Date:
Wednesday, November 14th
Time:
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Location:
Cool River Cafe
8000 East Belleview Avenue
Cost:
Free with a cash bar!
Invite your friends!
Special guests include local elected officials and party activists
Contact Nicki Van Veen with any questions at
720-298-5307
nicki.vanveen@yahoo.com
From the Democrats Work Email Newsletter:
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.
From Matt Gray, VP of the Broomfield Young Democrats:
The Broomfield County Democrats are proud to announce the new arrival of the Broomfield Young Democrats. On September 8, the Broomfield Young Democrats will be holding a kick-off celebration and fundraiser and would love for you to attend. The event will feature candidates and their representatives for congressional district 2, state house and senate, and the Broomfield City Council. The event will be held between 3pm-7pm at CB & Potts at 555 Zang Street in Broomfield . Come and support our new Young Democrats organization! $15 Young Democrats, $25 Young “at heart” Democrats. For more information, contact broomfieldyoungdems@gmail.com.
The Colorado Young Dems have joined with Democrats Work on a tree-planting project in Denver this weekend. See below for more:
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.
PDC Presents
War Made Easy
How Presidents and Pundits Keep
Spinning Us to Death
Wednesday August 8, 2007
7 P.M.
The Public is Invited
Colorado State Democratic Headquarters
777 Santa Fe - Denver, Colorado
Norman Solomon has created a documentary which examines the role our mainstream
media played in helping the Bush administration sell our invasion and subsequent
occupation of Iraq. The documentary also explores other examples where our national
media has failed to critically examine the case presidents have made for taking
U.S. troops into war. A free, critical and independent press is essential for
maintaining a democracy and our national media has failed to fulfil that role.
PDC is planning to have Norman Solomon available for questions and discussion
after the documentary via phone in opportunity.
Please join us for an important look at our mainstream media, a discussion
of the film and some of the problems that exist with our national media and
its approach to covering news in America today.
Further information email mark@pdcolorado.org
or visit our web site www.pdcolorado.org
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at: www.DemNotes.com)
Thursday evening, I went to the Governor’s Mansion to join the Colorado Young Democrats at their event there. We were happily joined by the Governor and the First Lady, and the crowd was simply ecstatic to be there. You see, they were there about nine years ago, for a similar event sponsored by Governor Romer.
The Colorado Young Democrats are resurgent, and there’s a reason why: Colorado’s youth are increasingly supporting and volunteering for Democrats. Part of this event was about honoring and thanking those who led the CYD and Denver Young Democrats in years past. Several great leaders were honored, spanning decades of Colorado Young Democrat leadership. But we certainly have a great group of folks leading the CYD today, as well — I’m so proud of how well-organized the youth vote will be under their leadership in the year ahead.
The Governor took several questions, and I was impressed by how many really good energy-related questions that people had. The Governor was excited to point out the solar panels that were being installed, quite literally, as he spoke, on the top of the Mansion’s Carriage House.
But, to be frank, the highlight for me was just being in the Governor’s mansion. Of course, it is the People’s House, but I’d never before been given the opportunity to enter. The interior of the home is just stunning, with details in every nook and cranny at which to marvel. The art is amazing, and the antique furnishings are exquisite. My only complaint: they haven’t yet updated the room with the photos of all of the Governors and First Ladies to include Governor and Mrs. Ritter. Otherwise, it is certainly worth the time to visit if you get the chance.
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The day before, I had gone up to Denver as well, to see the Governor at the State Party’s breakfast a few blocks away from the Governor’s Mansion, at the Crawford Hill Mansion. It, too, was a beautiful venue, and we were in the back yard. Several dozen folks showed up to help the Party financially and meet the Governor. Governor Ritter has long been a strong supporter of the State Party, and Wednesday morning was no exception. We certainly appreciate his help; I don’t know where we would be without his assistance. Heck, he’d even spent the day before on the phone raising money for the National Convention in Denver!
