(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)

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!

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

Since yesterday’s post about Tuesday’s elections, I’ve received a number of e-mails from folks talking about electoral success for progressive Democrats across Colorado. So I thought I’d let you all know of several more key successes.

Cal Johnson, former county chair in Jefferson County, writes of a key win in Golden:

I want to inform you that an active Jeffco Democrat, Jacob Smith, was elected the new mayor of Golden in a huge upset while defeating the Republican incumbent mayor.

Golden seems to be part of a trend — just look up in the mountains, where a similar victory occured in Salida, according to Mark Emmer:

In Salida, progressive Dem Chuck Rose beat incumbent Republican Mayor Danny Knight and former councilman Bill McCormick:

Chuck Rose 1,048 - 55.16%
Danny Knight 690 - 36.32%
Bill McCormick 162 - 8.53%

Chuck walked door-to-door, got attractive yard signs out early, and put together a great campaign team of youngsters (folks under 45) who were new to politics but not to working hard.

In Emmer’s comment to yesterday’s post, he also notes of a victory of a “progressive Republican,” Scott Damman. I didn’t even know the Colorado Republican Party allowed progressives in anymore! A censure is sure to follow….

Lind Iungerich, who has been a fixture in the Democratic Party in Morgan County and northeast Colorado for years (sorry I couldn’t make it to your party a few months ago, Linda!), writes of victories in Fort Morgan:

Dan, You are so right our school boards are technically non-partisan, but it was sure great to have two Democrats elected to our RE3 school board. We are very proud of Roger Segura and Rob Carruth. They not only were elected but top vote getters.

I also heard from Sandy Briggs, who is the dynamic county chair in Summit County:

Four seats on Summit School District Board of Education were filled in Tuesday’s election by two Democrats and two progressive independents, including a 21-year-old 2003 Summit High School graduate.

We believe this must be the first time in our history a Republican will be not be serving on the school board.

We also passed, with the help of party activists, measure 3A, a small property tax increase to support full-day kindergarten, security upgrades, growing transportation costs and deferred maintenance items by a 53-47% margin.

The rabid opposition, as revealed in frantic letters to the local paper, consisted mostly of rich retired Republicans (The Triple Rs) and multi-millionaire second/third homeowners, who object to paying $3 more a year on each $100, 000 of their assessed valuation.

…

Summit Democrats openly endorsed the mill levy as a needed investment in middle class families headed by two working parents.

What the Republicans ultimately gained was a deserved reputation for mean-spiritedness and twisted logic.

The Republicans in Colorado never seem to learn, do they?

Finally, Kim Phillips, who is our DNC Field Organizer for Northwest Colorado, gave me a great rundown on victories out in the part of the state where the water flows a little differently. Here is some of her report. From Glenwood Springs:

Progressives swept the city council races last night, winning all 4 seats up for election.

The candidates ran on platforms reflecting the important business of the community, being affordable housing and growth management as well as involving the community more in the business of the city.

Of the 7 seats on council, 3 were not up for election. Progressives hold 2 of these seats.

With the 4 wins last night joining the 2 seats held, a 6 to 1 progressive majority is now in place toeffectively with the serious issues facing our western slope communities.

The party line breakdown is 2 Dems, 3 Unaffiliated, 2 Rs.

The Us here are all Democrat-voting and reflect our values, as does the newly elected Republican.

And in Roaring Fork School District 1 (Glenwood / Carbondale / Basalt):

I would like to share a positive story on a school board candidate who won last night on a solutions, responsiveness, and integration platform that included a message of community cultural integration, specifically addressing the Latino student population.

The candidate is Bill Lamont, who won the District C seat of the RE-1 School District, who is from Carbondale, Garfield County. Bill is a Democrat who has retired from city planning, and has been very involved with the Garfield County Library District, volunteers in the local schools, created “ACE” or Advocates for Carbondale Education, spearheaded the effort to conduct annual teacher and parent surveys, involved with school bond issues as well as city planning committees and strategic planning for our communities.

…

Bill Lamont represents true, progressive leadership here in the Roaring Fork Valley.

In addition to Lamont, another progressive, Deb Bruell, also won in the same school district. Kim also reports that there continues to be a progressive majority on the Steamboat Springs city council after Tuesday’s elections, by a 4D, 2R, 1U margin.

Continue to send me reports of our success in Colorado. Winning in these communities — and controlling these critical municipal seats — is a very important part of the long-term health of the Democratic Party in Colorado. Thanks to all of those who ran, and to all of those who got out and volunteered to help with these great races!

