Since Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race, much has been diaried regarding party unity and winning over her most diehard supporters. Some of these supporters have not taken Hillary's direction and advice on backing Barack and have actually formed rogue groups like P.U.M.A.. Side note, if you can stomach clicking the link, I got a chuckle out of P.U.M.A.'s delegate switch counter and the number needed at the convention for HRC to get the nomination. It stands at 160 delegated away. But I digress...

Can someone tell me what the heck is going on with these PUMA's and what does PUMA stand for? I understand they are Hillary supporters & are trying to crash the DEM Convention & get her elected! Here is the article on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/...
preston.puma/index.html Will Bower, the goups leader is quoted at CNN saying:"I have never voted for anything but a Democrat, and I feel that there has been an internal coup, and they are putting forward a candidate that does not represent the will of the Democratic Party," Bower said."We have got a convention coming up and although everyone calls him the nominee, he is the presumed nominee," Bower said. "So we need to make sure Hillary gets her name in nomination and those delegates get a chance to vote, because I think there are a lot of delegates who will change their mind by the end of August and realize that Hillary Clinton is the truer Democrat." Your thoughts PLEASE!

A few weeks ago, when it became clear that Barack Obama was our nominee, I suddenly had a place in my heart for Hillary Clinton.  I realized that a long, tough primary was just part of the process, and that I could forgive Hillary.  I even wrote a few diaries considering the possibility of Hillary Clinton as a VP running mate.

I have since deleted those diaries.

I have lived in Colorado all my life and on August 1st of this year my beloved home state will turn 132 years old and I will turn 51.  My family comes from upstate New York, Missouri, Massachusetts and points up and down the eastern coast of America.  In 1914 my paternal grandfather ran away from home in Easton, New York and came west to join the Army, when World War I ended and his enlistment was up he returned to the high dry plains of Colorado,  My grandmother's father travelled from Nebraska to eastern Colorado in 1902 riding in a covered wagon to find a piece of earth to call his own and homestead.  Although the conditions were harsh, they stayed, and lived and scraped and survived through the dustbowl and the Great Depression.  Grandma said the worst thing about the drylands was the wind and the lack of trees, but when she went east to visit relatives she found she missed the wide open skies and the air filled with the smell of sagebrush.

This year marks my first excursion into political activism.

I have watched from the sidelines all my life.  I've always had strong political opinions, but I've always avoided airing them outside of circles of friends.  I've always voted, but never contributed or worked for a campaign.  I was in the "what can one person do?" camp.

One of my resolutions this year is to talk more about my support for Obama with people I meet casually, just to try to spread the word every bit I can.  

I'm writing this diary to others who might be in the same position.  You're a little shy with strangers.  You avoid confrontation.  Yes you can.  You can make a difference.  Today, I moved a low-information voter one little step toward voting for Obama.  I'm not a hero.  I didn't make much difference.  What will make a difference is if we all do a little bit more than we have ever done before.

Update:
Cool.  My first Rec List Diary.  A big thank you to all who rec'd and commented.  One of the great things about dKos is the ability it gives all of us to support each other with information and encouragement as we work together.

As much as the media narrative screams "close race" and tries to make us believe that there is some sort of rallying of the republican faithful taking place around Grandpa John -- it's all bullshit, and they know it.

I am a long beaten down Democrat, living in a deeply red district in Washington State, seriously disheartened by the disasters of two Bush terms, and 16 years with Doc Hastings as my representative, and I am telling you right now, Obama is going to win in a landslide.  It won't even be close. He'll win at least 300 electoral votes, probably more.

The difference will be turnout.  No opinion poll can tell me what a likely voter will look like in November, just as they couldn't have predicted the record shattering showing Democrats had in the primary race.  In 2004 we had 125 people show up at the county wide convention for John Kerry.  This year we had almost 700. This in a Bush +10 congressional district.  College campuses have become incubators for the largest turnout among the youth in history - probably even eclipsing that of 1972 when 18 year olds could first vote.  And, think of this -- the 50 state voter registration drive the campaign is planning hasn't even started yet.