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Speaking of the National Convention, Governor Dean made an announcement that hasn’t received much press yet today: he’s appointed a co-chair for the National Convention. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin will co-chair the Convention in Denver next August. Here’s some of the article from an Atlanta news station:
Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced Monday his intention to nominate Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as a permanent convention co-chair.
Franklin has served as Mayor of Atlanta since 2001. She was the first female mayor of Atlanta and the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city.
“It is a great time to be a Democrat,” Franklin said. “Our diverse leadership for the convention represents the core values of Democrats everywhere. As we prepare for the Democratic National Convention and to send our nominee to the White House, we will also showcase the best in our party and in America.”
Mayor Franklin is also the first woman to chair the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.
The recommendations by Dean will be presented to the Convention Rules Committee next summer. Delegates to the 2008 Convention will then vote at the opening session.
UPDATE: It would help if I read the DNC’s press releases in my inbox before I hit the “post” button. The Governor made more announcements than just the one above. Rather than screwing it up again, here is an excerpt from the release:
Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced today his intention to nominate Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California to serve as Permanent Chair of the
2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Dean also announced that three outstanding leaders, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Chair of the Democratic Governors Association; Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, President of the National Conference of State Legislatures; and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, will be nominated as Permanent Convention Co-Chairs.This distinguished group of strong Democratic leaders from all levels of government and all parts of the country exemplifies the vision, values and commitment to America’s future that the Democratic National Convention will showcase in Denver.
“Our Party is bringing a new kind of leadership to our country at all levels,” said Governor Dean. “We are extremely fortunate to have such a distinguished group of strong Democratic leaders chairing our Convention. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi, Governor Sebelius, state Senator Van de Putte and Mayor Franklin for their commitment to putting our presidential nominee on the path to victory for the November 2008 election.”
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Of course, you probably haven’t heard much about that due to the news that is dominating the storyline today: the President has commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, allowing him to get away without any prison time and only a fine.
Wow. Kinda’ makes you nostalgic for Nixon, doesn’t it?
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
(At the outset, let me apologize for the length of this post. I’ve not posted in a while, and have a lot to report.)
Regular readers of DemNotes will know that I very, very rarely spend time asking for money. We have several thousand readers on the DemNotes e-mail list, and I absolutely don’t want DemNotes to become one of those mailing lists where everything just seems like another ploy to get you to give more money to the Party. I give you readers more credit than that, and DemNotes is about organizing, about reporting what is going on around the state, about opening the curtains to the formerly smoke-filled rooms, and about being accountable as a State Party officer to you.
That being said, when I do come on and ask for money, know that I only do so on the most important of occasions.
The summer of an “off-year” is particularly hard for state parties to raise money. For the Colorado Democratic Party, that fact has been compounded by the intense fundraising pressure that donors feel from every angle. Several Presidential candidates have been in the state in the past month to raise money, the DSCC is raising money, Mark Udall and Congressional candidates are hard at work raising money — and, oh yeah, there’s this multi-million dollar fundraising effort for some soiree in August of 2008 in Denver for which money must be raised.
This is why it is so important that every single one of you out there with the means to do so should go online now and buy a ticket to the State Party’s breakfast with Governor Ritter on Wednesday morning. Yes, tickets are pricey ($250 per person), but that means that the event will be more intimate. Here are the details:
The breakfast will held from 7:30-9:00 A.M. at the Historic Crawford Hill Mansion, offices of Haddon Morgan Mueller Jordan Mackey and Foreman, 150 East 10th Avenue, Denver, Colorado.
You can register and pay online through the end of today at:
http://www.coloradodems.us/events/ritterbreakfast
If you don’t get this e-mail until Tuesday, you can still e-mail Christine Pokrandt at the State Party, and she will help you get your tickets:
cpokrandt@coloradodems.org
But, let’s be frank: whether you can afford tickets to this or not, we still need your financial help. You shouldn’t need an event to be an excuse to help build the infrastructure that will elect a second Democratic US Senator, and that will send our Nine Electoral Votes to the Democratic nominee for President. No, you just need a link, and here it is, so you can give to the Party online:
http://coloradodems.us/contribute
It’s a quick and easy process, and it is secure. Please, please, please, help put us in the position we need to be to win more elections in 2008!!!
