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

Well, tonight we pack up and head out on the road for a day on the Western Slope and in the San Luis Valley tomorrow. I will be giving caucus training in Glenwood Springs, Montrose, and Saguache. Take a look at a map — it won’t be a short drive. At least I’m looking forward to getting to the Hot Springs pool later tonight in Glenwood Springs for some relaxation.

We start at 10 am tomorrow (Saturday) in Glenwood Springs. There, I’ll be delivering a presentation on the caucus process at the RE-1 School Administration Building First Floor Conference Room. I’m told that the building is at the corner of 14th and Grand Avenue in Glenwood. We hope to see folks from Eagle, Pitkin, Rio Blanco and Mesa Counties, in addition to Garfield county Dems.

Then, I’ll be whisked away toward Montrose. I’m told I’m not even allowed to stop for lunch — lunch will be eaten in the car! At 2 pm, I’ll give the same presentation in Montrose at the Montrose County Library, 320 South 2nd Street in Montrose. We’re hoping to see folks from Delta, Ouray, San Juan, and San Miguel counties join Montrose Dems at this event.

Finally, I’ll head back east, to Saguache. At the Oasis Restaurant in Saguache (right on the highway), I’ll be giving the caucus presentation to Sagauche Dems, and we are hoping to have others from the San Luis Valley join us there. The Saguache training is set for 5:30, although I will likely not get there until at least 6:00. The event in Saguache includes either an enchilada platter or a chicken fried steak dinner for $20.00. If you haven’t RSVP’d for that event yet, you should do so ASAP to M. Esther Grant at 719-256-5490 or Jackie Stephens at 719-530-1356.

Then, of course, I’ll head home. If I can find internet access and a breath on Sunday, I’ll try to write about my adventures then — otherwise, you’ll just have to wait until Monday!

But that’s not all of the CDP Democratic fun going on in the Western Slope on Saturday. If you’re up in the northwest part of the state, you may want to consider stopping by Steamboat Springs. At 11:30, State Chair Pat Waak will be joined by Sky Gallegos from the DNCC (Democratic National Convention Committee) for a forum on the National Convention and a caucus training / neighbor to neighbor training. That event will be at Olympian Hall, 845 Howelson Parkway, in Steamboat.

See you there!

There’s now less than a year until November 4, 2008 - Election Day 2008.

This weekend and next week, please join one of our “Year Out” house meeting events as we begin a new voter contact strategy to elect a Democratic president and Democrats up and down ticket.

Our four field organizers - Robin Van Ausdall, Annajo Sanchez, Kim Phillips, and Daryl Grant - are organizing meetings around the state to roll out a new “Neighborhood Leader” program. We hope that you’ll attend one of these house meetings to learn more about the program and commit to serving as a Neighborhood Leader in 2008.

The work of Neighborhood Leaders is simple - they’ll each talk to 25 voters at least three times before Election Day 2008, and they’ll recruit two more people to become Neighborhood Leaders as well.

But the work of Neighborhood Leaders is also powerful - direct, personal conversations with voters at the door, or on the phone, are the most effective way of communicating with and persuading swing voters. Personal communication works better than TV ads, better than mailers, better than robocalls - it’s the essence of grassroots politics.

Democratic Party field staffers are organizing house meetings all over the country in November to recruit activists as Neighborhood Leaders. By Election Day 2008, there will be 500,000 Neighborhood Leaders nationwide, working to Get Out The Vote and take our country back.

By committing to be Neighborhood Leader in 2008, you’ll make a difference at the local level and you’ll be part of bold national effort. Please RSVP for one of the following house meetings today. If you attend one of the house meetings on Saturday, November 10th, you’ll be able to hear from Congressman Mark Udall, who will be joining the house meetings by conference call.

