In addition, Cary Kennedy has helped repair and replace aging schools in Colorado through the B.E.S.T program, making schools safer, creating jobs, and stimulating local economies throughout the state.

Watch a video about schools in the San Luis Valley and “Commit to Cary” by signing up to help:

http://www.kennedyfortreasurer.com/CommitToCary/

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.

Pat Waak

Join Your Fellow Democrats to Cleanup Graffiti in Denver Next Sunday, September 9th

Join Democrats Work, Denver City Council Member Paul Lopez, and the Colorado Young Dems to paint out graffiti and cleanup the Barnum neighborhood on Denver’s West side on Sunday, September 9th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

All are welcome, so bring a friend! Please gather at Councilman Lopez’s office, 69 Knox Court in Denver.

You can see all the details, get directions, and RSVP here.

http://democratswork.org/index.php?
page=events&view=eventdetail&eventid=77

(You can also RSVP by sending an email to rsvp@democratswork.org.) All of the necessary equipment will be provided, so wear some clothes that can get dirty and let’s get to work!

We’ll have free t-shirts for the first 20 people to RSVP.

If you have any questions, please call Erin Egan at 303-856-8849.

Under the “Adopt-A-Peak” program managed through the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI), ParkCoDems are signing on to provide funds and/or host work projects to help preserve and maintain recreational uses of the 29th highest peak in Colorado.

Greg Seabloom, representing CFI, signed the adoption papers with County Democratic Party 1st Vice-Chairman Soren Frederiksen during its August Central Committee Meeting.

The preservation and restoration of trails is part of a series of projects managed through CFI and in cooperation with other groups in different areas of the state. In Park County, the group is also working with the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative to provide a balance between private landowner liability concerns and recreational uses. Colorado HB 1049, passed in 2006, helps in that area.

Park County Democrats are planning to be a focal point for trail restoration and are seeking to help coordinate volunteer groups during the late spring through early fall months. Additionally, the Dems see an excellent opportunity for local, state and national Democratic candidates to travel to easily accessible Kite Lake as a beautiful backdrop for environmental and business compatibility statements.

Kite Lake is used as the base for Mt. Democrat restoration projects and is located just a 15-minute, 6 mile drive from Alma. The lake is located 96 miles by car from the State Capitol, an estimated 2-hour drive.

Climbing the 54 Colorado “Fourteeners” is a hundred million dollar a year business for the state. A recent study through Colorado State University estimates that guests hiking the 54 peaks spend $200 on average in contributing to local economies, while CFI estimates a half-million hikers make an attempt to climb one in a given year.

The summit of Mt. Democrat lies just on the Park County side of its border with Lake County, and is less than three miles south of Summit County.

Two events are upcoming:

On August 30, CFI is arranging a Mt. Democrat, Lincoln and Bross site visit at to the public to see what goes into projects they undertake. For more information on this event, contact James at CFI, 303-278-7650 x 121.

On September 8, Park County Democrats are looking for a small group of trail volunteers to work with the help of CFI leaders. On that day, Friends of the Forest Foundation and CFI are organizing a Restoration Kickoff for projects on the three peaks marking the beginning of work needed to reopen access to Mts. Democrat, Lincoln and Bross in areas where trails cross private land.

Nearly two dozen individuals interested in the project have already signed on at a ParkCoDem information booth during this summer’s Burro Days in Fairplay. The county party is hopeful of gathering participation from other state Democrat groups, especially those in neighboring Lake, Summit and Eagle counties. For more information or to volunteer, please contact county party officials Soren Frederiksen, 303-816-5230 or Dennis Obduskey, 303-816-1616.

Other contact information:

Park County Democrats: www.parkcodems.org

Colorado Fourteeners Initiative: www.14ers.org

Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative: www.mrhi.org

Dennis Obduskey 303-816-1616

Join Your Fellow Democrats to Plant Trees in Denver on Saturday

Join Democrats Work, the Denver Dems, and the Denver and Colorado Young Democrats for a morning of tree planting in the Villa Park neighborhood of Denver on Saturday, August 25th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. All are welcome, so bring a friend!

Please gather at Barnum North Park, in the parking lot next to the ball field. (The parking lot is just off West 8th Ave., just west of Federal Blvd.) You can see all the details, get directions, and RSVP here. (You can also RSVP by sending an email to rsvp@democratswork.org.) All of the necessary equipment will be provided, so wear some clothes that can get dirty and let’s get to work! We’ll have free t-shirts for the first 20 people to RSVP.

If you have any questions, please call Erin Egan at 303-856-8849.

WHAT: Legal Ease: Fundraiser for Rep. Morgan Carroll, Live Jazz!

WHERE: Hardwig’s L’Apogee Resaurant, 911 Lincoln Ave, Steamboat

WHEN: Sat. August 11, 2007, 5:30 – 7:30 PM

WHO: You! All Welcome

*suggested donation: $50.00 (everyone welcome, anything appreciated!)

If you can’t make the event, but still want help support my re-election effort, you can:

1. Write a Check to: Committee To Elect Morgan Carroll, 1165 Ouray Street, Aurora, CO 80011; or

2. Donate online at: www.repmorgancarroll.com; or

3. Make monthly payments (i.e. $5, $10, $15) by going online to: www.repmorgancarroll.com.

Thank you for your support!

Come find out what folks are thinking and how we can better serve their needs.  Can you commit to 2 walk dates this year? We will be continuing our annual Listening Tour on:

Sat. Aug. 18, 2007 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
15445 E. Iliff Ave, #C, Aurora 80013
Precinct 367 – No Chair
Precinct 368 – Chair, Niki Floyd
To RSVP, please Contact Bill Kaberlein at 720.240.7653 or wjk34@comcast.net.

Sun. Aug. 19, 2007 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM) Joint Canvass
Rep. Carroll & Sen. Williams
15445 E. Iliff Ave, #C, Aurora 80013
Precinct 336 – Chair, Sig Nelson
To RSVP, please Contact Bill Kaberlein at 720.240.7653 or wjk34@comcast.net.

Sat. Aug. 25, 2007 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
15445 E. Iliff Ave, #C, Aurora 80013
Precinct 514 – No Chair
To RSVP, please Contact Bill Kaberlein at 720.240.7653 or wjk34@comcast.net.

Sun. Aug. 26, 2007 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)
15445 E. Iliff Ave, #C, Aurora 80013
Precinct 516 – Chairs, Don Gardner & Leann Root
To RSVP, please Contact Bill Kaberlein at 720.240.7653 or wjk34@comcast.net.

To volunteer for Rep. Morgan Carroll you can also sign up at www.repmorgancarroll.com/volunteer.

Calling all Carrollers! Bring Act III to Aurora!

Join us at a variety show to support Rep. Morgan Carroll’s re-election campaign

The Aurora Hills are alive with music, comedy, poetry and politics on Saturday, September 15th 6:30 – 9:00pm

Tin Cup clubhouse at Aurora Hills Golf Course
50 S. Peoria St. Aurora, CO 80012

Suggested Donation: $20

To perform or attend, please RSVP to Karen@arapahoedems.org 720-234-5303