DemNotesBlog for Colorado Democrats by State Party First Vice Chair Dan Slater

Many of you out there remember what it was like to be a Democrat in Colorado before the turn of the century. We occasionally won a few elections. It wasn’t uncommon to have a Democratic Governor, or even a Democratic U.S. Senator. But for the most part, Colorado was a “red state”. We voted for a Democrat for President once since the 1960s — and that was primarily because Ross Perot drained enough votes to give Bill Clinton a Colorado plurality in 1992.

Being a minority party, we had our primaries, but they were (for the most part) pretty tame. Anybody can point out some exceptions to that rule, but the mentality of being a minority party is simply a different mentality.

Then we hit this decade.

We’ve held solid majorities in the State House and the State Senate for the last three terms. Both U.S. Senators are Democrats. Our Governor, and all but one of our statewide major elected officials are Democrats. And we voted for a Democrat for President in 2008. Colorado has changed. And our Democratic Party has changed.

But being in a state now dominated by Democrats means other things are going to change, too. It means more primaries. And it means those primaries are going to be more bruising. That’s just a fact of life.

I’ve been watching folks on both sides of this U.S. Senate primary wring their hands about how “unfair” the other side is being. But the reality is — and I know there are a lot of folks who don’t want to hear this — that this primary between Senator Michael Bennet and Speaker Andrew Romanoff has been pretty tame.

Sure, both sides have hit with a few hard punches. But none of the punches by either candidate have been below the belt.

Sorry, Bennet supporters, but everything Andrew Romanoff’s campaign has put out there has been defensible, and fair game. And you would have heard it in the general election if not in the primary.

And to my friends on the Romanoff side who have also complained that the Bennet campaign has lied about their record, everythiing they’ve said has been defensible, too.

I’m not saying that third parties haven’t put out low blows — they have. But the campaigns have acted like campaigns act in primaries: hit hard, and time the hits to count when they need to count.

So here’s the lesson: don’t whine about the President coming to town for your opponent — work for your candidate even harder when that happens. Don’t gloat about how much more money your candidate raised than your opponent — work harder to make that money count on the ground. Your complaints and your gloating don’t win elections; your hard work wins elections.

At the end of the day, I’m much happier to be on the Democratic side of the Senate race. Look over to the Republicans; they have yet to figure out that they’re the minority party. They’re bickering over high heels and bull dung like they’re still the majority party in Colorado. At the end of the day — at the end of this day, in fact — we’ll have a choice between either Romanoff or Bennet and one of the Republican jokers.

I like that match-up. Because like I said when I endorsed Andrew Romanoff, we have a pretty good choice on our side of this race — you can’t go wrong with either guy.

So if your guy wins tonight, don’t do a whole lot of gloating. Instead, work to unify our party and welcome supporters of the other guy to your candidate. And if your guy loses tonight, shed a tear. But then get out and work your ass off for the other guy.

Because Colorado — and America — simply can’t afford six years of Jane Norton OR Ken Buck.

QThe Short End of the Stick

Tuesday night, I drove up to Denver to speak to the Windsor Gardens Dems in HD 6B. I was a replacement, as the group had originally scheduled to hear from Anthony Graves, one of Colorado’s DNC members. Anthony is far more eloquent, and far more attractive than I am, so it is safe to say that the wonderful Dems of Windsor Gardens ended up with the short end of the stick. 

I showed up very prepared to discuss the state of the 2010 elections; however, the group had other topics in mind. Specifically, there were a number of questions about the DNC’s involvement in Colorado’s Senate primary. 

So I threw out the script. 

Instead of a one-way speech from my point of view, we ended up having a very free-flowing discussion about DNC concerns, what OFA is doing, and how a “coordinated campaign” works. 

In the end, I was impressed by the level of discourse that we had. I didn’t give the group the answers they were necessarily looking for, but I think I was able to answer most of their questions.  Quite frankly, I think I prefer doing these Q&A sessions every once in a while – it helps me stay on my toes and attuned to how Dem activists are thinking, while also making sure people’s questions get answered. 

So if you want me to come to your neck of the woods and talk to your group, drop me a line!

————

This morning, I’m in a planning meeting with the Fremont County Dems. It is so refreshing to be reminded how hard people are working in every corner of Colorado to get plans in place to win elections at every level!

QThe Short End of the Stick

Tuesday night, I drove up to Denver to speak to the Windsor Gardens Dems in HD 6B. I was a replacement, as the group had originally scheduled to hear from Anthony Graves, one of Colorado’s DNC members. Anthony is far more eloquent, and far more attractive than I am, so it is safe to say that the wonderful Dems of Windsor Gardens ended up with the short end of the stick. 

I showed up very prepared to discuss the state of the 2010 elections; however, the group had other topics in mind. Specifically, there were a number of questions about the DNC’s involvement in Colorado’s Senate primary. 

So I threw out the script. 

Instead of a one-way speech from my point of view, we ended up having a very free-flowing discussion about DNC concerns, what OFA is doing, and how a “coordinated campaign” works. 

In the end, I was impressed by the level of discourse that we had. I didn’t give the group the answers they were necessarily looking for, but I think I was able to answer most of their questions.  Quite frankly, I think I prefer doing these Q&A sessions every once in a while – it helps me stay on my toes and attuned to how Dem activists are thinking, while also making sure people’s questions get answered. 

So if you want me to come to your neck of the woods and talk to your group, drop me a line!

————

This morning, I’m in a planning meeting with the Fremont County Dems. It is so refreshing to be reminded how hard people are working in every corner of Colorado to get plans in place to win elections at every level!

There are plenty of reasons to vote for Stan Garnett to be Colorado’s next Attorney General.

1. Garnett has a record of service to the people, and has worked hard to ensure that the citizens of his judicial district are protected from those who would do harm to the community.

2. The incumbent, John Suthers, has proven to be an opportunistic elected official concerned more about spending Colorado’s resources on politically-based lawsuits than protecting Coloradans.

3. Suthers has also worked with the wrong priorities — gutting, for instance, the environmental protection team in his office and refusing to aggressively fight for Coloradans over corporations.

But this morning, the Denver Post came up with another reason to vote for Stan Garnett: He puts away muderers that John Suthers recklessly released from prison.

In summary, here’s what happened: As U.S. Attorney, John Suthers signed off on letting a violent criminal out on the streets as an FBI informant. That criminal proceeded to kill four people. The case went unsolved until Boulder DA Stan Garnett and his team opened the cold case, found the murderer, and put him in prison for good.

From the Denver Post:

Less than four weeks before Scott Kimball started killing people, then-U.S. Attorney John Suthers signed the order that transferred the habitual criminal and escaped convict to Colorado and set in motion his ill-fated career as an FBI informant.

Suthers, now Colorado’s attorney general, does not have “any specific recollection about involvement in the case,” said Mike Saccone, spokesman for the attorney general’s office. He said Suthers was unavailable for further comment.

The document approving the transfer, which was recently unsealed by a federal judge, was signed by Suthers on Dec. 24, 2002 — just days after Kimball’s release from a Lakewood prison in a deal in which he promised to provide information about a murder-for-hire plot involving a witness in a drug case.

A Denver Post reporter who approached Suthers at the state Republican convention to give the attorney general another opportunity to respond was referred to Saccone.

The “Rule 20″ document is among court papers that were recently unsealed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger, and they shed new light on the dealings of federal prosecutors and FBI agents with Kimball.

While out on the streets in 2003 and 2004, he murdered three women and his uncle, evading suspicion for years before the fathers of two of the victims pressed for a new investigation that unraveled his elaborate web of deceit.

The unsealed papers, in conjunction with other documents, raise new questions about the diligence with which federal prosecutors and agents looked into Kimball’s background before making him a paid “confidential human source.”

In 2000, for example, a federal judge in Montana, in a stern ruling, determined that Kimball was “impossible to supervise in a community setting” and concluded “you’re irresponsible, untruthful and simply do what you want to do regardless of the rules and conditions imposed by this court.” And in 2001, he had escaped from a low-security Montana prison.

The documents also show that some details of his dealings with FBI agents were not shared with the federal judge who presided over the plea deal. Kimball was paid approximately $20,000 by the FBI, according to the documents.

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett, who plans to challenge Suthers in the November election and who prosecuted Kimball for the killings, said he was flabbergasted by the picture painted by the newly unsealed documents.

“This is one of the worst plea bargains in the history of the world,” he said. “To give this kind of guy with four prior felonies this kind of bond and freedom so he could go and commit these murders is unbelievable.”

If you heard Stan Garnett on Saturday, you know he’s an amazing candidate and will make a great Attorney General. This just provides yet another reason why we need Garnett as Colorado’s next Attorney General.

Well, the signs have been cleared from the floor of the 1stBank Center. The candidates have moved on to the campaign trail. The press has printed / broadcast their stories. And my feet have finally gotten some rest after two days of standing and running around. I’m still recovering, though.

So I’ve been able to answer the question: yes, it is possible to be both exhausted and fired up.

Because if you didn’t get fired up after spending this weekend in Broomfield, you aren’t alive.

The weekend started on Friday with various district assemblies and parties. I can’t speak to the parties, as I was in assemblies most of the night; however, I hear that all of the various parties were well-attended and a good break from the business of the weekend.

The assemblies, though, were the focus of our Party on Friday night. We placed names of some amazing candidates on the ballot: folks like John Salazar, Betsy Markey, Jared Polis and John Flerlage. And a surprise last-minute entrant from the Fifth CD: former Fremont County Chair and Florence City Council member Kevin Bradley.

Multi-county house and senate districts also met. I chaired a meeting where we unanimously chose Gloria Stultz, former President of the Canon City Chamber of Commerce, to be the Democratic nominee in Senate District 2. Also, along with Mike Weissman, we went to the HD61 Assembly, where delegates were faced with the unusual situation of dealing with the uncertainty of Kathleen Curry’s status as a Democrat-turned-Unaffiliated Representative who missed the ballot deadline (yet is now challenging that deadline in court). In the end, the delegates decided to place a candidate on the ballot by an overwhelming margin — making a decision that having a Democrat on the ballot is a critical statement to make.

The HD61 meeting went well into the evening, leaving little room for sleep (or food, for that matter). Because Saturday began early.

