All Posts Tagged With: "Denver Post"

The Democratic National Committee and Howard Dean had reservations that a “hick” town in a flyover state could raise the kind of money it takes to earn a place in history as the host of the 2008 Democratic Convention to nominate it’s candidate for the Presidency.

As recently as this June, the host committee was still behind by 11 million but the powers that be were continuing hard at work to convince large donors to make it happen.

Yesterday, August 20, 2008, the Denver Post headline read “Convention cash hits target”. Apparently $40.6 million had been pledged by large donors and “money is still coming in”.

Denver, CO, of any US city, is a place any convention should be privileged to have their convention, let alone with the city raising over $40 million for some of the “necessaries”, perhaps a “signing bonus” like equivalency professional sports teams require of someone for them to relocate to a city or state. Denver, with it’s vibrant and growing downtown around the historic warehouse district that sprang up around the railroads in the 1800’s and with its vibrant and supportive suburbs,is a beautiful city at the base of the Rocky Mountains, home of five major sports franchises operating out of four fairly new professional sports stadiums, two of which will be used by the Democrats in making their nominee for the Presidency. It also has one of the nations largest and successful live entertainment and theater complexes, various other venues including another convention center, many respected universities, and a young and healthy population, more of whom are living downtown that ever before.

Colorado’s 8 delegates in the presidential race, while not a lot, does put Colorado and surrounding states a place in the sun. While traditionally giving a lot for support to the Republicans, Colorado is in a group of “swing” states which can have an unusually large voice this time around.

While many events lead up to Colorado being a swing state and subsequently being able to raise such a large amount of money, which has kept other states out of the running, and while many individuals have contributed, perhaps Denver’s own Mayor John Hickenlooper, the favorite hick in these parts, deserves a majority of the credit. Before becoming Mayor, John Hickenlooper was a geologist and a very successful restaurateur and real estate developer.

Another article should be dedicated to this talented, geekily charismatic individual who has been known to say “Politics is like Hollywood for ugly people.”