Thank you,

Pat Waak
CDP Chair

Saturday, November 10

Metro Denver House Meeting
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
Colorado Democratic Party HQ, 777 Santa Fe Drive, Denver
RSVP to: http://www.udallforcolorado.com/page/event/detail/jtc

Morgan County House Meeting
12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Morgan County Dems HQ, 329 Ensign, Fort Morgan
RSVP to: Lesle Bundy, lnbundy@yahoo.com

El Paso County House Meeting
12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Home of Jennifer Trujillo-Sanchez, Colorado Springs
RSVP to: Jennifer Trujillo-Sanchez, 719-651-9445 or 719-591-2188

Southeast Colorado Five-County House Meeting
12:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Prowers County Dems HQ, 207 S. Main St. Lamar
RSVP to: Susan Crites, carosue@centurytel.com or Randa Davis-Tice, davisticelaw@msn.com

Mesa State College Young Dems Meeting
12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Saccomanno Hall, Science Building, Mesa State College, 12th and Elm, Grand Junction
RSVP to: Kimberly Phillips, DNC Western Slope Regional Organizer: 970-404-1960 or phillipsk@dnc.org or Ashley Mates, Mesa State College Young Democrats President: 970-391-0699 or amates@mesastate.edu

Garfield County House Party
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
RE-1 School Administration Building, 1405 Grand Ave, Glenwood Springs
RSVP to: Kimberly Phillips, phillipsk@dnc.org, 970-404-1960

Sunday, November 11

Saguache County House Meeting
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
865 Pinecone Way, Crestone
RSVP to: M. Esther Grant, chuckmeg@fairpoint.net

Monday, November 12

Pueblo County House Meeting
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
Pueblo Dems HQ, 305 North Santa Fe Ave, Pueblo
RSVP to: Jane Wilson, Pam DiFatta, or Norma Oldham, 719-546-2745

Wednesday, November 14

Otero County House Meeting
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
CSU Extension, 411 North 10th Street, Rocky Ford
RSVP to: Diane Rikhof, 719-384-5701

Thursday, November 15

Crowley County House Meeting
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
RSVP to: Thomas Florez, lavetra@centurytel.net

Saturday, November 17

Montrose County House Meeting
12:00PM to 3:00PM
Home of Noelle Hagan, 2028 Cambridge Dr, Montrose
RSVP to: DNC Western Slope Regional Organizer: Kimberly Phillips: phillipsk@dnc.org or 970-404-1960 or Montrose County Democratic Party Vice Chair Jayne Bilberry: queenbilberry@hotmail.com or 970-596-1163

Montrose County Meeting and caucus/assembly training with Delta, Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel counties
2:00PM to 4:00PM
Montrose County Library, 320 South 2nd Street, Montrose
RSVP to: DNC Western Slope Regional Organizer: Kimberly Phillips: phillipsk@dnc.org or 970-404-1960

Routt County Caucus Training and Presentation
11:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Olympian Hall, 845 Howelson Pkwy, Steamboat Springs
RSVP to: Catherine Carson, tomangel@aol.com or (970) 870-2896

Saguache County House Meeting & Training
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Oasis Restaurant, 630 Gunnison Ave (aka Hwy 285), Saguache
RSVP to: M. Esther Grant, me.grant@hotmail.com or Daryl Grant, grantd@dnc.org or call 719-256-5490

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

Lots of stuff to write about today — but the first thing is a procedural key to electing Colorado’s delegation to serve at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Today, the State Party received word that the Colorado Democratic Delegate Selection Plan is in full compliance with the rules of the DNC and its Rules and Bylaws Committee. Political Director Bill Compton and Secretary Carolyn Boller did the yeoman’s work on this effort, and we now have an officially-sanctioned plan for electing our delegates.

In reality, there really wasn’t much doubt that the DNC would approve our plan — it was “conditionally approved” in August — but there is always a sigh of relief when the DNC finally gives its stamp of approval, and our staff can focus on other issues — such as electing Democrats across Colorado. Kudos to the DNC, because they acted very quickly. The revised Plan was submitted this morning, and Pat Waak received the approval letter this afternoon.

Look for the final version of the Delegate Selection Plan — which is the authority for the rules in the process of electing delegates from the caucus to the national convention — on the CDP website soon!

—————————–

In addition, the State Party released to county chairs the numbers of delegates from each county to the state and multi-county district conventions / assemblies a couple of weeks ago. Because of the anticipated increased interest in attendance due to the national convention in Denver, we decided to increase the delegate base — the total number of delegates that are split among the counties — to 5,000 instead of the 4,000 we’ve used in the past few assemblies / conventions. The delegation numbers are based on the vote for Bill Ritter in 2006 across the state. I’ve got a copy of the document on DemNotes here:
http://www.demnotes.com/wp-content/DelegateCalcs08dft3.pdf

A few notes: Denver still has the largest delegation, at 684 delegates; however, Jefferson County is not far behind, with 672 delegates. Rounding out the top five are Arapahoe, with 553 delegates; Boulder, with 474 delegates; and El Paso, with 390 delegates. Every delegation, regardless of the county size, is guaranteed 4 delegates. Several counties have the 4 delegate minimum this year (although fewer counties than normal): Baca, Cheyenne, Crowley, Custer, Dolores, Hinsdale, Jackson, Kiowa, Lincoln, Mineral, Phillips, San Juan, Sedgwick, and Washington.