Saturday was the Main Event at the 1stBank Center. The crowd was heavy, and energized. I spent the morning dealing with some minor crises — things like a whole row of seats missing in a section, and Prowers County getting two seats when they should have had six (oops).

But once Pat gaveled the Assembly to order (to be clear, contrary to what Rep. Polis said, we have gaveled every Assembly / Convention to order exactly on time since 2004), things ran as smoothly as anybody could anticipate.

Governor Ritter kicked off the assembly, and received a standing ovation for his service. He presented an award to Kit Carson County Chair Judy Arends for her lifetime of service to the party.

Then, the business began. The first item on the agenda was nomination of our candidate for Governor, Mayor John Hickenlooper. The nomination video was unique, touching, and funny — just what you’d expect from John Hickenlooper. Then, the surprise: The Mayor walked out wearing a jacket with zebra-stripe lapels, visually reinforcing his message: “I’m a zebra of a different stripe.” (I tried to find the video online, but it doesn’t appear to be up yet.)

After the Mayor was unanimously approved as our nominee, we had the “main event” of the day: the U.S. Senate contest. Both candidates had biographical videos, followed by nominations from the floor. Both candidates had huge crowds of supporters on stage behind them (including myself when Speaker Romanoff was speaking). Both candidates had great and enthusiastic responses from their supporters. And both candidates made compelling cases about which one would be the better nominee.

And then we voted. In the end, it wasn’t close, and it wasn’t particularly surprising. Andrew Romanoff continued to steadily build on his caucus-night performance by doing a few points better than he did at the county assemblies: he won with a 60.4-39.6 point margin.

But the day didn’t stop there. We have a great slate of candidates — probably the best slate of statewide candidates I’ve ever seen. Cary Kennedy was re-nominated as State Treasurer, Bernie Buescher was nominated as Secretary of State, and Stan Garnett was nominated as Attorney General. All three gave exciting speeches, and were received by delegates standing and cheering for their candidacies.

And the day was not without surprises. We thought we’d have a second ballot yesterday for CU Regent. Howard Wachtel and Melissa Hart even spent Friday night going from assembly to assembly to introduce themselves to delegates. However, the news came on Saturday morning that Wachtel had decided to step aside to avoid a potential primary. Melissa Hart is an amazing candidate, with a history that includes a clerkship for a U.S. Supreme Court justice. We’ve got a GREAT nominee for CU Regent in Hart!

We also heard from all seven of our Congressional candidates. With all due respect to the other six, nobody could beat Betsy Markey’s impassioned defense of “hope” and “change”. (By the way, it is a sad testimonial for the Republican Party when they are so negative that it becomes necessary to explain why Hope and Change is a good thing!) Markey concluded by stating that she’ll side with hope and change, and let her opponent take despair and the status quo.

We finished the day with the Platform Report. Hal Bidlack, our nominee for the Fifth CD in 2008, did a great job working with all of the constituencies in developing our platform this year. He presented the Platform in a manner that was brief, humorous, yet respectful of the work done by the Platform Committee. We also adopted a minority plank that condemned the recent Arizona law on immigration and racial profiling. I was honored to chair the Assembly during that portion of the meeting.

Then, almost too suddenly, we were done. We adjourned at the earliest time in anybody’s memory — about 2:30ish. We also adjourned ahead of schedule. It was an impressive testament to Pat and our staff, for their hard work preparing for this day. It was also a testament to the hard work and commitment of the Broomfield Democrats, who were great hosts for us this weekend.

So this was an exhausting weekend. But I can’t imagine anybody walked out of the 1stBank Center yesterday without being Fired Up.

And ready to go!

As some of you may know, Phoenix is one of the cities that has submitted a bid to be considered as the host of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Ever since Arizona adopted the anti-immigrant law that not only sanctions racial profiling, but mandates it in certain instances, I’ve wanted to make a statement about this law and the fact that we shouldn’t go to Arizona as a Party while this law is in effect. I’d considered circulating a letter among my Western Caucus colleagues on the DNC.

However, the Chair of the California Democratic Party recently did something much simpler: he wrote a letter himself to the DNC Chairman, Tim Kaine:

Dear Governor Kaine,

Like you, I have watched with dismay at the disastrous results of the draconian and misguided Arizona anti-immigrant law.

I believe it prudent for the Democratic National Committee to remove Phoenix, Arizona from the list of cities eligible to be awarded the 2012 DNC national convention unless and until this law is overturned. As the Party committed to rewarding hard work, respecting and celebrating diversity and ensuring equality under law, it is the least that Democrats can do.

President Obama has said that Arizona’s anti-immigrant law threatens to “undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.”

I urge you to communicate my request with the site committee and take the necessary steps to disqualify Phoenix as a potential host city for the 2012 Democratic National Convention unless and until the Arizona law is repealed.

Peace and Friendship,

John

To be honest, that sounds like a pretty good idea. So, I wanted to make sure my voice was heard on behalf of the Coloradans I serve as your Vice Chair. So I wrote the following to the Chairman:

Hon. Tim Kaine
Chairman
Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St., SE
Washington DC 20003

RE: Democratic National Convention Selection

Dear Gov. Kaine:

I am writing as a follow-up to a letter recently sent to you from the Chair of the California Democratic Party, John Burton. Mr. Burton has raised an issue regarding the site selection process that have also weighed heavily in my mind in the past few weeks.

I have long been a strong supporter of bringing more national Democratic attention and resources to winning in the West. That’s why I worked so hard to help bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to Denver. That’s also why I worked to ensure that a Western state was included in the pre-window delegate selection process in 2008.

So it pains me to join my colleague in requesting that you disqualify Phoenix as a potential host for the 2012 Democratic National Convention until and unless the recent anti-immigrant state law is overturned.

Part of being a Democrat means taking a stand for what is right. Part of being a member of the Democratic National Committee means using the organization’s size and influence to make a statement. Today, that statement needs to be clear and unequivocal: Progressive Americans cannot and will not support measures that vilify an entire class of humanity.

Beyond the fundamental issues of right and wrong inherent in going to Arizona at this time, I cannot support asking the Colorado delegation to the 2012 Democratic National Convention to attend an event where so many in the delegation could be subject to state-sponsored racial and ethnic profiling. Colorado has a long history of Hispanic culture that pre-dates American involvement in the West; our delegates cannot be asked to go to a state that treats that heritage and culture as a reason to profile instead of a reason to celebrate.

Governor Kaine, I thank you for your service to this organization and this Party. Please continue to fight for justice and equality for all Americans by considering this request.

Sincerely,
Dan Slater
Vice Chair,
Colorado Democratic Party

Hopefully, other DNC Members will work to make their voices known. It is doubtful that the DNC will pick Phoenix because of this law, but it is important that we make our voices heard to the DNC.

It is hard to believe that the State Assembly is now less than a month away, but it is. As most of you know, we are holding the Colorado Democratic State Assembly in Broomfield this year, at the 1stBank Center (formerly the Broomfield Events Center). I’m really looking forward to the event, as the 1stBank Center is truly a state-of-the-art facility, and they just went through a massive renovation. (By the way, is it a coincidence that they had to renovate the place less than a year after the Republicans held their 2008 assembly there? I’m not saying anything….)

In any event, the Call will go out to delegates via e-mail if the Party has your e-mail address. Here’s the problem: the Call won’t go out before the deadlines for hotel reservations. So if you’re planning on spending the night, either Friday night or Saturday night (or both), you need to call the hotel of your choice and make your reservations TODAY!

Note that we are planning on starting the State Assembly one hour earlier than normal — 9 AM — so registration will begin at 7 AM. That alone might be a good enough reason to stay overnight near the 1stBank Center. Unlike 2008, there will be no registration online, and no registration the night before.

Furthermore, if you’re a delegate to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th Congressional District assemblies, you will be at the 1stBank Center the evening before the State Assembly. So, that’s another reason why you might want to stay in the area.

So here’s the skinny: The CDP has negotiated reduced rates at four area hotels — the Westin, the aLoft, the Omni, and the Renaissance. But the deadlines for our room blocks expire very soon — in one case, TODAY. Here are the details, by hotel:

Westin Westminster – This is the “Host Hotel,” where any official CDP functions will be, and where CDP will be located when we’re not at the 1stBank Center. Rate: $____; Deadline: May 6.

aLoft – this is the closest hotel to the venue. In fact, it is literally next door to the 1stBank Center. People who are driving in to the State Assembly will be walking farther from the parking lot to the doors of the 1stBank Center than those who are staying at aLoft. Rate: $109; Deadline: May 3.

Renaissance Flatiron – Another nice hotel, in the Marriott chain. The DNC held a meeting last fall in Austin at a Renaissance, and we were impressed. Rate: $99; Deadline: April 29 (check your calendars — that’s TODAY!)

Omni Interlocken Resort – Probably one of the nicest hotels in the area. There’s plenty to do and see at this Broomfield standout. A world-class spa and 27-hole golf course await at an AMAZING rate for an Omni. Rate: $124; Deadline: April 30 (i.e., Tomorrow).

Hoteliers start to panic when you hold a block of rooms as large as we’re holding at these hotels and there isn’t a whole lot of rush for the rooms until the last minute. This is a problem that we deal with every year we hold an Assembly, but please make sure and make your reservations TODAY.

———————–

Last weekend, we drove over to Hotchkiss for the Delta County Dems’ J/J Dinner. I was honored to be the keynote speaker. Delta Dems have tried a lot of things with their J/J Dinner over the years, but they seem to have settled on a fundraiser that really maximizes the amount of money raised, as well as the enjoyment factor.

Rather than catering the meal, or having the meal at a restaurant, they held the meal in a local community center. Then, they turned the dinner into a soup dinner — some of the most amazing varieties of soups you ever saw graced the tables. They had plenty of homemade bread to accompany the soups, they had a local volunteer working as a sommelier with wines from around the world, and they had great homemade desserts featuring local fruits from Delta County farmers.

As for the event itself, it was also incredible. Ron Carlton from Congressman Salazar’s office was there to speak on his behalf. There has been a lot of national attention paid to the Republican efforts to win in the 3rd CD. While many in Colorado don’t think those efforts are serious, it is clear that John Salazar is taking them seriously. The 3rd CD is massive, with counties stretching from the Wyoming and Utah borders on the Western Slope all the way down to within a few miles of the Oklahoma border in Southeast Colorado. Congressman Salazar is well-respected for his hard work to represent this diverse district, but we will need to do all we can to ensure that we re-elect him and keep him in Washington fighting for the 3rd C.D.