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Okay. Enough begging for money. You know what you need to do.
On Saturday, just a day back from a week visiting family in Oklahoma, I went up the road to Buena Vista to attend the Chaffee County Dems’ BBQ. It was a great night, and a huge crowd (normal for Chaffee County) was on hand to hear from State Party Chair Pat Waak and newly-elected Senator Gail Schwartz. Both did a great job framing the issues and strategies for the next year and a half.
But, to be frank, the point that was hammered home in Buena Vista, in Susan Bristol’s back yard, was not given by the speakers. The point of the evening was to have fun - to enjoy the company of like-minded Democrats; to enjoy a drink and a meal and talk about how to continue to transform that county. Only a few years ago, Chaffee was a reliably red county. Now, nearly every county office is held by a Democrat, and Democrats are the dominant and active party there, while the Republicans continue to descend into shrill partisanship and right-wing demagoguery. People in Chaffee County have seen that Democrats can govern better than Republicans, have better ideas than Republicans, and even reach across the aisle in a spirit of bipartisanship better than Republicans.
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I got home late Saturday night from Chaffee County only to wake up at 5:30 the next morning to head back up the road to Denver. All of your State Party officers were proud to walk with the Stonewall Democrats in the PrideFest parade on Sunday morning. It was my first attendance at PrideFest, and it was probably the most uplifting of all parades (with the possible exception of Fiesta Day in Pueblo). To a person, nearly every person along the long, and heavily packed parade route cheered the Democrats. Congresswoman Diana DeGette was there, along with Congressman Perlmutter. Each of the three candidates for Congress in the Second CD were there (Polis, Fitz-Gerald, and Shafroth), and did a great job greeting the crowd.
Notably absent? The Republicans. They just don’t understand how important inclusion is to the future of politics in America and Colorado. With Dick Wadhams at the helm, I think they’re still stuck in this concept that winning elections is more about dividing than uniting. So, while we’ll appeal to the greater spirits of the Colorado voter, Republicans will continue to lose in Trailhead-style fashion, because they need to divide to win. I think the crowd recognized that, because in the festival area, while there were booths packed by participants in PrideFest, the loneliest booth seemed to be that for the Log Cabin Republicans. Their Party has left them.
We’ll take their votes.
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A last-minute change to my schedule was the addition of the rally by Michael Moore on the steps of the Capitol. It was absolutely fantastic! News reports estimated that around 2,000 people attended the rally last night, which was co-sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America, among other groups. We heard some shocking stories about abuses by health insurers, and we heard an inspirational talk by Michael Moore about how we need to change the system.
I’m sold.
I’m sold in large part because I was lucky enough to snag tickets to the local premiere of SiCKO, Moore’s new documentary about the health care system in America, last night. The movie makes sense, and it leaves you outraged at what has happened to America. I really, really, really encourage each of you to take time to see it. It smashes the right-wing talking points about universal health care into shards, and it does so with a wonderful sense of humor. One talking point we always hear is how expensive universal health care would be. A British member of Parliament really nailed it on the head in the movie:
“If we can find money to kill people, then surely we can find money to heal people.”
After the movie, which prominently featured a Denver resident (and lots of Broncos logos), Michael Moore came out to engage the crowd in some great Q and A. He answered questions about the movie, about how to deal with some of the right-wing talking points, and about how we have to change the mindset of Americans. My only complaint (and one I voiced last night to Moore)? He called us a “red state”. Red! In the end, it seemed like he was challenging us to prove him wrong, since our electoral votes went to Bush in ‘00 and ‘04.
So let’s prove him wrong.
And let’s get out there and force our leaders to fight for universal health care for ALL Americans!
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I’ll report about the Governor’s breakfast on Wednesday. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!