Hello All,
    I am going to be in Denver the weekend before the Democratic National Convention.  I am going back home on Monday night.  I would LOVE to participate in something convention related while there.  My problem is, I cannot find any schedule of events for the convention.  Yes, I have been to the website. (http://demconvention.com/events/)  Can someone help me out?

Just read this on Huffington Post.

Recently I wrote a diary about how some Clinton supporters are agitating to have Clinton's name placed in nomination at the convention.

Some of them are doing this because they claim this will show Clinton more respect.  Others actually think that Clinton could end up getting the nomination.

Now this same story has been picked up by the Huffington Post which has it as its headline when you go to the page.

So I thought I'd throw this question out there -- Should there be a roll call with both Obama and Clinton as nominated candidates?

Now the Denver Group has joined PUMA in opposition to Senator Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee. The Denver Group intends a hijacking at the convention.  You have to ask yourself, however, what's their real goal?

Right now there is a strong movement to give Hillary Clinton a fighting chance at the presidential nomination.  It's led by a blog group called "The Denver Group". This may be part of the reason for Hillary's lengthly explanation of her FISA vote. Some HRC supporters are comparing Hillary's "no" vote to Barack's "yes" vote and McCain's not having voted on the bill in numerous blogs. The FISA vote is clearly being used to draw support for Hillary.

This is my very first diary ever - I'm sort of new to the whole 'netroots' thing.  As a matter of fact, I only just recently understood what that word meant.  Something to do with plants, right??

Anyway, I decided that today would be the day that I write a diary, because something amazing just happened.

I'm going to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, but I'm not a Delegate . . .

t just proves the point the most impressive and useful ideas are often the simplest and have always been sitting out in clear view until someone notices them. And that can take a long time. Compliments to whoever on the Obama staff realized keeping the Convention inside the convention hall makes NO sense specifically NOT on the final night of the Convention. The night that really counts !!

From Politico:

Obama to accept before 75,000+
By MIKE ALLEN | 7/7/08 9:20 AM EST  Text Size:    

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will leave the hall of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and deliver a rock-star-style acceptance speech at nearby Invesco Field at Mile High, quadrupling his live audience, the party announced Monday.

The speech, in the stadium that is home of the Denver Broncos, will be on the fourth and final night of the convention, Aug. 28.

Adding to the historic resonance of the first nomination of an African-American for president, that date is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream Speech."

The move means additional expense for the television networks, where executives are having a conference call Monday to discuss the logistics of moving their cameras and anchors to the new location after months of planning for a finale in the smaller Pepsi Center, where the rest of the convention will be held.

The convention hall has a capacity of 19,000, compared to more than 76,000 at Invesco.

How cool is this?  

At the Democratic National Convention next month, Barack will deliver his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 people at a free, open event in Denver, Colorado.

Make a donation of $5 or more between now and midnight on July 31st, and you could be one of 10 supporters chosen to meet Barack backstage and watch his acceptance speech in person.

Each of the 10 selected supporters can bring a guest, and will be flown to Denver to spend two days at the convention, culminating in Barack's speech on Thursday, August 28th.

Make a donation now and you could have a front row seat to history:

After days of speculations, it will be made official tomorrow:

Obama will give his acceptance speech at Invesco Fiels, the Broncos' arena with capacity of 76,000.

I figure that Obama's VP pick is a much bigger deal than March Madness.

So, I figure that the rows will be the potential VP picks, and the columns will be the dates.

Obviously, the further before the convention, the more time will be covered by each time slot.

Let's be clear, this is not online gambling.  That would be wrong.  It is a complex financial instrument, like the Iowa presidential election futures market.

Obviously, the "house" gets a cut of the action, just like on Wall Street.

So here are the questions:

• Should this just be a VP pick, or should less restrictive betting pool futures market be set up.
• What criteria are used to select potential candidates?
• How should the time be divided for the matrix?

and finally:

• If Sam Nunn is selected, who is the approved vendor for pitch forks and torches?

This may not be the appropriate place to post this but I'm desparate.  Does anyone here have any leads on housing available in Denver?