Another point became very clear in Delta County. Delta was the third county I’ve visited this season in SD5. And it is quite obvious that Senator Gail Schwartz is one of the best State Senators in Colorado. Whether in the San Luis Valley (Saguache County), Chaffee County, or over in Delta County, people speak of Senator Schwartz with reverence and respect. She has been a real voice for her sprawling rural district. The Republicans are gunning for her as one of their top priorities. We’re going to need to be sure and show Sen. Schwartz every ounce of help we can give her. From the people I’ve talked to in SD5, she’s earned it!

I spoke frankly to the crowd about some of the challenges ahead for Democrats. As most of you know, the Republicans have placed targets (sometimes literally) on Democrats and are coming after us with everything they’ve got. We won’t have the massive influx of volunteers we had in 2008, so it falls on those of us who are regular workers for the Party to work even harder.

It was an interesting place to speak — the Delta Dems had done a wonderful job of creating a whistle-stop facade, complete with a cardboard caboose from which the speakers spoke. It was a great evening, and I’m looking forward to getting back out to Delta County again soon!

Today, we are in Nashville, Tennessee for the Spring Meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. We will be here until tomorrow afternoon; we arrived late yesterday evening.

For those who have never been here, the city is — appropriately — very musically-oriented. Our hotel room window overlooks the Country Music Hall of Fame. But our focus today wasn’t music; it was electing Democrats.

We have spent the day talking with each other. Chairs, Vice Chairs, and Executive Directors have been sharing our successes, our challenges and our stories. Indeed, the day has been more about collaboration than previous meetings of this group.

Of course, that makes it hard to write about. We spent a big part of the day talking about the need to keep the 2008 activists involved and excited about the Party while not losing those who have been active for years. And, yes, there were a lot of unnecessary attacks on Robert’s Rules of Order. (All right, maybe some of it was warranted.)

We heard some great discussion about fundraising, using Ohio as a model. We also spent some time talking about State Parties’ relationships with Organizing for America (and, yes, I sounded like a broken record when I was critical of OFA’s involvement in Colorado’s primary).

Pat Waak has been here too — she led a discussion about the strengths and challenges facing each state in 2010, and we worked to find common themes running through the various issues.

Tonight, we attend a reception hosed by the Tennessee Democrats. Tomorrow, I will attend more sessions with a focus on the DNC and OFA. Pat won’t be here — if you’re attending one of many county assemblies tomorrow, you might see her there. Pat left early to be sure that the CDP is well-represented at the various counties holding assemblies on “Super Saturday”.

As officers of the Colorado Democratic Party, there is no rule that says we need to stay neutral in any election. As a team, we did agree to stay neutral until the caucuses.

At my precinct caucus, I tried to become an Uncommitted delegate to the Fremont County Assembly. However, Uncommitted would not have made the 15% threshold, so I made it clear that I was voting for former Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, and I explained why at the time.

I figured, though, I’d keep quiet about my vote in groups outside of my neighbors in Precinct 9. Folks with full access to VAN could see how I voted, but I’d still try to remain neutral in public.

However, an announcement from Sen. Bennet’s campaign last night has caused me to rethink that idea. More on that later.

For me, the decision to support Speaker Romanoff is about as easy as it gets in a Democratic primary. And I want to explain why I’ll be voting for him this afternoon at the Fremont County Assembly.

1. Andrew Is A Natural Leader. Andrew Romanoff was elected to the State House in 2000. Only two years later, at the beginning of his second term in the State House, Andrew did something pretty amazing: he was elected to be the leader of the Democratic Party in the House. That’s a spot that usually goes to somebody that has been there longer, who has earned more “chits,” who has more years of experience under his or her belt. But the Democrats in the House saw something special with Andrew Romanoff, and they made him their leader without much fanfare.

2. Andrew Wins Historic Elections. From there, Minority Leader Romanoff built a powerful election strategy. He led the effort to recruit some of the best candidates the Democratic House effort has ever seen. He focused on some non-traditional areas, many rural districts outside of Denver, and suburban districts formerly given up by Democrats as non-winnable. In 2004, we were one seat down in the State Senate. We were 7 seats down in the State House. Everybody was talking about the State Senate. Not so many people were mentioning the State House.

Except Andrew.

In late October, I was emceeing a Democratic Party dinner in Cortez for the Montezuma County Democrats. Andrew was the keynote speaker there. Let me digress for a minute here — Montezuma County was one of the few places in the state where we didn’t have a hotly-contested House race. But the Dems there asked Andrew to speak, and he came. Andrew has been there whenever anybody has asked him, and if you’ve been around this Party for any amount of time, you know that. That night, we were staying in the same hotel in Cortez. In the lobby, after the dinner, I ran into Andrew. We talked a bit about the election. We started talking about specific House races and how they were developing. Then Andrew looked at me, and with the trademark gleam in his eyes, he said, “You know, Dan, I think we might actually do this!”

We did. Less than a month later, Democrats had captured — with a couple of seats to spare — the majority in the Colorado House in one of the most historic upsets Colorado Democrats have ever seen. Yes, Andrew Romanoff wins historic elections.

3. Andrew Focuses on What Matters. In 2005, Colorado was in trouble. We were, quite literally, on the brink of bankruptcy. TABOR had tightened its grip on our government to the point where we were going to have to shut down community colleges. We were going to have to put Medicaid patients on the streets, literally. Republicans in the Legislature, though, focused on social issues like the books you read and what you do in the privacy of your home. Andrew knew we needed leadership.

And he provided that leadership. He worked with a Republican Governor to put Referendum C on the ballot. To his credit, Governor Owens saw that we needed to have action, and not the incendiary talk that was coming from most of his party in the Legislature.

So Referendum C, a fix to our 2005 budget crisis, was born. But it didn’t stop there. Andrew Romanoff then fought to go from county to county, from town to town, talking about Referendum C. He fought for it. He explained it. He defended it. He debated it.

And Coloradans voted for it. You better believe Andrew Romanoff focuses on what matters, and he gets things done.

4. Andrew Inspires. Have you heard Andrew Romanoff speak? If you have, you know. If you haven’t, why the heck not? He’s a rare breed: a Denver politician who doesn’t sound like he’s from Denver. Some of Andrew’s strongest supporters come from the most rural areas of Colorado. And that’s because he’s spent so much time going all over Colorado.

Indeed, I met Andrew at the very first Fremont County Democratic Party function I ever attended: the 1999 FDR Dinner in Canon City. He was a DNC Member then, and was already building a base of strong supporters. In fact, after I became the Chair of the Fremont County Democrats that same year, I found local candidates competing with Andrew for my Vice Chair’s personal contributions. Betty Walker loved Andrew Romanoff — but who doesn’t? I still run into people who served with Andrew on the DNC who ask about how he’s doing and what they can do to help. He most definitely inspires.

5. Andrew Knows Colorado. Colorado is a complex state. There are issues that differ not only from region to region or county to county but community to community. Andrew has spent the time in every part of this state, and he know our issues like the back of his hand. There is no way somebody can learn about Colorado’s issues, our heritage, our immense diversity in a year. And there is no way a year’s experience can be more valuable in that regard than Andrew’s decade-plus of experience traveling all around Colorado.

So those are just a few reasons I’m voting for Andrew Romanoff this afternoon.

But why am I announcing now? First, I think Michael Bennet has been a decent Senator. I do think he could be much stronger on banking and financial reform, which needed to happen the day he got into the office, and we’re still waiting on. But I can certainly strongly support Sen. Bennet if he’s the nominee.

I do have a problem with how he’s running his campaign, and I think he’s taking the people for granted who have worked so hard to build this Party into the majority Party in Colorado.

Last night, Senator Bennet’s campaign made an announcement that they’d be collecting petition signatures as an alternative method of getting onto the primary ballot. I see this as a cynical PR attempt. Why? Because if you look at the results of the county assemblies so far, while Romanoff has been gaining, Bennet’s numbers haven’t dipped much. It is still reasonable to expect that he will get between 40-45% of the vote at the State Assembly in May.

But using the petition process sets the “expectations” bar lower for Bennet. It allows him to call 40% at the State Assembly a “victory,” much like he declared a “victory” on caucus night. I don’t think anybody at the Bennet campaign realistically expects to fall anywhere near the 30% mark at the State Assembly.

So his petition drive isn’t necessarily serious — it is a cynical effort to play the “expectations” game. And he’s playing that game using the delegates to the State Assembly as his pawns.

Sen. Bennet, I’ve walked precincts with these people. I’ve ate rubber chicken dinners with these people. I’ve walked in parades with these people. And I’m proud of how hard they’ve worked to build this Party. So when you use our caucus process as a game, or when you are disrespectful of our caucuses as not being representative of our Party, you demean these people.

I’m done standing on the sidelines watching our Party activists being disrespected. And I’m doing something. I’m standing for the one candidate who has over the last decade shown the courage, the leadership, and the insight we need in Washington.

I’m voting for Andrew Romanoff today.

Well, we caucused tonight. So what does that mean?

First, turnout tonight — while not nearly as heavy as 2008 — was not bad for a caucus. It looks like, after we get all of the reports, we will have an attendance of about 22,000 Democrats. That’s not too bad. Before the 2008 caucuses, we would consider tonight’s turnout to be “heavy”. The last comparable year, 2004, saw a much smaller turnout.

As most of you know by now, it looks like Andrew Romanoff has ended this evening with a pretty decent-sized victory over incumbent Senator Michael Bennet. Of those expressing a preference, Romanoff won 55%-45% (note we are still awaiting some results, including Pueblo County, although Pueblo often votes “uncommitted” at caucus).

In 2008, I provided some statistics following caucus, so I want to do the same.

The best counties for Romanoff:
1. Clear Creek – 85%
2. Park – 81%
3. Otero – 78%
4. Gilpin – 78%
5. Bent – 76%

The best counties for Bennet:
1. Hinsdale – 100%
2. San Miguel – 82%
3. Rio Blanco 81%
4. Pitkin – 74%
5. La Plata – 71%

Highest vote total for Romanoff was, by far, Denver, with 3318 votes. Bennet’s highest votes also came in Denver, where he received 1963 votes.

In terms of wins, Speaker Romanoff won 33 counties, while Senator Bennet won 19. 4 counties went “uncommitted”. We don’t have results from the remaining, or there was a tie.