If you download the file, you’ll also see delegation numbers for the Congressional Districts, other multi-county districts, and numbers for the members to the State Permanent Organization and Credentials Committees (the Platform Committee was selected out of the various House Districts at their reorganization meetings in February / March of this year).

————————————

Finally, what is up with the Colorado Republican Party? While you can get a bevy of information about all sorts of things from the CDP website at www.coloradodems.org, our Republican counterpart has been “under construction” for the entire tenure of GOP Chair Dick Wadhams. I recall attempting to check out their website around the time of the Party elections, and it looks the same as it does now: just a message: “coming soon - the new Colorado Republican Party online”. Hmmm…. I guess they must be too busy with the ideological purity testing in their laboratory to work on outreach to Coloradans.

That’s fine with me.

Last night we traveled in a convoy down to Pueblo, using the DNCC flex fuel vehicles, for the second DNCC community conversation. Leah Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC, and I had a pre-meeting with Senator Abel Tapia and Pueblo Democratic County Chair Terry Hart at the Pass Key. (In all my visits to Pueblo, this was my first Pass Key visit.)

Senator Tapia talked about the history of Pueblo and its working class roots. He spoke passionately of Pueblo’s transition to a Democratic stronghold and his own efforts to “build a bench” for Democrats. I met a number of people later that evening who represent his commitment.

Then it was off to the meeting site with sausage grinders in hand. I ran into Senator John Morse, one of our newest stars from El Paso County. He introduced me to Laura Rojas, a NBC reporter. Laura, it turns out, is an old friend of my youngest brother, Don Waak. They started out working together at a veteran center in Texas. I was so pleasantly surprised. Don is on total disability from the Viet Nam War and has spent his life since dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among all veterans.

Then next event was a pre-conversation “clutch.” Some 30-40 people gathered in the coffee shop to meet Leah Daughtry. It really was a “who’s who” of Democrats in Pueblo. John Cordova, the new Pueblo County Commissioner, was there, as well as a number of local electeds and candidates.

But the main event attracted over 100 people plus media. Dan Slater, first vice chair of the CDP, was in attendance, as was Alex Netherton, chair of Bent County Democrats and Gigi Darricades, chair of Alamosa County Democrats. Leah Daughtry and Governor Bill Ritter talked about the opportunities associated with the convention coming to Denver and to the West in general. They then fielded audience questions about volunteering, housing, and the logistics. I had a brief opportunity to respond to a question about the delegate selection process. (General instructions are available on the CDP website).

It was great to see a number of people from events that I attended over the past week. In addition to Alex Netherton, I saw four people who had been at the multi-county meeting earlier this week. Joan Breternitz and Jeanine Kenyon were there with Annajo Sanchez, the SE Field Director, from Huerfano County. Pete Lee, our new SD12 candidate, was down from El Paso County.

We are making plans for additional community conversations before the end of the calendar year. Check out the website for times and dates. Sky Gallegos, Deputy DNCC CEO for Intergovernmental Affairs, and I will be in Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins in the weeks ahead. We will make sure those dates and places are posted soon.

Pat Waak

Last night a crowd of Democrats from Baca, Prowers, Bent, Otero and Crowley Counties gathered at the Best Weston on Route 50 outside of Las Animas for training and general discussion. County Chairs: Kay Hefley (Baca); Randa Tice (Prowers); Tom Florez (Crowley); and the organizer, Alex Netherton (Bent) attended. County Commissioner Bill Long, County Clerk and Recorder Patti Nickell, and County Assessor Guy Wagner were also participants. I was able to provide two powerpoint presentations and handouts.

The first portion of the training was to discuss the “State of the State” politically. In 2004 Sen. Salazar carried 27 out of 64 counties. In 2005 we began to implement the 64-county strategy that was followed by the DNC’s State Partnership Program. Four rural Field Directors were placed in the four corners of the state.

In 2006, Governor Ritter won 38 out of 64 counties. Of those 11 counties that shifted, all were rural counties except one. The new data projections show that we can increase our margins in almost every county in 2008. But that will require work on the part of every active voter in the state.

