run heavily targeted campaigns the last two elections only to come up losing by larger and larger margins each time. She brought down the house in her usual style — and even brought a tear or two by remembering Beatrice Kauffman and that first FDR Dinner we both attended in 1999.

In the end, Fremont Dems raised a great deal of money, and will have a good treasury to go into 2008 with. When combined with a great ballot of candidates, the Fremont Dems are looking to continue the transformation of this Republican county just the same way we’ve transformed what used to be a Republican state!

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

I just wanted to briefly write about the last weekend of county assemblies and conventions. While, technically speaking, the window for county parties to hold their county assemblies and conventions concluded on Tuesday, the last actual meetings were on Saturday. While the focus last weekend was primarily on Boulder and Jefferson Counties, I spent my time in a couple of Southeastern Colorado counties.

Normally, I would have been in Boulder and/or JeffCo, but my kids were coming home for Spring Break, and I went to Amarillo to retrieve them on their trek from Oklahoma. So on Friday night, on our way down to Panhandle country, we stopped briefly at the Cow Palace Inn in Lamar to say hello to the folks at the Prowers County Assembly and Convention.

Prowers Dems have a nice tradition — they hold a sit-down dinner in conjunction with their county assemblies. I attended their assembly in Grenada in 2006, and was impressed at the family atmosphere of the county Dems. This year, I could not stay for dinner, but I did say a few words of thanks to the folks on the Kansas border who don’t see much attention at times from the state-level folks (although, ironically, Gov. Ritter and Betsy Markey did visit Lamar the following day). Since I grew up in a county neighboring Prowers County, it certainly did not feel unusual for me to be back in this part of the state.

Rep. Wes McKinley was there, and was well-received. I also had a chance to briefly chat with their candidate for District Attorney, who struck me as a very well-spoken candidate with the experience that is needed to do that job well.

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The next morning, on the way back from Texas, I stopped in Springfield to attend the Baca County Assembly and Convention. Again, it was a nice mix of familiar faces and new blood in the room. I arrived just after the Presidential preference poll, which was won by Sen. Clinton, who ended up with two of the county’s four delegates. Sen. Obama received one delegate and “uncommitted” received the final delegate.

Every county meeting is a little different — Baca County’s was marked by a bake sale in the back of the room, filled with a great trove of home-made goodies. It was difficult to keep my kids’ hands off of the food, but we succeeded. I spoke briefly to the group, said hello to several people that I knew already, and then headed back home to Canon City. I understand that Betsy Markey was able to make it down there just after I left.

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Whew. It has been a whirlwind few weeks, with all of these county assemblies and conventions. In the end, I was able to make it to 14 county assemblies / conventions (15 if you count the stop I made in Douglas County after they had adjourned). It is truly a great experience, and one I always look forward to doing. This is a wonderful state, and our Democrats are such a diverse and energetic crowd. Whether packed into standing-room only crowds in a school auditorium in Arapahoe County, or gathered around a couple of tables in Lincoln County, or neatly organized in a lecture hall in Pitkin County, Democrats are most certainly alive and well in 2008 in Colorado. And we all know that we have to continue that activism if we want to see this nation and this state — and our communities — change for the better.

Thanks to all of you who have been so kind and hospitable during this period. I’ll look forward to seeing you out on the campaign trail in months to come. Now, it is off to planning a pretty amazing State Convention and Assembly for all of you in May!

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.

(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!

(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.

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.

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

I just wanted to drop two quick notes today on DemNotes. First, I forgot to mention one other thing I heard on Saturday. We all are seeing the intense interest on the Democratic side of this election. We are also hearing about the lack of interest on the Republican side. Nothing could show that further than what happened here in Fremont County over the past couple of weeks.

You may recall from my reporting that Fremont County had over 200 delegates to its Democratic Convention and Assembly. Historically and demographically, Fremont County is a Republican county. There are nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats in Fremont County. Yet, they only had just over 170 delegates elected to their Republican County assembly. More importantly, when they actually held the assembly last weekend, we have heard that only 86 — that’s right, less than half of what the Democrats had — only 86 Republicans showed up! (In case you’re worried about quorum, don’t — the GOP has vastly different views on quorum than the Democrats.)

Something is happening in Colorado and in America!

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Also, I’ve been lax in getting photos up to the photos page of DemNotes lately, but I’ve finally gotten pictures from several county assemblies up there today (not all of them, though — I didn’t bring a camera to a few). You can see all of the photos at:
http://www.DemNotes.com/photos

Note, of course, that I’m not a professional photographer (that should be evident!). Many of the photos are grainy or blurry due to the poor lighting at most of these things (and my older digital camera). I don’t just pick out the best photos to upload — you pretty much see them all, so don’t expect the best-quality pix. (By the way, if you’re in a picture and you don’t want it up on the website, or you don’t think it is flattering, just let me know and I’ll take it down.)

See you all soon!

(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!