So what does all of this mean? I don’t know. 2004 is about as comparable as we have in recent years. Contrary to what some have written, Ken Salazar actually won on caucus night — he outpolled Mike Miles by 2:1 among caucus-goers. It wasn’t until the State Assembly that Miles came out slightly better than Salazar. Further, Dennis Kucinich walked out of caucus night with less than 14% of the vote — only to end up with about a third of the vote at the State Convention.

On the other side of things, it looks like the Republican Party is also on its way to a possible upset; Jane Norton — the presumed front-runner — is neck and neck as I write this with Weld County DA (and immigration-basher) Ken Buck. Interesting.

In Fremont County, tonight was a good night to be a Democrat. A decent crowd started showing up well before 6 pm, and there were plenty of campaign signs and treats for all who attended.

Precinct 9, where I live, had a fair turnout of 13. Not spectacular, but not bad at all. A good discussion about the candidates was had, we voted, and then we elected delegates. And everybody stayed as we voted on the other issues to be handled tonight — a good lesson in civic duty.

So that’s it. The nomination process has begun in Colorado. Thanks to all who participated — and hopefully I’ll see you at your county assemblies!

A couple of civic duties are upon us, both of very long-standing historic origins.

Obviously, tonight all across Colorado, Democrats and Republicans will be caucusing. More on that in a moment.

But most of you should have also received a notice of another civic duty in your mailbox recently. Mine arrived yesterday: The United States Census.

Ten questions in ten minutes. It is so critically vital that you, your friends, and your neighbors complete and return this form. Because we’ve got to make sure everybody counts in Colorado. We’ve got to make sure that we are fully represented in Congress. We’ve got to make sure that our tax dollars are fully put to work for us here in Colorado.

And if you, your friends, and your neighbors don’t fill out the census forms and return them, you won’t count. And we have to all count here in Colorado.

The census isn’t just a formality — it is something that our forefathers laid down in the United States Constitution. It has happened every decade since, in wartime and peacetime, with Democratic Presidents and Republicans. So be sure to send it in!

—————–

The other civic duty you probably know about, too. Lots of people are working to be sure that everyone is aware of the precinct caucuses tonight here in Colorado. I don’t care whether you support Sen. Bennet or Speaker Romanoff. I do care that you show up and vote.

Most of you attended caucuses in 2008, and lots of you before then. So you know that it is a relatively simple process: show up, vote, and select delegates. And I don’t expect the process to be as messy as it was in 2008, because we don’t expect that record turnout to show up. So that makes it much easier.

You don’t have any excuses.

I do want to say a word about some outside influences. I’ve got no problem with third parties making their preferences known in Colorado elections. I have previously written about my concerns regarding the President’s involvement. Over the past month, however, something unprecedented has been happening: the DNC has been spending money and resources, both on their own and through the efforts of the OFA branch of the DNC, to encourage caucus participation for one candidate in a contested primary election.

While I have heard of the DSCC doing this before, I’ve never heard of the DNC doing this before. I cannot state strongly enough how I, as a DNC Member, object to the DNC getting involved in a Colorado Democratic primary. Our national party should remain neutral. While I’ve been busy preparing for caucuses until now, I do plan on finding the best way to make my displeasure with the DNC known on this point before the DNC meets again. Placing the DNC’s finger on the electoral scales is no way to handle an internal primary issue.

To some, this is “inside baseball” and irrelevant. With all due respect to those people, I disagree. Nothing could be more relevant than a political party (not the people elected to lead the party, but the Party itself) spending money to defeat one of their own in favor of another of their own.

So here it is: vote for the candidate of your choice. Show up tonight and vote for the best candidate. Both of the candidates have good arguments as to why you should vote for them. Listen to those arguments and make up your own mind.

But don’t listen to the DNC / OFA.

(There I go again, making no friends in Washington!)

Well, the DNC meetings are now over. Now the adventure begins: how do we get home?

We SHOULD be on our way to the airport right now. However, as you might have heard, we have about a foot and a half of snow on the ground now. So our flights have been moved to tomorrow afternoon. Still unsure whether we will actually get out, though.

Today, however, was a really great DNC meeting. I sincerely hope some of you had the chance to see it on C-SPAN or on CNN. The President did a great job outlining where we are as a Democratic Party and where we need to go this year. He also did a great job outlining the Administration’s accomplishments of the past year — something we Democrats have not done enough of recently.

The President committed to not give up on health care reform. He also talked about the need for us to continue to work with Republicans — but also for them to do more than just sit in the back seat and complain about the driving.

He talked about the history of our Party and our rich history of fighting for people. And he made me even prouder to be a Democrat.

But that wasn’t all of the meeting. We heard an inspiring message from DC Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton – I instantly became a fan! We also heard from our Chair, Gov. Tim Kaine. Gov. Kaine cautioned us not to get too down — he noted that “the ghost of Harry Truman would kill us if he found out we were complaining about having *only* a 59-vote Senate majority.”

This was also a time for a Coloradan to rise to the spotlight. Because of the weather, the Resolutions Committee Chair was unable to make it. So our Chair, Pat Waak, delivered the Resolutions report to the full body of the DNC.

Earlier this morning, we also had a good meeting of the Rural Organizing Council. The group — which is a relatively new part of the DNC — had a long discussion about improving our new media efforts. A member from each region was appointed to work on this project; I was selected to represent the Western Region on this work.

Finally, the Colorado delegation all marched through the snow to a nearby restaurant to have lunch after the meeting. This snowstorm has effectively stopped nearly all auto traffic; however, foot traffic is still all over the place, and the area around the White House simply look magical.

And I hear a massive 100-person snowball fight just broke out at Dupont Circle. The DNC “Snow-Pocalypse” (as the President referred to it) slumber party continues….

I have about ten minutes before I need to be back downstairs for the Western Caucus meeting, so I want to quickly update everybody on what is going on here in DC.

Last night, we heard from the President. I hope some of you saw his speech on CNN, or at least heard the snippets on the news shows. He did a great job firing up the troops — he really seems to be back in his campaign mode and is such a great speaker. His message to Republicans: we want to work with you, but you need to either lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way! (that’s my paraphrasing, not his words).

This morning, we heard from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker reaffirmed that the Congress is still going to tackle health insurance reform, and also pledged to end the health insurance industry’s antitrust exemptions. It is always great to have our national leaders address us.

I sat at breakfast with some great folks, including Dennis van Roekel, who is the President of the National Education Association. Our table was diverse, including people from Maryland, Arizona, South Dakota, Hawaii, and Colorado (Anthony Graves, Sharon Bonner, and myself).

On a side note, I want to thank all of you who have emailed me about yesterday’s DemNotes. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as many responses to a DemNotes post; I think I may have gotten around 60 emails in response, and all but about 2 were positive. I think I hit a nerve.

Now, off to the Western Caucus meeting!

I didn’t make any friends this morning.

Indeed, I don’t really expect to be invited to any White House parties any time soon.

I’m torn about how much I should talk about this morning’s meeting. I’ve always said DemNotes is about opening up the “smoke-filled rooms” and bringing Colorado’s “rank and file” Dems into the loop on what’s going on with their Party. (Wow; how many metaphors can I put in one sentence?) And, this morning, we held a meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC), of which I am one of Colorado’s two members. The “meat and potatoes” of the meeting was closed to the press. So I’m not sure how much I should talk about it.

But I had a part in it, and I think Colorado Democrats need to have answers to their questions. So I’m going to talk about it a bit. I don’t think I’m going to give away any state secrets, but there are some, both in Colorado and here in DC, who probably wish I’d just keep my mouth (and my blog) shut.

Of course, I don’t serve those folks.

Over the past 48 hours, Pat and I have received close to 100 emails from people about their concerns that the President was getting involved in a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate here in Colorado. Every single one I saw asked us to make sure that we expressed ourselves that the White House should not be involved in a primary in Colorado.

So that’s what I did. We were addressed this morning by Jen O’Malley-Dillon, the Executive Director of the DNC. I used that opportunity to tell her that I had a concern that the President’s involvement in Colorado was hurting the State Party. And that it was probably hurting the President.

This is where I think I need to be careful with my reporting. I’m comfortable telling you what I said, but since her words were not in an open session, I want to be careful about the detail I give there. Here’s the gist: the President wants to support incumbent Democrats, and the DNC considers that a key goal of the organization as well. We had some back and forth about the function of the DNC as a whole. Let’s just say I disagree strongly with Ms. O’Malley-Dillon and the White House on this point.

That’s it. It wasn’t a long exchange — maybe five minutes — and it didn’t change anybody’s mind. But I do think that the DNC needs to know how we feel, and I had the opportunity to share that.

On a related topic, the CDP has established a coordinated campaign fundraising effort. The funds will go to help elect all of our Federal candidates in the general election. The funds will NOT go to help any candidate in a primary. Both Sen. Bennet and Speaker Romanoff have been offered the opportunity to help out with fundraising for this campaign by directing maxed-out donors to contribute to this effort. Indeed, part of the fundraising being done by the President when he comes to Colorado later this month for Sen. Bennet will also go to help this effort.

I happen to think that is a good idea. Coordinated campaigns are extremely expensive, and every effort helps.

However, we’ve stirred up a bit of a storm overnight, as invitations to some of the Presidential events on behalf of Sen. Bennet have included a tagline about the Colorado Democratic Party, as required by Federal law. I think the CDP could have done a much better job with a desclaimer that the Party does not endorse candidates pre-primary, and that coordinated campaign contributions will not go to Sen. Bennet’s primary campaign effort; instead, they will help all of our Federal candidates, including our eventual Senate nominee. I’ve spoken to both Pat and Jennie about this, and I think they are in agreement on this point.

That’s just this morning. This afternoon are a couple of committee meetings, and then we attend a fundraiser with the President. I doubt I’ll have the same opportunity to talk to him that I had this morning with the Executive Director, but who knows?

In any event, like I said, I don’t think I made any friends here in DC this morning.

But, then again, that’s not why I’m here.

Tomorrow, we head up to Washington DC for the DNC’s Winter meeting. It promises to be an interesting meeting, full of news and maybe even some real business.

Thursday, the Chairs and Vice Chairs meet at the ASDC’s meeting, followed by some trainings on campaign finance and DNC committee meetings.