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

As many of you know, last night was election night in municipalities across Colorado, as well as in several places nationwide. And November 6, 2007 continued a national trend we saw last November: Democrats winning big.

There were two governor’s seats up in two pretty red states last night: Kentucky and Mississippi. In both states, Republican incumbents were running for re-election. While we didn’t see the results materialize the way we wanted in Mississippi, we certainly saw great results in Kentucky, where Democrat Steve Beshear won by nearly 20 points over the culture-of-corruption-plagued GOP incumbent. And even in Mississippi, while we lost the Governor’s mansion, Democrats took control of the state senate, and kept control of the Mississippi House.

But Kentucky and Mississippi were only the tip of the iceberg. In another state that is at least pink, Virginia, Democrats gained seats in the State House and won control of the State Senate in some pretty costly legislative races. Virginia is now controlled by a Democratic governor, and recently elected a new Democratic U.S. Senator, as well. Maybe they’ve been watching us in Colorado!

Here in Colorado, I’m pleased to report lots of Democratic victories around the state. Heck even here in Canon City — about as Republican as you can get in Colorado — the former County Democratic Party Chair, Pat Freda, was the first-place finisher in a battle to win an At-Large seat on the city council. Old-fashioned shoe-leather won the day here in Fremont County. Democrats saw wins in Lakewood, with new council members Kellen and Quinn joining Mayor Murphy. Several progressives were re-elected to critical school board seats in Colorado Springs. Thornton and Westminster saw great progressive wins in their city council races. The top vote-getter in the at-large school board race in Pueblo District 60 was the Democrat that was heavily cheered at the Jac-X-Pres dinner on Friday night.

That was my stream-of-consciousness listing of just a few of the many Democratic victories last night here in Colorado. I haven’t seen a comprehensive list anywhere — so use the comments section to let us know about victories by progressive Dems (yes, I realize most of these races are technically non-partisan) in your neighborhood!

Last night I met with about the Huerfano Democratic Committee in Walsenburg. Cindy Campbell, the chair, hosted us at Alys’ Fireside Cafe. We heard about the new library that is proposed to be built at the beginning of the meeting, and then Lee Hawke came over to talk about his re-election campaign next year for District Attorney.

In between, I had the opportunity to discuss the state of the party, the Denver Host Committee’s current actions, and the DNCC plans for community conversations. In addition, to continuing my travels, Ramona Martinez and I co-chair the Outreach Committee for the Host Committee. What that means is we carry information throughout the state and to other states about the Host Committee’s plans. Of course, next week the DNCC will be holding a community conversation with Leah Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC, and Governor Ritter in Pueblo. I urged folks to attend.

We also talked about the new role of the Field Directors and their mandate to recruit precinct leaders throughout the state. I urged the county committee to help Annajo Sanchez identify precinct leaders in the days ahead. Annajo talked about upcoming house parties, especially for rural areas where going door-to-door is more difficult.

Finally, we all discussed the delegate selection process and how to conduct a caucus. Instructions are now downloadable from the CDP website, but I had brought copies for the committee and we went through the instructions.

After a question and answer period and some announcements, a group of us went upstairs for one Alys’ Fireside Cafe’s great dinners. There we got into a lively discussion of issues, particularly Pinon Canyon.

I then spent the night with Jeanine Kenyon in La Veta. Jeanine is the 2nd Vice Chair of Huerfano County Dems, and she has just finished her lovely home. I was her first guest, and we had a great breakfast conversation before I headed for Colorado Springs.

My first stop was lunch with Pete Lee. Pete is running for Senate District 12, which will be an open seat in 2008. Pete has been a Colorado Springs lawyer for more than 30 years. He also has been on the boards of numerous non-profits, including the Pikes Peak Mental Health Board, Youth Transformation Center, and the Manitou Springs Restorative Justice Council. He was the volunteer coordinator for John Morse For Senate Campaign, as well as manager and treasurer for Ken Barela’s legislative campaign last year.

From lunch, Pete and I walked to the Penrose Library Carnegie Room and greeted a number of people who came for the announcement. John Morris, El Paso County Chair, introduced some key supporters who spoke, including District 2 Board of Education member Deborah Hendricks, local Republican attorney and former judge Lindsay Fischer, and State Representative Michael Merrifield (D) Manitou Springs. John also read a statement of support from City Councilwoman Jan Martin. It was my pleasure to introduce Pete Lee, who then announced his candidacy and talked about his vision for Colorado.

