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

Whew!

Driving home from Greeley yesterday morning, I had a lot of time to think about how far we’ve come. I’ve got a lot to say today, and I hope I can just remember to get it all in to this post.

Let’s start with some history. When I attended my very first State Assembly, I was amazed at how dull and business-like it was. I mean no offense to those who planned those assemblies — as they certainly knew how to run a Party, based on the results we saw in November that year — but it didn’t seem like much thought was put into planning the one time every two years when Democrats from every county in the state get together as one big family. I vowed to myself that if I were ever in a position to affect the State Assembly, I would work to make it an “event” — add some pizzazz to the weekend.

When I was selected as your State Party Secretary in 2003, there was already some talk about bringing the 2004 Convention and Assembly to Pueblo. I worked with the Pueblo folks to make that a reality. I headed up that effort, and with the help from great folks like Terry Hart, Pam DiFatta, Chuck Rodosevich, Pearl Chavez, Billie Crump, and Geri Lane, we were successful in turning the “meeting” into a full-weekend event. However, because I was monitoring every aspect of the weekend, I did not have the time I wanted to spend on the actual State Assembly. In any event, we ran a pretty high-energy affair that was lauded as being a darned good show.

In 2005, I marshalled a rules change that provided for a “Site Selection Committee” for the State Party. That committee chose Greeley as the 2006 site. We did things a little differently with Greeley than I had done in Pueblo — the Greeley folks would lead the efforts for pretty much everything except the actual meetings on Friday and Saturday. This left me with the ability to spend a little more time focusing on the actual State Assembly. While I worked as the “liaison” over the past year between the State Party and the Weld County Dems, for the most part, they handled the planning of things like transportation, food, entertainment, the golf tournament, volunteers, hospitality and hotels.

Now that we’ve finished, I can say that Greeley did an OUTSTANDING job with all of that.

I heard only positive comments about the work done by Weld County Dem volunteers. The State Party could not be prouder of their efforts — they truly built a foundation for the Colorado Democratic Party to shine on Saturday.

There were hundreds of people to thank from Greeley, and I’m only going to name a small handful, which is shameful due to the hard work of so many. First, everybody should be proud of the leadership from the three Host Committee Co-Chairs: Pam Shaddock, Ken Whitney, and Michael Dugan. Their leadership kept this train on track, even when I had the unenviable position many times of coming up to deliver news from the State Party that wasn’t the easiest to always swallow.

I also want to point out the work of some volunteers with whom I worked on my tasks for Saturday:

– Nancy Galvin. Nancy was the rock that held things together. The flow of registration went smoothly — nobody seemed to notice that the hallway for registration was rather tight. That’s because the registration layout and plan for volunteers and flow of delegates was put together by Nancy months in advance. Nancy, you are simply amazing.

– Roger Sherman. Putting together a seating plan for 3000+ people is difficult, especially when you have to consider that every seat must be specifically located. He handled the seating issues with grace and style, and helped with last-minute issues with nary a complaint. Great job, Roger!

– Bryan VanDriel. Bryan put together the lighting, sound, and video plans. He selected the best and most efficient plans for our sound and lighting, as well as our video. He was extremely patient, and he put together a great canvas for me to use in my musical and video choices. We received a ton of compliments for our audio and video — while a lot of that was directed toward content, which I selected, the real credit goes to Bryan and his group for giving us the technical abilities to put this together coherently. Thanks, Bryan — and please pass on these words of thanks to your crews.

And, of course, there was our staff. The CDP staff went above and beyond, staying past midnight most of last week to get the job done, and done right. From Sherry Jackson all the way down to our committed Headquarters volunteers, there is simply no way we could have done this without them. Add in Pat’s work chairing the meeting, and Carolyn Boller’s and Carol Burkhart’s hard work with the agenda and the credentials, and you have a great combination.

As for the Assembly itself, the coverage has been a great contrast between a well-run show in Greeley — and a mudfest in Colorado Springs. Even the Denver Post editorial page noticed it this morning:

The Democrats’ assembly surprised us – it was a smooth session that could easily have fractured over Ritter’s opposition to pre-choice policies. Instead, delegates embraced Ritter and stayed focused on retaking the governor’s office after the eight-year tenure of Bill Owens.

The best coverage of Saturday was actually in the Greeley Tribune:

Democrats united behind many things in Greeley on Saturday: A candidate for governor, a distaste for the other party and a confident outlook for the fall elections.

Although there was plenty of Bush-bashing at the Democratic State Assembly, mostly in the form of comedic video clips, Democratic aplomb and high morale ruled the day.

The anti-Bush and anti-Republican speeches felt more like schadenfreude — pleasure derived from the misfortune of others — than frustration or irritation.

The Democrats know how badly the Republican Party is faring nationally, and delegates and visitors seemed confident that would help turn more of Colorado blue.

Rep. Andrew Romanoff of Denver, the Colorado House speaker, said he recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., where he was asked what was going on with politics here.

“What is going on in Colorado is a revolution,” Romanoff said, to loud applause. “And you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

It was not assembly day bragging, either; Democratic candidates really think they can win.

“There are people here who really, legitimately think they have an opportunity to win elections,” said Rep. Jim Riesberg of Greeley, who is running for re-election this fall.

Bill Ritter, who was nominated Saturday as the Democrats’ candidate for governor, said he wanted to keep the State Legislature in the hands of Romanoff and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald.

“And we’re going to turn our congressional delegation blue, bright blue,” he said, to raucous applause.

State Rep. Angie Paccione is hoping she can make that happen this fall as she challenges U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave for her house seat. She received a thunderous ovation from the audience after her speech.

Everybody has their favorite moments. Mine? Joan Fitz-Gerald and the Democratic Senators dancing to Kool and the Gang. That’s another interesting contrast. Our musical choices received great reviews. However, over on ColoradoPols, the Republicans were whining about the fact that “Both Ways Bob” entered the stage to a song sung by — gasp! — a gay group from Europe! I guess that’s another difference between Democrats and Republicans. They judge someone’s work by their sexual orientation, or the color of their skin, or the fatness of their wallet. We judge someone’s work by, get this, the work itself.

Finally, isn’t the Republican mess down in Colorado Springs just the final nail in the coffin for Mike Coffman? The Republicans proved one thing: you can’t trust the ballot box with a Republican. Ken Gordon MUST be our Secretary of State!

But enough of what I think. What do you think? Log in online and let me know your thoughts about the State Assembly by using the comments section on DemNotes (www.demnotes.com).

Now, it’s time to get to work!