Friday, various caucuses meet, including the Western Caucus.

Finally, on Saturday, we hold the actual DNC meeting, where President Obama will be addressing us about the state of the Democratic Party. It should be an interesting presentation and I’m looking forward to hearing what the President has to say about where he thinks the Party should be heading. I’ll be sure to post updates throughout the week to DemNotes, as well as more frequent updates via my fan page on Facebook and @DemNotes on Twitter.

On a completely unrelated topic, Brandy and I went over to Salida last night for a wonderful presentation by the League of Women Voters in Chaffee County. A local high school teacher did an impersonation of Teddy Roosevelt, and answered questions afterwards. While I think his presentation would have been better if it had focused more on Roosevelt’s efforts to preserve our natural heritage, and his split with the Republican Party following the Party’s close ties with corporate interests, we still found it fascinating and a wonderful way to spend the evening.

So, next time I write, I’ll be writing from our Nation’s Capitol!

I have been planning for a while to write about the challenges facing us here in Colorado in this New Year, but something caught my eye this morning, and I can’t get it out of my head. So I’ll write about it.

As most of you know, as the Vice Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, I also serve as a member of the Democratic National Committee (the “DNC”). As some background, the DNC itself is not some amorphous entity — the “C” in DNC stands for “Committee,” a governing organization comprised of representatives from 56 different geographic entities (50 states, DC, 4 territories, and “Democrats Abroad”). Colorado currently is represented by seven very capable individuals on this committee.

At my very first meeting of the Western Caucus of the DNC in 2005 — literally, the moment I walked in the door — I was greeted by a DNC member who was seeking my vote to serve on the “Executive Committee” of the DNC. His sales pitch? That he had fought for more perks for DNC Members at the 2004 National Convention. He didn’t talk about work to bring more resources to the Western states, or to focus more on winning elections in the West. He didn’t talk about anything he had done that would help me win more elections in Colorado. He talked about what he had done for “me” personally.

I did not vote for him, and haven’t voted for him in any caucus elections since.

My mind harkened back to that early conversation this morning, when I was copied on an email from a DNC member back east. This DNC member had written an email to Gov. Kaine (the DNC Chair), complaining that DNC members hadn’t received any invitations to the White House over the holiday season (except for State Chairs). He demanded that the DNC schedule a reception at the White House in conjunction with our Winter meeting in Washington DC at the beginning of February. He noted all of the perks DNC members received under the previous Democratic administration that they were not receiving now.

Now, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the perks we receive as DNC members. I happily attended the barbeque at the exotic animal park near Austin, TX at our last DNC meeting. I’ve received plenty of t-shirts and buttons and pins from the various meetings I’ve attended. I have even worked to provide perks to DNC members as Denver was courting the DNC’s support for the 2008 Convention.

But that, I think, is my problem with this latest e-mail. When I was working to give perks to DNC members, it was out of a desire to help those I serve, by bringing the National Convention to Denver. I fear, though, that there are those that see being a DNC member as some sort of “reward” for a life’s work for Democrats, instead of a way to represent one’s state within the Party machinery.

I hope that I’ve been able to promote a different view of what it means to be a DNC member. Sure, there isn’t a whole lot of debate and discussion in the formal meetings of the DNC. But, behind the scenes, there are certainly plenty of opportunities to make a difference. And that difference should be made for the causes of helping elected like-minded people here at home, and promoting the ideals that make the Democratic Party so great. That’s why I’ve been a vocal supporter of the DNC’s 50-state strategy, and have been among the many who have pressed for concrete commitments to keep that program alive and thriving. That’s why I’ve worked to support the Rural Coordinating Council of the DNC, helping to ensure that our Party not forego the millions of hard-working americans living in small towns and communities across Colorado and the rest of the Nation.

That’s also why, more recently, I’ve worked alongside Party leaders from other caucus states to ensure that the DNC is careful to respect Colorado’s long history of successful party-building through caucuses as they attempt to reform the Convention delegate selection process.

I guess that’s my point: we DNC members face a choice when joining this esteemed organization. We can choose to watch out for ourselves, or we can choose to fight for the ideals and the Party that has made this Nation great. I’m not so sure you can do both.

And I guess I just get a little upset when those of us who are already incredibly blessed with perks as DNC members begin to complain that we don’t get enough perks. Because the average phone-banker out there works pretty darned hard, too. And they don’t have the ability to engage the DNC Chair directly the way we do with their complaints.

So maybe our complaints should count for something larger than ourselves.

*end rant*

We are in Miami this weekend for the Winter meeting of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. This has definitely been a productive weekend, and there are plenty more meetings today before we conclude this afternoon.

Yesterday, we began with a general meeting of the ASDC, which is comprised of all of the State Party Chairs and Vice Chairs in the country. We spent the morning primarily hearing from the executive staff of the DNC. Important messages we heard during the closed session: the State Partnership Program (a/k/a the 50-State Strategy) will continue as long as Gov. Kaine is the DNC Chair. We also heard about plans to continue with VAN / VoteBuilder under an agreement between the state parties and the DNC. Finally, we also heard about the deliberations of the “Change Commission,” which is charged with examining the Presidential nominating process.

Over lunch, we heard from David Domke, a professor from the University of Washington. Professor Domke gave a great presentation about the evolving nature of the under-30 voting population. His discussion really helped describe how connecting with young people today is so very different from connecting with young people even 20 years ago.

In the afternoon, we had some training on using “new media” as state parties. The focus: Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. We concluded the trainings yesterday with an update of the constantly-changing state of campaign finance law.

Last evening, the Florida Democratic Party treated everybody to a wonderful reception at the Miami Seaquarium. We enjoyed networking next to playful dolphins.

This morning, I got up early and enjoyed a breakfast with Party leaders from other caucus states. We held a lively conversation about possible changes to the caucus process to be proposed by the “Change Commission.” There are a lot of concerns that the Change Commission’s recommendations will create mandates for states like Colorado more drastic than may truly be necessary. We will continue to monitor what comes out of this group to ensure that Colorado’s caucuses are fairly considered by the DNC.

Today, I’m headed down for sessions on coordinated campaigns, reaching out to youth, and redistricting. Should be another good day. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to post about it to DemNotes, as we are headed out on a cruise later this afternoon, after the conclusion of most of the training sessions. I’ll continue to post contemperaneously to Facebook and Twitter. (Note that I’ve made a decision that I’ll post about political business to my Facebook “Fan” page, while I’ll use my personal page for, well, more personal observations. The Twitter account (@DemNotes) will mirror the Fan page on Facebook.)

I spent this past weekend in Denver, and all on Party business.

We came up on Friday night to begin the planning process for the State Assembly in Broomfield. We had a great meeting in Denver, with representatives from the Broomfield, Denver, and Boulder County Dems present. State Party Secretary Carolyn Boller was there, as was Mike Weissman.

We had a long and productive conversation about what needs to be done as we prepare to welcome Colorado’s Democrats to Broomfield. There are several hotels bidding to become the “host hotel,” and lots of opportunities at what will become a newly-remodeled venue in Broomfield when we arrive next May. The Broomfield Dems are incredibly excited about the opportunity to host Colorado’s Democrats next year, even though the task seems a bit daunting for a Party representing such a relatively small county.

Saturday was also about State Party business. Before the State Central Committee met at the IBEW Hall in North Denver, a small group of Democratic leaders from around the state spent some time discussing how to better and more effectively communicate with the public. It was a productive meeting, and I think we will see a better grassroots press operation come from our discussions.

But the big event of the weekend, of course, was the State Central Committee meeting Saturday afternoon. Attendance was good — folks came from around the state to give voice to the issues we discussed. Catherine Carson, the Routt County Chair, joked that Steamboat Springs was in the state playoffs, and playing that afternoon in Aurora — she felt she was the only Routt County resident on the front range who wasn’t in Aurora that afternoon!

The Party heard from a number of elected officials, including Governor Ritter. Gov. Ritter took the campaign straight at his Republican rival, Scott McInnis, echoing an old quote: “You are entitled to your own opinion; you are NOT entitled to your own set of facts!” He talked of the Republican Party’s “Contract on Colorado” as their “manifesto” — a “bridge to the 1980s … or, really, the 1930s”. In the end, though, he promised that we would overcome a “challenging year” and “defeat a fear-based and cynic-based campaign from the other side.”

Congresswoman DeGette received raucous support when she talked about her leadership in fighting for a woman’s right to choose in the health care debate.

Speaker Carroll, on his way to vacation in Las Vegas, where he said he was headed to watch the National Finals Rodeo, talked about how important it was to keep the majorities in the State Legislature; Senate President Shaffer echoed those words after Speaker Carroll spoke.

Cary Kennedy gave a great speech talking about the importance of the Treasurer’s office, and what we had been able to accomplish there since she took office.

Former Speaker Andrew Romanoff received a warm welcome from the crowd as he began by pointing out that he had not been the one to “TP” the Governor’s Mansion. He got serious by saying that “The point of getting power is not to keep it … it is to use it!”

Sen. Bennett’s wife, Susan Daggett, spoke for Sen. Bennett, who was in Washington debating health care. In the middle of her talk, Sen. Bennett called in to the meeting, and after some technical issues, he was able to address the group via telephone from the floor of the Senate. He talked about the importance of getting health care reform passed this year.

Finally, Ed Perlmutter gave a rousing and energetic talk about what is going on in Congress.

None of that, though, was the real point of the meeting. So here are the real things we accomplished:
– We formally elected Margaret Atencio as the Party’s Second Vice Chair, ratifying a vote of the Executive Committee in October.
– We adopted the delegate selection plan to be used in the caucus and assembly process, including adopting the delegate numbers for each county, and designating the U.S. Senate race as the race to be used in the caucus preference poll.
– After a fair amount of discussion on a number of issues, we adopted all rules changes proposed by the Rules Committee.

It was a good meeting, which allowed for a fair degree of debate on a number of issues within the delegate selection plan and the rules changes. I took some heat for a few decisions I made from the chair during the debate, but I’d stand by those decisions — and, while some wanted to spend more time debating issues, I think there was a fair and open discussion that allowed issues to be addressed without bogging down too much in procedure.