We discussed the difference in the roles of the DNC, DNCC and the Denver Host Committee in preparation for the convention. Tomorrow evening the DNCC will hold the second of its community conversations. This one will be in Pueblo, and Gov. Ritter will attend. Over 12,000 volunteers have signed up to help with the convention, and the CDP will need volunteers as well during that busy week.

The next portion of the program was to explain the delegate selection process and to train participants in conducting precinct caucuses. Almost everyone present has been to a caucus in the past. Handouts explained the specifics processes, numbers of delegates, where they will be chosen and what needs to be done to get reporting in on time. The major handout is available on the CDP website.

We then reviewed a powerpoint presentation of the Neighbor to Neighbor project. This project is designed to increase our grassroots level outreach across the state. Each county will be receiving training in precinct organizing and use of the augmented voter file. The Field Directors have to recruit 150 precinct leaders by March 1, 2008. A.J. Sanchez, the field director for this region, explained that she will be working with counties to organize house parties to occur next month. More materials will be forthcoming as follow up.

It was a full meeting and there was a lot of question and answer sessions in each portion. This cluster of counties is planning another meeting next month to talk with Rep. Mark Udall about his Senate race and Betsy Markey, who is running for Congressional District 4.

Pat Waak

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

This afternoon, at the Fall Meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, we continued to have some very productive training and sessions for the Chairs, Vice Chairs, and Executive Directors of the various state parties here in Kansas City / Overland Park, KS. After posting the last message to DemNotes, I rushed downstairs back int our meetings, where we learned more about how to effectively run coordinated campaigns. It’s a little bit harder to run coordinated campaigns (indeed, in past years, we’ve been prohibited from using that phrase, “coordinated campaigns”) in Colorado with our more restrictive campaign finance rules, but we tend to still run plenty of field efforts with buy-in from our statewide races, such as the US Senate race and the Presidential campaign.

After that discussion, we heard more about planning as a state party for the Convention in Denver. The panel for this presentation featured a good variety — a state chair, a pair of long-time executive directors, and two folks from the DNCC (Cameron Moody, who directs operations for the DNCC; and Sky Gallegos, who is the Deputy CEO for Intergovernmental Relations for the DNCC). There was a lot of discussion of how to prepare delegates for what a convention will be like, especially new delegates, and how state parties need to properly plan to spend a week-plus in Denver. (Advice from the Utah E.D.? Drink lots of water the week beforehand.)

We ended the evening with a bus ride across the state line to the Truman Library, in Independence, Missouri. I’m a big fan of Harry Truman — as some of you know, I occasionally perform as Harry Truman for county parties. So it was quite a blessing to be treated to this wonderful event — the Library was opened exclusively for the ASDC crowd, and we had the place to ourselves. Ironically, the Missouri Democratic Party sponsored our lunch today in Overland Park, Kansas (where the speaker was the Lt. Governor of Kansas), while the Kansas Democratic Party sponsored our reception at the Truman Library in Missouri!

In any event, both of the state parties involved in co-hosting this ASDC meeting have been wonderful to their guests. Midwestern hospitality is alive and well, and this has been a very productive week for your Colorado Democratic Party leadership here this weekend. We head back tomorrow afternoon; hopefully, I’ll get back in time to attend the Jefferson County Dems’ annual Eleanor Roosevelt dinner tomorrow night at the Sheraton Denver West. If you’d like more information, you can visit the JeffCo Dems’ website at:
http://www.jeffcodems.org

Maybe I’ll see you there!

(Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

As I mentioned in my last post, we’re here in Kansas City / Overland Park, KS for the Fall meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC). This meeting is really a one-day only meeting, going from early this morning until tonight.

So far, it has been spectacular. I always enjoy ASDC meetings more than the DNC meetings because the ASDC meetings seem to be a lot more focused on the nuts and bolts of winning elections and local party organization. Today has been no different.

My day began an hour earlier than Pat’s and Sherry’s, as the various state vice chairs all met in an informal session to talk about what each of us do and the challenges each of us face. What was evident was that the position of vice chair differs across the nation, and how each of us handle our roles as vice chairs is so incredibly diverse. Some focus on fundraising, others focus on organizing within constituency groups. I indicated that my focus was on finding needs and niches, such as helping jump-start the convention bid, or helping plan for the state assembly and training caucus-goers, and meeting those needs (in addition to the work I do communicating with activists through such venues as DemNotes).