The bi-partisan support in the room bodes well for Pete’s candidacy, and we look forward to working with him in the year ahead. Today is his 60th birthday, and it was gratifying to see his commitment to public service.

As I headed out, a call from the CDP gave me the information that Rep. Debbie Stafford (R) Aurora has changed her party registration to Democrat. We welcome her to the Democratic Party and know that she will find a home among the Democratic caucus. It is, and will continue to be, our effort to ensure that our party best serves the people of Colorado.

Pat Waak

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

Last night, I went to Pueblo to attend their county Central Committee meeting at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center. The primary purpose of the meeting was to fill a vacancy in the office of County Commissioner, which had been held by Loretta Kennedy. Commissioner Kennedy left the position to become the District Director for Congressman Salazar.

The vacancy committee election is one of the great parts of the Colorado political process. You get to see some unusual characters (more on that later), raw politics, and high-level drama all in one energy-filled meeting. Pueblo County Dems did a great job running a smooth and contention-free election.

Four candidates were nominated last night for the vacancy: John Cordova, Larry Howe-Kerr, John Rodriguez, and Rep. Dorothy Butcher. Each had their own points to make, and each did a great job with their nomination speeches. Cordova emphasized his experience working with the county government, and his architectural experience as the county builds several new facilities in the next few years. Howe-Kerr emphasized his focus on the future for Pueblo County, as well as the challenges that the county and Southern Colorado are facing. Rodriguez (who, in the interests of disclosure, did a great job working for me as my interim campaign manager for the first few months of my state senate campaign) gave an energized speech about the need for youth, new ideas, and a new generation of leadership in Pueblo. Rep. Butcher rounded out the quartet with an emphasis on her legislative ability to get things done and her records of accomplishment in the Legislature.

Not that those were the only four in the race. One other fellow tried to run, but learned that he couldn’t, as he’d only registered as a Democrat last month. The Party allowed him to speak for a couple of minutes, though, and he announced that he’d be running for the seat next November. The, um, odd part of the “announcement”? He began by talking about how he’d had 8 felony charges filed against him, but was “still in favor of law and order”. Like I said, you see some interesting stuff at these meetings…

Anyway, after all the speeches were done, the 160-plus folks there voted. A candidate had to get a majority for a win, so multiple ballots were a possibility. The Party had set rules that after the first ballot, anybody with less than 15% of the vote would be dropped from the second ballot. The first ballot results were as follows:
– Cordova 72
– Butcher 66
– Howe-Kerr 17
– Rodriguez 11

For those of you out there without blazing-fast math skills, I’ll tell you that Howe-Kerr and Rodriguez didn’t meet the 15% threshold for the second ballot. This left a final second ballot between Cordova and Butcher. As soon as the results were announced, the Party went into the second round of voting. There was a degree of tension in the air as folks waited to hear the outcome, and to find out who would be their new county commissioner. In the end, here was the final tally:
– Cordova 94
– Butcher 70

Both Cordova and Rep. Butcher spoke briefly after the results were read. Rep. Butcher emphasized that she “received a clear message” - that the Democrats in Pueblo wanted her to return to the Legislature and continue to fight for issues important to Pueblo. Commissioner-elect Cordova, who is by nature a pretty quiet and deliberate fellow, spoke even more succinctly. He thanked the Democrats on the Central Committee and promised to work as hard as possible to be as good of a Commissioner as possible.

It was a great evening, and there seemed to be a positive attitude among almost everybody in attendance, regardless of who they were supporting.

Congrats, Commissioner Cordova!

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

Yesterday afternoon, we headed up to Fort Collins for the annual Larimer Dems’ picnic. As I mentioned in my last post, it was held at a pretty unique location: the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

Now, I’ve been blessed to meet a lot of celebrities over the years in my party activism. But I didn’t expect yesterday to be one of those celebrity-meeting days. I was wrong. I had the great pleasure of meeting Kim Jordan on Saturday.