We went ahead and spent the night Saturday night, too, getting some Christmas shopping done. We awoke to an unexpected snow storm (why don’t we listen to the local news???), and headed up to Central Denver for a brunch reception with Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland. He was in town to raise money, and despite the snow, a fair crowd showed up, including Governor Ritter and the First Lady. Gov. O’Malley, who has been named the “Best Governor in America,” impressed the group with his vision and success as Governor. He faces stiff opposition next year in one of the hottest Governor’s races in America.

Then, we finally headed back home to Canon City. It was a productive and good weekend.

—————-

Tomorrow (assuming we can get through snow-packed roads to DIA), we head to warmer climates. We’re off to Miami Beach, where the Association of State Democratic Chairs is holding its Winter meeting (yes, this Vice-Chair business can be brutally tough, I know). I’m told our hotel room has a computer; I will try to post regularly to DemNotes updates of what is going on in Miami. At a minimum, if you track my Facebook Fan page and/or DemNotes on Twitter, you should get a good feel for what is going on.

This is the second time I’ve run for elective office. I’ve counseled numerous candidates on what they need to know and do to be effective candidates. I’ve been to some of the best political trainings in the nation. So I know what it takes to be a winning candidate in a tough race.

And, after just two and a half weeks of this race, something has become all too clear: I don’t have it.

In 2002, I had it. I had a “fire in the belly” that could only be quenched by knocking on doors, by dialing for dollars, and by talking to groups, winning votes one person at a time. It was my top priority — winning that state senate seat. It was exciting. It was invigorating. It was such a high — from the very first day until that election night when I delivered a concession speech.

Those feelings are feelings I just don’t have this year. I thought I’d have them. I thought I’d be burning up the phone lines raising money.

I could definitely fake it. I could keep going, putting on a good face. And if I truly were the “sacrificial lamb” candidate many have alleged, I would probably do that. But I truly think John Suthers has done a horrible job as Attorney General, and we Democrats have a clear opening to beat him in 2010. I just don’t think I have what it takes to do it.

I recognize that this “in and out” campaign will certainly open me up to ridicule. That’s fine. I’m just not ready to put my family, and my finances, under the strain that a 13-month statewide campaign would mean. I spent the last several days with my kids in Oklahoma. I want to spend the majority of Christmas break and Spring Break, and next summer with them, not out on the campaign trail. And I also don’t want to miss our twins’ soccer games and school functions and key moments just because I need to be out talking to voters. At one point in my life, I was willing to make that sacrifice. In looking at how I feel this year, I don’t think I can make that sacrifice for this election cycle.

Finally, my work as First Vice Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party — a role I take very seriously — was suffering from the campaign. I have been the chair of the 2010 Site Selection Committee, yet this campaign forced me to drop the ball at a critical time in the site selection process. Thankfully, we have a great committee who — under the leadership of El Paso County Chair Jason DeGroot, who assumed a leadership position without any warning — did a site visit yesterday, and should have a recommendation next weekend for the State Executive Committee. But my putting Jason in the position where he had to lead the committee is inexcusable. You should expect better from you State First Vice Chair, and I expect better from myself. So I will spend the next 12 and a half months working as your Vice Chair and speaking out when things need to be said.

So that’s it. I won’t be a candidate for Attorney General — or anything else, for that matter — in 2010. I greatly appreciate the hundreds of you out there who offered your support, both morally and financially, to start this campaign. In the end, we made just enough money to pay most of the campaign’s initial expenses. So for those of you who contributed, I thank you for your vote of confidence, and I’m just sorry I let you down.

I’ll still post to DemNotes and I’ll still fight for our Party. See you on the trail!

You may not have heard this, but I’m running for Attorney General. I’m running because Colorado deserves an Attorney General who will wage battle against those who would harm our land, our water, and our people.

If you share my vision, here’s what you can do:
1. Help organize a county steering committee. We are going to need people at every level of help in this race. I’m looking forward to spending significant time in every county in Colorado, and I need to have committed volunteers at every level. If you’re interested in helping, e-mail Brandy at brandydem@gmail.com.

2. Write a check and mail it today. DemNotes has never been about fundraising — of the nearly 500 posts I’ve sent to DemNotes, fewer than a dozen have been explicit fundraising pleas. That’s not going to change, but I do need to have people invested in our vision for Colorado’s future. We will soon have the ability to donate online, but for now, send your checks to: Slater For A.G., 1415 Main Street, Suite A, Canon City, CO 81212. While the donation limits are $1050 per person, send what you can — $100.00, even $20.00 goes a long way toward seeding the startup of this campaign.

3. Host a fundraiser, and let us know when we should be spending time in your community. Everybody in Las Animas knows about Santa Fe Trails Days in April. Not so many people outside of Las Animas know about it, though. Tell me when I should be stopping by — I’ll try to be there! And don’t forget to help share our vision of Colorado with your friends and neighbors and host a small fundraiser — I’ll get out for those, too!

The support I’ve gotten over the past week has been so heartening and immense. I am excited to be running as a Democrat for Attorney General!

As most of you know, I went on a whirlwind tour of Colorado on Thursday and Friday, announcing my candidacy for Attorney General. A copy of the first announcement speech is up on YouTube — well, kind of, as the translation into YouTube somewhat garbled the video. It’s in two sections — check it out for yourself:
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/dbslater

The tour started on Thursday morning in Colorado Springs. I was honored to have Rep. Buffie McFadyen and El Paso County Chair Jason DeGroot there, as well as local television media from Southern Colorado. It was a good group, and very energetic. From there, we went to Denver, where both Rep. McFadyen and Sen. Morgan Carroll introduced me. Again, very humbled by the kind words and the reception I received in both places.

We finally headed up to Greeley late Thursday afternoon, doing a brief radio interview on the way up. The first two events on Thursday had been indoors, but Greeley was slated for the front steps of the Weld County Courthouse. The winds were biting and cold — and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that we had a good turnout for Greeley – even if we did have to huddle inside the archways of the courthouse to stay warm through my announcement speech.

We then drove for a few hours up to Steamboat Springs, where we spent the night. We woke to frost, but a bright sunny day. Mind you, a sunny morning of 20 degrees, but sunny nonetheless. To be honest, I didn’t expect much in terms of a crowd when I arrived at the Routt County Courthouse at 8 am — who shows up to see a candidate for an election 13 months away in 20 degrees for an outdoor announcement?

I’ll tell you who shows up: Routt County Democrats!

As 8:00 approached, it seemed people were coming from all corners to hear the announcement. Who knew that one of my warmest welcomes would come in twenty degree weather??? Catherine Carson did a great job rounding up folks and letting them know I was going to be there, and Ken Brenner gave a very nice introduction. After the speech, we crowded into a local coffee shop a block away to warm up and talk about the issues facing the Attorney General’s office. It was a very energizing start to my second day.

We rushed out of Steamboat Springs at 9:00 — not because I tired of the company; I could have stayed there all morning talking policy — instead, we had to get to Grand Junction by 1:00, and the BlackBerry mapping software told me it was a 4-hour drive.

Thankfully, the mapping software was a bit off, and we arrived in Grand Junction in plenty of time for the announcement there. That was a good thing, as the turnout in Grand Junction was the best of all of the announcements. All three television stations, and two newspapers, showed up to cover the event, and the crowd was standing-room only because of how many people showed up. There is a hunger for change in Colorado — and the folks in Grand Junction clearly understand how important the Attorney General’s office is to effecting that change. Mary Beth Pyle and Martelle Daniels did an outstanding job of letting folks know about the event, and it clearly showed.

We then headed down to Durango, in one of the most magical drives one could conjure in Colorado. The “Million Dollar Highway” has some of the most awe-inspiring views in Colorado, especially this time of year. Even though we were racing to make it to Durango by 6:00, Brandy still hung out of the window taking picture after picture of mountain vistas that grew more and more breathtaking around every turn. I love this state!

We arrived in Durango to another great crowd — this time, we had a discussion about the politics and policy involved in running for Attorney General. Again, I was so heartened to have such intelligent and eager support from people who share my vision for Colorado.

It was bittersweet to leave the La Plata County Courthouse Friday night. I had such a good time talking with people all across Colorado about so many different topics. It was nice to be on the road home, but I can’t wait to get out on the road again very very soon. We have several events scheduled for the coming week, so I’m excited about the opportunity to share our vision for Colorado with so many more people.

Thanks to you all for your support in these efforts!

I want you on DemNotes to be among the first to hear what this campaign for Attorney General of Colorado is all about, and what I’m planning to do both as a candidate for Attorney General and as your Attorney General. Here’s the speech I’m gave across Colorado today and will give tomorrow — I hope to have video posted online before I hit the road on Friday morning:

I am announcing today that I am a candidate to be Colorado’s next Attorney General.

It’s been said in a number of races for Attorney General across this country, but it bears repeating: when the Attorney General of Colorado stands before a court, the very first words from his or her mouth are these – “I’m so-and-so, For the People of Colorado.”

For the People of Colorado.

That’s pretty powerful. It is a huge responsibility to say you are For The People. Well, it’s not so much a huge responsibility to say it; it IS a huge responsibility to mean it, to live it, to do it. Anybody can say it.

In Colorado, we’ve come to expect much from the people we elect to serve as our Attorney General. Indeed, the nation has come to expect much from Colorado’s Attorney General. That’s why the incumbent’s two predecessors – one Democrat, one Republican – have both risen to become Secretaries of the Interior in the Presidential Cabinet.

Sadly, though, the leadership we’ve come to expect from that office has not emerged in the last five years. And that’s why I’m running. Because The People can no longer afford to have the doors of justice shut in their faces because of ideology.

The differences between myself and the incumbent could not be more clear. For him, being Attorney General is about putting his ideology into practice. What is his ideology? That we Coloradans should not have an “activist” Attorney General. He’s risen to become the national spokesperson for this radical movement that says activism has no place in law enforcement.

An Activist Attorney General.

I simply could not disagree more. Just as I want my county sheriff to root out crime; just as I want my police chief to find criminals and put them away, I want my Attorney General to actively search high and low for those who would do harm to Coloradans!

We may not always like the Highway Patrol officers who sit on the side of I-25 with their radar guns actively looking for those breaking our traffic laws, but we are a heck of a lot safer with them there. But that’s activist law enforcement, make no mistake about it!

And when local police departments here in Colorado conduct sting operations on the Internet to expose child predators, I’m damn happy to see that activism in our law enforcement community as the father of a 13-year old girl.