The best line of the morning? From Idaho’s wonderful Vice Chair, Jeannie Buell: “We’re really loving politics right now in Idaho!”

The morning was all about the future of our Party. After some mundane business, including some relatively minor changes to the ASDC bylaws, we heard from David Boundy, who is the Political Director for the DNC. Essentially, his presentation boiled down to the mission statement for the 50-State Strategy: Organize Everywhere, Count Everything, and Question Assumptions.

He pointed out that when you consider all of our key races — Presidential battleground states, Senate races, House races, and close legislative chambers, we already have “targets” in 46 states — which makes the 50-state strategy so critical.

Some of what David discussed has to do with the future organizing plans for the DNC, so I don’t want to go into too much detail on a public forum like this, but I will say this: everything you know about winning elections from a national level is going to change in the next year. The DNC is going through a pretty amazing transformation, and you’ll see that transformation in the next 6-8 months. The way people get their information is changing dramatically, and the Party is going to change dramatically to meet the challenges of those changes.

The other major speaker of the morning was Simon Rosenberg, who is the President of the New Democrat Network (www.ndn.org). He gave a simply stunning presentation that pinpointed the changing political and media landscapes of this decade, and how we need to change to meet those changes. He spent a lot of time discussing how the “old media” were simply so much less relevant, and how we needed to find new avenues to reach our voters in 2008 and beyond.

He also talked about the changing electorate in America. Our population is not only becoming more southern and western; it is not only becoming more suburban and exurban — it is becoming more Hispanic. This is where one of our biggest opportunities exist. By focusing so much time and effort on the immigration issue, the GOP in 2006 completely unraveled any inroads they had made with Hispanic voters, who came back to the Democratic Party in droves. By running ads that made Hispanic immigrants out to be the equivalent of terrorists, the Republicans have handed us a huge favor. By completely refusing to participate in a Presidential debate on Univision (the Democratic version — in Spanish — was the highest-rated show in the United State for that week), the Republicans have ceded Hispanic voters to Democrats.

And by doing so, they may have also ceded Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and — yes — Colorado. If that’s the case, that’s enough electoral votes to win the Presidency (when added to our base electoral votes) alone. Tom Tancredo must simply be shaking right now.

Finally, we had lunch with another amazing speaker — Kansas Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson. Lt. Gov. Parkinson, until just recently, was a Republican. Not only was he a Republican, but he was actually the Chair of the Kansas Republican Party. But the extreme right wing of his Party high-jacked this moderate’s Republican Party in Kansas, and he became a Democrat. Not just any Democrat, but Lt. Gov. Parkinson is a PROUD Democrat today.

He represents a huge shift in Kansas politics. For the 2006 cycle, Kansas saw 10 high-level defections of moderate Republicans — Republicans who believe in things like education, fiscal responsibility, reproductive choice, and a fair workplace for workers — to the Democratic Party. Already, two more principled leaders in Kansas who have seen their party leave them have become Democrats for the 2008 cycle. With only a 28% Democratic registration, Kansans are electing Democrats across the state to lead them, and turning out the right-wingers who have embarrassed the state (remember the Kansas state senator who said that things started going downhill in this country when women got the vote, and then promptly ran for Secretary of State? And she was a woman herself?).

I’m headed down now for the afternoon sessions on the coordinated campaign and plans for the National Convention. I’ll try to write more later.

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com) Pat, Sherry and I are in Kansas City tonight for the Fall meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC). Well, we’re actually in Overland Park, Kansas, but Kansas City sounds slightly more sexy than Overland Park (and there aren’t as many songs about Overland Park as Kansas City).

 Tonight (Friday), Pat and I attended the meeting of the ASDC Executive Committee at the home of former Kansas State Chair (and former South Dakota Chair) Dennis Langley. It was easily the nicest home I’ve ever been in — indeed, the first that had an actual “grotto”. We were joined by the dynamic Democratic Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius. The meeting itself was another opportunity to get together and compare notes on how things are going across the country. Party chairs and vice chairs are getting excited about coming to Denver next summer for the National Convention, and it is great to see the energy coming from the State Party leaders about their delegations’ trips to Denver next year.

