The Colorado State Open Thread is written by, for, about, and with the express written desire to be read by people who live in, once lived in, may be contemplating living in, know someone who may have heard of Colorado, or who just may have clicked on the wrong diary in Daily Kos.
This last week, probably on Wednesday, I heard through friends that Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez were coming to Greeley and Denver for some rallies — the Greeley one in particular because no Republican was willing to give in-person meetings to constituents. Greeley is the 8th Congressional district of Gabe Evans, with the 4th Congressional district for Lauren Boebert just a few miles to the east.
I have been a fan of both of the Democratic politicians for many years — more so for Senator Sanders since Representative AOC hasn’t been in office very long. I immediately started making plans for going to see them and by Friday morning I had a full car of elderly ladies from Estes Park ready to head down the hill to Greeley. We chose Greeley because it was going to be about the same distance from Denver and we wanted our best chance to be inside and close to the speakers. We arrived just before 11AM with the event scheduled to open doors at noon. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, with sun, no wind and warm but not hot temperatures.
The line snaked around the University of Northern Colorado campus for maybe a mile. Those who couldn’t make it inside saw the presentation on a huge screen.
We were fortunate to be early enough to make it indoors (about 4000 were inside, 6-7000 outside) and about forty feet from the stage.
You can see the lectern above the black hat.
As commented on in many news stories, most of the message was to unify and fight on every level. There weren’t really specifics other than to run for office at every level and let your representatives know your opinions. From AOC, there was a point where she asked people to turn to one another, introduce ones self, and start making connections because the people who were here have far more in common with each other than with the billionaires who are wrecking the country. Another favorite moment was when she got out her phone, started a video and asked us to wave to the missing Representative Evans who was afraid to come to a rally in his own district. (The link is to X)
She is really sharp as a speaker, charismatic as a politician and symbol of progressivism and if I didn’t have Joe Neguse, I’d want her as my Representative.
Next came Bernie. I have seen him on television many times, but this was my first time to see him in person. He’s every bit as good as I hoped he’d be. He had many great points about the billionaires not caring for the people of the country and two points particularly stood out to me. At one point he said “I don’t have a PhD in mathematics, but I believe that 99 is greater than 1.” That drew a great roar from the crowd. At another point, he said he was going to tell something scary; he was going to tell the truth. He also talked about lifespans, and how the richest country in the history of the world has shorter lifespans than other industrialized nations and he not only blamed the lack of Medicare for all but he also put the blame on stresses caused by a number of issues and he had people in the audience shout out things that were stressful in their lives.
I could feel Bernie talking directly to me.
The Denver rally was estimated to be about 34,000 people. It apparently was the biggest rally Bernie has ever spoken to. The best writeup on the two appearances that I have read can be found at Colorado Newsline. The Colorado Sun writeup is here and focuses more on AOC than on Bernie. I hope you were able to go and I’d love to hear your experience in the comments below.
I was handed a couple of fliers for other rallies around the state. One was Saturday in Northglenn in Gabe Evans’ district as a “People’s Town Hall”. I haven’t seen a report on that. Did anyone go there?
Also there are a number of rallies with the GreenLatinos of Colorado group. The rallies will be around the state. The next one is 3/29 in Grand Junction, followed by one on 4/19 in Fountain. The tour is their “Take on Toxics Tour” but they have many activities listed on their website.
On Saturday, I participated in another rally, this time up at the main eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It wasn’t a great day with strong winds and some light snow, but there were still dozens of people lining Highway 36 heading into the park. The maker of the sign below had been at the rally in Greeley (as had several of the sign wavers) and that’s where her message came from.
Just so people can keep up with the news from Colorado, a portrait of the current portrait was hung in the Colorado state capitol building but apparently it doesn’t portray him properly. Honestly, I think it’s just as good as things like his mug shot that’s apparently in the Oval Office, but I’m not good at judging art. Maybe he’s a bit chubby?
The Colorado Democrats said if the Republican party wanted to spend money again for another portrait, they weren’t going to object. We’ll see if the new version has him with muscles standing out and lightning bolts flying out of his fingers.
I would love to hear your reports of efforts you are making to go to rallies, what you’ve learned, what you may have wanted but didn’t feel you got from the rallies, and also, please put out recommendations for meetups that I might do around the state this summer. As always, the floor is yours...