Don’t tell me that the people we pay to put their lives on the line to keep us safe should not be activists. Don’t tell me that we aren’t safer when law enforcement looks for criminals high and low. The people of Colorado know better – and I know better!

My opponent argues that activism in the AG’s office could harm our economy. But the reality is very different. Enron. Worldcom. Bernie Madoff. Subprime lending crisis. All of these could have been avoided with better activism by regulators and law enforcement.

Today, we take that debate to the incumbent. Colorado deserves better.

And I plan to deliver.

You see, I’ve been delivering my entire life as an attorney. I’ve spent my entire legal career opening up the doors to justice to ALL Coloradans.

A big chunk of my practice is work as a Court-appointed Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children. I’ve seen the real effect of poverty, of drugs, of abuse, in the eyes of real children. This isn’t theoretical to me – this is real life.

When we talk about the continuing need to coordinate law enforcement’s efforts to battle against meth, it isn’t theoretical – time and time again, I’ve seen parents choose meth over their children in one of the saddest addictions around.

When we talk about the need to catch those who would lure children into sexual abuse, it isn’t theoretical – time and time again, I’ve seen the aftermath of the effects of sexual abuse on its victims and the mental health issues that simply never go away from such a violation of the trust held in young eyes.

And when we talk about the need to stop the cycle of domestic violence, that isn’t theoretical either – time and time again, I’ve seen children who love unconditionally in homes with parents who don’t know what love means.

I’ll say it again: This isn’t theoretical to me – this is real life!

But I don’t see things only at this level. The other biggest part of my career as a lawyer has been spent battling against insurance companies on behalf of those who, most often, couldn’t afford a lawyer otherwise. Too often, the only thing standing between a company choosing profits over people is a lawyer standing up for the side of the people.

It’s time we had an Attorney General who forces companies to choose people over profits, too.

I will be that Attorney General!

Now, I know that there are already some folks out there who are saying that some “small town attorney” can’t win this thing. That we need to have a lawyer with a fancy big firm 17th Street pedigree in Denver out there running as a Democrat.

I grew up in small-town Southern Colorado. And when I became a lawyer, I chose to come back to Colorado. And I made another choice: instead of the canyons of steel and concrete on 17th Street, I chose the canyons of rock and pinon pines in the foothills of Southern Colorado.

We Coloradans live here for a reason. We live here because of the generosity of the people. We live here because of the frontier attitude and nature of the American West. But as much as anything, we live here because the natural beauty of Colorado cannot be matched anywhere in the world!

That love for our natural beauty will inhabit my every thought as I serve as your Attorney General. Instead of gutting the natural resources division of the AG’s office, as my opponent has done, I will fight to ensure that a new message is sent loudly and clearly to anybody who would damage our natural beauty: You. Are. Not. Welcome. Here.

So the differences are clear. But how do we get those differences in front of Colorado’s voters?

First, understand this: I once made a pledge to myself that I would never run for an office I did not think I could win. I am keeping that pledge today. I am in this race to win. I’m in this race to change the office of Attorney General.

I’ve been in politics for a while now. One thing I’ve learned is the importance of talking directly to the People.

And that’s what we’re going to do with this campaign: we’re going to take this fight directly to the People of Colorado. I’m going to take this debate to the streets of Colorado.

Here’s my pledge: I will knock on doors in every single county in Colorado. Let me repeat that: I will knock on doors in every single county in Colorado. Not just visit – walk the streets of Colorado’s communities and knock on the doors of The People.

So, if you live here in Colorado Springs, tell your neighbors: Dan Slater’s on his way. If you live in Denver, I’m on my way. If you live in Fort Collins, I’m on my way.

But that’s not all: If you live in Sterling, I’m on my way. If you live in Antonito, I’m on my way. If you live in Leadville, I’m on my way!

When I’m done, the People of Colorado will know who I am and they will know about the differences between the two candidates in this race.

Taking the message to the People will also cost money. And I know that this race will take hundreds of thousands of dollars. I need the help of every person here – Democrat or Republican – to make my vision a reality and to send the vision of my opponent into the dustbin of bad ideas by the right-wing that have been rejected by the voters. I ask you to open your checkbooks and donate today, and to work to find friends and neighbors who share our vision for the future of Colorado who are willing to open their checkbooks, as well.

This campaign is going to be a great opportunity – a true debate of two different visions for Colorado. When I sent out an e-mail last week telling folks I was looking at announcing today, I said that my opponent lacked vision.

In retrospect, I was wrong. He doesn’t lack vision. He has a clear vision for this office, and he’s put that into practice. He may be a nice guy – I don’t have a problem with the incumbent personally, but the vision he has is horribly, horribly wrong for Colorado.

That’s the debate we’re going to have.

We’re going to be talking about the need to fight for the People. He’s going to be talking about the need to protect the powerful. The People of Colorado will decide.

We’re going to be talking about real life. He’s going to be talking about the theoretical. The People of Colorado will decide.

And we’re going to be talking about the need to take an activist role in fighting those who would harm Coloradans. He’s going to be talking about the need to hold off and let the “free market” regulate these harmful entities. The People of Colorado will decide.

Those are the differences. I’m happy taking that debate to the People of Colorado.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Dan Slater. I’m running for Attorney General.

For the People of Colorado.

Thank you!

While I certainly hope to see as many of you as possible out on the “trail” tomorrow and Friday, I do want to make sure that all of you are aware that I will also be interviewed by David Sirota on AM 760 just after 8 am tomorrow morning (Thursday). If you’re in the listening area, I encourage you to listen in and get a taste of what I’ll be saying at the campaign announcement events across the Centennial State.

See you tomorrow and Friday!

As a follow up to last week’s post, we’ve finally nailed down all of the event sites for my campaign announcement Thursday and Friday. As most of you know, I will be announcing on Thursday and Friday, via a six-city statewide tour, that I will be running for Attorney General of Colorado. It would be so great to see each of you there when I announce — I’ve got some exciting plans and ideas, and I think the distinction we will be drawing with the incumbent will be very clear when I speak on the 1st and 2nd.

Here are the finalized plans and locations:

Thursday, October 1
9:00 AM – Colorado Springs, Penrose Library, Carnegie Room
1:00 PM – Denver, Pipefitters 208 Hall, 6350 N. Broadway, Denver
5:00 PM – Greeley, Weld County Courthouse, front lawn

Friday, October 2
8:00 AM – Steamboat Springs, Routt County Courthouse, front lawn
1:00 PM – Grand Junction, Traders Coffee and Tea
6:00 PM – Durango, La Plata County Courthouse, Anasazi Room

I hope to do some exciting things, including posting video of some of the events, and keeping updates going via DemNotes, Facebook, and Twitter. But the most important thing you can do right now is to be there!

If you’ve been following DemNotes for the past month — or especially if you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook lately — you’ve seen all sorts of cryptic messages about my plans for the future. If you attended some of the events where I’ve spoken or been introduced in the last couple of weeks, you’ve heard about what I’ve been considering doing.

But if you haven’t, I want you on DemNotes to be among the first to know: On October 1, I will be announcing my candidacy to be Colorado’s next Attorney General.

So save that date (if you’re on the Western Slope, save October 2 instead).

Let me be clear: I’m not a candidate today. I can’t accept any contributions until October 1 — that’s when I will be a candidate.

I’m not going to spend this post talking about all of the reasons I am going to run — we’ll save that for the Announcement Tour. But I think it is time — past time — for us to have an Attorney General who truly fights for ALL of the people of Colorado, and who isn’t afraid to go out and root out those who would prey on our most vulnerable citizens.

So if you have the time, please set aside time to stop by one of our Announcement Tour stops. We are still finalizing all of the details, but here are the plans, most locations TBA:
Thursday, October 1:
– 9:00 AM – Colorado Springs – Penrose Library, Carnegie Room
– 1:00 PM – Denver – TBA
– 5:00 PM – Greeley – TBA

Friday, October 2:
– 8:00 AM – Steamboat – TBA
– 1:00 PM – Grand Junction – Traders Coffee & Tea Co.
– 6:00 PM – Durango – TBA

I’ve got some exciting things planned for this race, and I’m looking forward to getting to every community in Colorado and talking about my vision for the Attorney General’s office in Colorado — and the incumbent’s lack of vision.

Let me know what you think. If you want to help out with any of these events, drop me an e-mail. Otherwise, I hope to see you all next week!

Last night, we drove up to Golden for the Jefferson County Democrats’ annual Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner. It was a very well-attended and well-staged event to support the JeffCo Dems.

I found myself in an unusual, but intriguing position — sitting between the two Party leaders with possibly the most thankless jobs in the Democratic Party. To my left, of course, was my wife, who also serves as the Chair of the 5th Congressional District Democratic Party. To my right, though, was Paula Noonan, who is the Chair of the 6th Congressional District Democrats. (For those scoring at home, those two districts are represented by Republicans Doug Lamborn and Mike Coffman, respectively — the only two Republicans left in Colorado’s Congressional delegation.) Its a tough job when your five other colleagues all of Members of Congress who show up at the district assemblies now.

Paula and I had a great conversation about the lack of attention given to the Democrats in South JeffCo. I promised to make a trip down there to meet and work with Dems in that area to help build more morale and win more elections.

Beyond my table mates — two of whom spent the entire evening in the hallway monitoring their silent auction bids (they take silent auctions seriously up in JeffCo!) — there were a number of celebrities in attendance. Congressman Ed Perlmutter spoke and was incredibly well-received. Former Speaker Andrew Romanoff was there, and although he did not speak, he received the most sustained applause of any of the politicians introduced. Governor Ritter spoke, as did Sen. Bennet’s wife, and did a great job talking about the challenges ahead.

Longtime JeffCo volunteers Bob and Marilyn Young received the Eleanor Award, the annual award by the JeffCo Dems. I met both of these wonderful folks many years ago, and they have such a long and proud history of helping fight to bring more Democratic victories to Jefferson County over the years.

Probably the longest part of the night was the introductions of elected officials and party dignitaries. That is the curse of success in Jefferson County. About a decade ago, Jefferson County’s Democratic legislators would have all fit in a phone booth. Now, the vast majority of Jefferson County’s legislative delegation are Democrats! It is a refreshing problem to have, indeed.