Tomorrow is the primary day for meetings. The full ASDC will be sitting down with the DNC’s Political Director, David Boundy, and discussing the plans for utilizing the State Partnership Program (a/k/a the “50-State Strategy”) within the election campaigns of 2008. We’ll also be discussing coordinated campaigns and preparations by the DNC for a successful convention in Denver. Tomorrow night, we’ll attend a reception at the Truman Library across the river in Independence, Missouri. I’ll write more tomorrow (or Sunday) when we get a chance.

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

Last night, I was in Denver again for a meeting of the Denver 2008 Host Committee’s Volunteer Committee (that’s a long name!). I am one of the co-chairs of that committee, along with Landri Taylor and Cec Ortiz, who are both wonderful people with which to work. The Committee is continuing to work to ensure that we plan for every possible contingent to identify and utilize the 7,000 to 10,000 volunteers that will be needed to put together the most memorable Democratic Convention in the history of our Party.

If you haven’t yet signed up to volunteer, you can do so on the State Party’s website (www.coloradodems.org), or at the Denver 2008 website (www.denverconvention2008.com). If you have signed up, you should have received about four different e-mails from the Host Committee over the past few months providing short updates. If you have signed up, but haven’t received those e-mails, you may want to check your spam folder and junk e-mail settings to be certain they aren’t being mis-identified as spam. You also may want to try signing up again online.

In the next couple of months, you will be able to set your volunteer profile online, and that will help us identify where we can use you as a volunteer as things heat up closer to next summer. So, when you get the e-mail about your online profile, be sure to go online and get that done — hopefully, before the end of October.

Right now, though, the Host Committee is in need for more college interns. If you, or somebody you know, is interested in being an intern for the Host Committee / DNCC, please send an e-mail to the Host Committee with your resume or qualifications to info@denverconvention2008.com - be sure and put “Intern” in the subject line, so your e-mail doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of e-mails received by the Host Committee daily.

Also, the Host Committee is looking for volunteers who can donate a full day or more a week on a regular basis to helping out at the Host Committee offices. Send an e-mail to the address in the prior paragraph with the subject line “Full-Day Volunteer” with your availability.

Thanks again to the thousands of you who have already signed up to volunteer!

———————————

Saturday, I was also in Denver to help out with the “Colorado Caucus Convention” put on by the Obama campaign in Colorado. Over 500 people attended, most of whom had never been involved in politics before.

I promised that DemNotes was not going to become an Obama-centered experience, so I want to focus on how training folks with one campaign has got a lot of people thinking about the February 5 caucuses and how preparation for those meetings is so critical, all across this state.

Many of you who read DemNotes are county party officers. For you, it is certainly not too early to start thinking about February 5. It’s easy to pass it off as being too far away because it is in 2008, but it really is right around the corner. In fact, the deadline to register as a Democrat to participate in the caucuses is only December 5. It is important to start thinking about where you want to hold precinct caucuses in your county — and it is also important to remember that February 5 promises to be very different than prior caucus nights.

Presidential campaigns all across the board are already planning on how to turn out their supporters to caucus night on February 5. It is not unreasonable to think about how your county will handle a flood of possibly three or four times (or more!) the normal caucus attendance on caucus night. Where you’ve put six or seven precincts in a gymnasium or school cafeteria, you may only be able to put two or three. This requires a lot of planning. How do you as a county party also encourage attendance? How do you bring out new voters? Consider putting caucuses on college campuses or closer to the neighborhoods of each precinct. Every person that turns out to caucus is exponentially more likely to be your party volunteer in September and October, when we need them to win this state for our nominee and Mark Udall.

It’s also not too early to thing about scheduling caucus training for December and January (or earlier!). I’m more than happy to come to any county in this state to do a PowerPoint presentation about how to run a caucus smoothly (and, no, I won’t be pushing for any candidate in that presentation). The precinct caucus is the first step to organizing a successful precinct and county party, and the more county parties are prepared for caucus night, the easier things will be for you and your candidates in the fall of 2008.

Because 2008 is going to be a tough year, and precinct-by-precinct organization will win the day for us in November.

Hearty thanks are in order for the Pueblo County Democrats and friends for their hard work in staffing a booth at the Colorado State Fair for the past eleven days. They chose a prime location in the upper concourse of the central Fair building, right near an entrance and had TONS of flyers and brochures available, plus energetic workers with a good plan for interacting with the people passing by.

The gate traffic numbers aren’t in yet, of course, but it’s a sure thing that hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the Democratic message here in Pueblo! Great job, guys!