Who is Kim Jordan? Kim Jordan is the co-owner of New Belgium. She’s also a GREAT Democrat! New Belgium has been a wonderful supporter of the Democratic Party and progressive causes for years — the very first ASDC meeting that Pat and I attended in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2005 featured a reception sponsored by New Belgium. But its not just that Kim is a successful and progressive owner of a brewery that makes her a celebrity — its how she and her husband run New Belgium that makes her a celebrity (she certainly didn’t act like a celebrity — when I met her, she was behind the bar with her employees, pouring drinks). New Belgium is to beer and brewing what Ben & Jerry’s is to ice cream. That’s not over-stating it one bit. After a year of working for New Belgium, every employee becomes a part-owner in the company. They also get a new bike. Take a look at the history and civic responsibility exhibited by New Belgium here:
http://www.newbelgium.com/story.php

Okay. I realize this isn’t really about Kim Jordan and New Belgium. Instead, once folks made their way up to the second floor of the brewery, they were greeted with nearly 200 Larimer County Dems and a lot of fun. The event featured a celebration of the fact that two of the fastest-rising freshmen in the Colorado Legislature are Larimer Dems: Reps. Randy Fischer and John Kefalas. Both did a great job with the crowd. Also featured was the newest county commissioner in Larimer County, Randy Eubanks. Larimer Dems are hoping to win a majority on the Board of County Commissioners in 2008 — they’ve begun winning a lot of the state and regional races county-wide, and are looking to transform that success into better wins at the county level.

There’s also a real effort afoot to focus on local races — strengthening the Democratic bench. Earlier this year, I wrote about the transformation of the Fort Collins City Council into a progressive-majority council. There’s now an effort to elect more progressives and Democrats on the Loveland City Council, as well.

Of course, the highlight of the afternoon was to hear the three Democratic candidates for the Fourth Congressional District. Angie Paccione, Betsy Markey and Eric Eidsness all did a great job sounding the same message: regardless who wins the Democratic nomination, we must unite behind the nominee to ensure that we defeat Marilyn Musgrave in November of 2008. I’ve got no favorites in that race, but the Larimer Democrats who attended seemed to be the loudest for former Rep. Angie Paccione. However, it was clear that both Markey and Eidsness had good pockets of supporters present, as well.

Thursday night, I’m headed to an event in Denver sponsored by the Colorado Young Democrats with former Senator Gary Hart. If you’d like information on that event, go to the CYD website at:
http://www.coloradoyoungdems.com/

Hope to see you there!

At Colorado Confidential, Mark Mehringer has posted a detailed analysis of statewide voter registration numbers over the past two years. When it comes to data a picture really is worth 1,000 words, and Mark has produced some nice graphs that illustrate noticable trends. Among others, the Republican registration advantage has declined 16% in the last two years, and the key “swing” counties Jefferson and Arapahoe have in particular seen Republican registration advantages narrow.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1786

Yesterday was election day in some municipalities. I didn’t realize this until I saw the scroll at the bottom of the television screen last night, with local election results posted.

Local elections are technically “non-partisan”. That means the party affiliation doesn’t appear on the ballot, and candidates generally don’t run as Democrats or Republicans. But I think it’s common knowledge that a Democrat is going to handle governing a municipality one way while a Republican will have a very different outlook on governing. In some municipalities, especially where growth or water or affordable housing is an issue, this can be a pretty significant difference.

I don’t have results from across the state, but I did get an e-mail this morning from our Western Slope regional coordinator, Kim Phillips. Kim reports a HUGE shift in the Durango City Council. Two Republican incumbents were unseated, and three new Democrats were elected, which transforms the City Council to a 4-1 Democratic majority! Here’s what Kim has to say:

I wanted to share with you the excitement in Durango tonight!!

The La Plata Democratic Party can brag about 3 Democrats winning seats on the Durango City Council.

While the candidates are not nominated by the party, being non-partisan races, the La Plata Dems did what they could to support all the Democrats running.

Congrats to the successful candidates for the Durango City Council:
Leigh Migs, Michael Rendon, and Scott Graham.

I understand 2 incumbent Republicans were unseated,and these 3 wins make for a 4-seat advantage to Democrats on a 5-seat council.

Now, it is about good governing and solid stewardship of the issues critical to the communities in La Plata: water, afforable housing, oil and gas extraction, smart growth, renewable energy options.

I also wanted to thank those candidates who heeded the call to duty but were unsuccessful tonight. Being a candidate is a tough job, and an appreciable sacrifice of one’s personal, professional and family time and resources.

A final thanks goes out to the volunteers, such as Julie Levy, who donate their time, talent, energy, money, and shoe leather to get the candidates across the finish line.

With 4 Democrats on the city council and 2 Democrats as County Commissioners, La Plata County will be well served.

Amen, Kim! How about in your locality? Did you have elections? How did they turn out? Go online and report your results in the “comments” section to let us know how things went for your Democrats where you are.