Finally, we heard from William Rivers Pitt, who is a nationally-known author. He has written for the New York Times, and is best-known for his webiste, www.truthout.org. He spoke passionately about the right-wing revolt and the stoking of the winds of insurrection by those who speak for the right. It was an interesting speech — and a refreshing change from the politician-led speeches normally seen at dinners like this.

In the end, the JeffCo Dems can be proud of a night well-done. They continue to be leaders in making Colorado blue!

———————-

Saturday, we were also active — we helped staff the booth at Florence’s Pioneer Days for the Fremont County Democrats. I spent the time soaking my hands in watermelon juice, slicing watermelon for the massive crowds in attendance. (I still bear a scar on my hand from cutting watermelon in 2002 at Pioneer Days that went awry.) Fremont isn’t particularly Democratic, as many of you know, so it was really nice to see such a good response for the Democrats here.

——————–

Finally, watch for a VERY SPECIAL DemNotes tomorrow — I’ll be making an “announcement about an announcement.” Yes, that’s cryptic, but you’ll find out more tomorrow.

There has been quite a buzz in Democratic Party circles — not only here in Colorado, but nationally — about the possibility that we Colorado Democrats will have a primary in the U.S. Senate race. Yesterday, former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff made it official: he’s seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Michael Bennet.

Now, I know a number of folks are wringing their hands in concern over the thought of a primary for Democrats in Colorado. But when you step back and take a better look, I think you’ll find that Colorado’s Democrats are not going to fare poorly because we have a choice. But we do need to figure out what this primary means for our Party.

First, let me be very clear: Nobody should read anything into anything I write on this post. As an officer of the State Party, I am standing with my fellow officers in agreeing to remain neutral through this primary process. I did lend my name to Speaker Romanoff’s quest to be appointed by Governor Ritter, and supported him in that effort. Similarly, I’ve been very impressed by the work that Senator Bennet has been able to do in just a few short months in office. Colorado’s Democrats could not ask for a better choice, because I don’t think there is any wrong answer to the ballot question of who you support in this race.

So here is what it means to the Colorado Democratic Party in the months to come:

1. We will likely see another well-attended caucus. I think it is safe to say we won’t see the kind of numbers that we saw in 2008 — we’ll probably never see 130,000 people again at caucus — but we could see 40,000, and that would be twice what we normally see. County parties should plan accordingly.

2. We will see a vigorous debate of the issues between our candidates. Having two well-qualified candidates means a good debate about what being the Democratic Nominee for the U.S. Senate means in Colorado. As long as we stay focused on the issues, that debate can only be healthy for our Party.

3. We will see folks take sides. While we have made decisions as State Party Officers to remain neutral, it is natural that local activists will want to pick one side or an0ther in this primary. There is a lot of confusion over this point: State Party rules prohibit the Party from taking sides. County parties cannot endorse one candidate over another. But individuals, in their individual capacity, most certainly can endorse either of the two candidates now running. We have already seen a number of county chairs and elected officials endorse Sen. Bennet or Speaker Romanoff. That will likely intensify, and there is a lot of potential for hurt feelings in doing so. If you feel you need to announce your support for one candidate over another, I strongly encourage you to focus on the positive aspects of why you are making such a decision. This primary in particular does not have to be a “lesser of two evils” primary. Indeed, just the opposite is true.

What will not happen because of yesterday’s announcement?

1. We won’t necessarily lose the General Election. There is a fear among many that a primary will bloody and weaken our nominee for the General Election. Empirically, though, that just isn’t the case. This seat itself is good proof of that fact: the last time this seat was up for election, we had a primary. Mike Miles even received the topline status at the State Assembly in 2004. But Ken Salazar won the Primary, and went on to win the General Election handily, even while George W. Bush won Colorado statewide the same year. Some are still sore about the divisions that erupted in our Party during last year’s Presidential caucuses in Colorado; however, we were able to win our 9 electoral votes for our nominee unusually easily last November. We will still have to fight like heck to beat the Republicans, but they have their own primary issues to sort out themselves.

2. We won’t see a massive decrease in involvement. We Colorado Democrats come together very well after a primary. We can do that again in 2010.

3. We won’t see the national Democrats abandon Colorado. Yeah, I know, the DSCC is making all sorts of threats. But the reality is that they cannot afford to lose this Senate seat. It is a competitive state, and the Senate Dems NEED two Coloradans in the U.S. Senate. When combined with a heavily targeted 4th CD race, and a Governor with a GOP-painted bullseye on his back, the DNC and their committees must continue to invest in Colorado.

Those are my thoughts. Again, we can debate whether we should have a primary for this seat in Colorado, but that has now become an academic debate. We now have to work under the reality that there will be a primary in Colorado. And we should plan accordingly.

This afternoon has been about caucus meetings here at the DNC Fall meeting in Austin. While the leadership of the DNC generally is pretty pre-determined, the leadership of the various caucuses of the DNC is much more freely selected by their members.

Shortly after the General Session ended and everybody had a chance to have lunch, the regional caucuses met. The DNC is divided into four caucuses: West, South, East, and Midwest. There were no contested races for the Western Caucus officers (we elected officers from California, Arizona, Oregon, and Wyoming). The contested races were for our four representatives to the DNC’s Executive Committee.

There are two male and two female positions on the Executive Committee for each region; in the West, we had three men and three women running, obviously requiring an election. I must say, it was the toughest vote I’ve ever had on the DNC. All six of the candidates were eminently qualified and deserving of being on the Executive Committee. In the end, we elected two individuals from California, a Washingtonian, and a New Mexican to represent us on the Executive Committee.

After the Western Caucus, the constituency caucuses held their meetings. I spent the first half of this period in the Hispanic Caucus, where I observed the caucus elect an energetic new chair, a State Senator from Illinois. The Hispanic Caucus elected two Coloradans into their leadership: Debbie Marquez was selected to be the Caucus Secretary; Mannie Rodriguez was selected to be the Finance Committee Chair.

I then excused myself and stepped into the Black Caucus meeting. There, we heard from two Members of Congress — Rep. Maxine Waters of California and a Representative from Dallas. Both emphasized the importance of getting health insurance reform passed, and passed now. The Caucus then moved into elections, where they elected Coloradan Anthony Graves to serve as a member of the Caucus’ Executive Board representing the West.

Tonight, we are headed to an “exotic animal ranch” for authentic Austin Salt Lick BBQ. Should be an interesting reception.

————–

One more note that I found interesting: Yesterday, Brandy was having her nails done at a local manicure place, and Christine Pelosi was also there getting her nails done. Brandy and Christine spoke for a while, and Brandy noted that Christine’s mom (you may remember her as the person behind the President Wednesday night not named Biden) shot quite a stare at Rep. Wilson’s outburst during the President’s speech. Christine Pelosi’s response? “Yeah, I recognized that glare from my years as a teenager.” Nice.

Mid-day in Austin today has been dominated by the DNC’s General Meeting. We’ve heard from a number of speakers about the future of the Democratic Party, both here in Texas, and nationally.

The meeting began with a welcome by Austin’s mayor, who described himself as a “Dyed-in-the-wool, yellow-dog Democrat!” We then heard about the Texas political landscape from the leader of the Texas Senate’s Democratic caucus. Sen. Vandeputte declared, “Texas is comin’ back! Texas is turnin’ blue!” In the 150-member State House, Democrats have been able to narrow the gap to within one race of erasing the GOP Majority. It is now a 76-74 Republican majority. In 2008, Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio all voted Blue. Texas is a lot closer politically than you might think at first glance.

We then heard a tribute to Sen. Ted Kennedy (the same one shown at the Democratic Convention in Denver), and passed a resolution honoring his life. Governor Kaine gave a Chair’s report next, talking about how the Republican Party continues to be against nearly everything, and they don’t seem to stand FOR anything. He discussed the state of this year’s important elections in New Jersey and Virginia (the GOP candidate for Governor in Virginia apparently opposes contraception even for married couples!).

We next heard from the White House Political Director Patrick Gaspars. Gaspars talked about all of the challenges the President has faced, but also pointed out that there have been numerous times over the past two years when people have said that Barack Obama would fail — and every time, he’s come through successful!

Finally, we took care of some business. We approved Gov. Kaine’s slate of nominees for committees and At-Large DNC appointments (including two new DNC Members from Colorado, Sharon Bonner of Pueblo and Blanca O’Leary from Aspen). We adopted a number of other resolutions. And there were a number of references to the great job Colorado did hosting the Democratic Party last year.

I’ve got to run down now to the Western Caucus meeting, where we have a few contested elections to handle. I’ll be updating via my Facebook fan page and Twitter, as will Anthony Graves. And, of course, I’ll update with another post to DemNotes a little later on today.

This morning kicked of the Democratic meetings here in Austin, Texas. This morning was all about the Association of State Democratic Chairs, which met for a few hours — some in a closed session — this morning.

The morning began with a welcome from Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Ritchie. He talked about the advancements and opportunities that Democrats have made and are making in Texas. While the perception is that Texas is solidly Republican, the reality is that it is moving in the direction of Democrats a lot faster than most would think. You might even see Texas become a Presidential battleground sooner than you’d expect — and without Texas, the Republicans cannot possibly win any kind of national election.

We then heard from the staff leadership of the DNC. DNC Executive Director Jen O’Malley-Dixon spoke, followed by the DNC Political Director and the Executive Director of Organizing For America. What was particularly useful was the feedback / Q&A session that followed, where state party leaders had an opportunity to interact with these DNC leaders about what is working and what isn’t working in the DNC’s / OFA’s relationship with the state and local parties.

We also heard about the evolution of the voter file, and our agreement for the DNC and state parties to work together to continue our partnership and make VAN / VoteBuilder even better than it was in 2008. We finally heard about the timeline for the Census and redistricting and the need for state parties to ensure that plans are in place to count every person in every state.

Finally, we broke out into our geographic regions for a short meeting among ourselves. The Western Region had a great discussion about recent meetings and advancements, and shared our goals for the coming months ahead.

The ASDC meetings are generally the most useful part of these larger DNC meetings, and this week in Austin has proven to continue that truth. It is so great to see old friends from around the nation, and to meet our newest chairs and vice chairs. If this morning was any indication, the DNC meetings here in Austin should be a great event for continuing to help Democrats in every state!

This afternoon, there are just a couple of committee meetings, so I think Brandy and I may go out and explore Austin before the reception at the LBJ Ranch hosted by the Texas Democratic Party tonight. I’ll write more later!