2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver Will Highlight a "Different Kind of Democrat"

Yahoo News ^ | 1/21/07 | Adriel Bettleheim

[Rawlings]

The following story is the first in what will be a long series of CQPolitics.com reports on what participants in the 2008 presidential nominating conventions can expect from the host cities: Denver for the Democrats (Aug. 25-28, 2008) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (Sept. 1-4, 2008 for the Republicans).

In this kickoff article, Adriel Bettelheim, the regulatory editor for Congressional Quarterly’s CQWeekly, shares his knowledge about the city recently named as the Democrats’ convention pick. Bettelheim was a business reporter and then Washington correspondent for the Denver Post from 1989 to 1998.

Democrats will find Denver a welcoming, if not distinctly emblematic, host city for their 2008 national convention.

The burg that sent outspoken liberal Pat Schroeder to Congress for 12 terms (1973-97) has long been an island of progressive politics in a largely conservative region.

But the metro area’s Democrats are a diverse lot who are actually difficult to characterize. The northern suburbs of Adams County are home to conservative, blue-collar Democrats who crossed over to vote for President Ronald Reagan, while Denver proper has a more liberal, ethnically diverse tilt.

Then there is Boulder, home to the University of Colorado, just a half hour to the northwest. A counterculture haven that’s at times hard to describe, Boulder is part of a larger “granola belt” that stretches to ski towns such as Aspen and Telluride.

This pastiche isn’t the only thing that makes the Mile High City distinct. Delegates from Democratic strongholds such as Chicago and Boston also will discover little of the big-city machine politics they know from back home — and much less overt partisanship from the citizenry at large.

Colorado Democrats may be giddy at the gains they’ve racked up the past two elections on the state and federal levels, with Ken Salazar (news, bio, voting record) elected to the U.S. Senate, Bill Ritter Jr. elected governor, and John Salazar (news, bio, voting record) and Ed Perlmutter (news, bio, voting record) elected to the U.S. House, all in contests for seats that had been left open by departing Republican incumbents.

The Democrats also now control both chambers of the state legislature, which of course sits in the state capital of Denver.

Yet locals still are as likely to talk about the fortunes of the city’s sports teams or the best hiking trails as the latest machinations in City Hall or Congress.

Convention organizers will no doubt spotlight a new breed of Western Democrat that is more iconoclastic and centrist than party colleagues from either coast.

One is Ken Salazar, a fifth-generation Coloradan who — since his election in 2004 — collaborated with Republicans on reauthorizing the Patriot Act, is as hawkish as many centrist Republicans, but generally embraces his own party’s orthodoxy on health care and other social policies.

His brother, John, also has taken a centrist approach since his 2004 election as representative of the state’s sprawling and generally Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District.

In the elder statesman category, the city also boasts Democratic former Sen. Gary Hart. A contender for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination who was forced to quit his 1988 White House bid because of a sex scandal, Hart has re-emerged as a foreign policy analyst whose prescient dissections of terror threats and global security, before and after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, has earned him a new audience.

Another prominent local Democrat is Denver’s mayor, John Hickenlooper, a brewpub owner-turned-politico who balanced a city budget that was $70 million in the red. He also cut deals with United, Frontier and Southwest airlines to keep business flowing at Denver International Airport, now the nation’s sixth-busiest.

The airport, with its distinctive roof shaped like the state’s famed snow-capped mountain peaks, will provide most delegates with their first glimpse of the city. The vast facility is, in fact, located almost a half hour from downtown, on the arid eastern plains near Rocky Mountain Arsenal — a longtime chemical weapons dump that has been cleaned up and converted into a wildlife refuge.

Once derided as a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle, DIA, as it is known, has developed into a first-class transportation hub, except when it’s idled, as it was over the recent December holiday season, by one of the city’s fabled snowstorms.

Once in the city, many visitors are drawn to Lower Downtown, or LoDo, the refurbished warehouse district, with Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies major league baseball team), historic Union Station and numerous restaurants, sports bars and pubs scattered within blocks of each other.

A bit further down the Platte Valley is the Pepsi Center, which will be the main venue for the Democratic convention. The city’s indoor sports arena, it is home to the Denver Nuggets basketball team and Colorado Avalanche hockey team.

While parking isn’t the chore it can be for drivers in Washington or larger cities, many residents avail themselves of the free shuttle buses on 16th Street, the city’s spine, or the light-rail system, which extends to the suburbs.

Politics buffs will be attracted to the Victorian-era state Capitol, whose gold dome was cast from local mine tailings. The nearby Colorado History Museum provides a timeline of the American West’s history, including details on federal policies to constrain American Indians and the often violent attempts by labor unions to organize Western mining camps at the turn of the 20th century.

The distinctive new, angular addition to the Denver Art Museum, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, has provided downtown with a noteworthy — some say over-the-top — architectural presence to the civic center park. The museum has noteworthy exhibits on Indian and pre-Columbian art, in addition to traveling shows.

Visitors often head for the mountains after one or two days in the city. The faux-alpine decadence of Vail is 90 minutes away. Pikes Peak is less than two hours to the south — near resolutely Republican Colorado Springs, home to the Air Force Academy and religious conservative organizations such as Focus on the Family.

And the awesome Rocky Mountain National Park, a short drive beyond Boulder, might provide a welcome respite to the heated rhetoric and gamesmanship in the city below

[Rawlings]

I live in Denver and I have no idea what they're talking about in this article. Denver's suburbs are blue-collar and Democratic? They are?

Denver is a pretty conservative city and I think it'll be a hoot to see what happens when the circus comes to town. This city will spew the Democrats out. Colorado will stay red in '08.

[manic4organic]

Um, an honest one?

[taxesareforever]

Maybe the "New Democrat" will be campaigning in spandex.

[Rawlings]

Hillary in spandex.

Perish the thought.

[BigSkyFreeper]

"Different Kind of Democrat"

No such thing exists.  Under that mask they're still the same filthy, stinkin', anti-American, Socialist pieces of trash. 

[coloradan]

Denver is conservative? Webb? Hickenlooper? Ref. C? Even Owens (R) is a gun-grabbing tax-raiser, to reflect the statewide (R) demographic. (Amendment 22, Ref C endorsements).

[BenLurkin]

Instead of the usual big government traitor hiding behind the mask of a phony patriotic populist?

[VxH]

"A new kind of Democrat"

Yep, true enough.

The dems have never had a Wahabist on their ticket before.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Obama+Wahabist

[Rawlings]

Owens is a conservative. He got squishy near the end but policy-wise he was pretty solid. Ref. C was a mistake. We needed to pass some sort of a TABOR reform but it was poorly executed by the GOP.

When I say Denver is conservative I'm talking about the metro area. The city itself is a weird libertarian/Bouldery hybrid. Hickenlooper is a social hedonist. But he's pretty pro-business.

All in all the town in solidly conservative. Remember that Denver is only a small percentage of the whole metro area.

[NordP]

Headline = Can't GET different enough for my vote. Republican all the way, baby!!!!

Actually, my dream ticket would be Bauer/Bolton 08 ....and I'm not talking Gary/Michael, either!

[SengirV]

A "New Democrat"? You mean one WITH a job?

[NordP]

"...the same filthy, stinkin', anti-American, Socialist pieces of trash."

Well stated.

[NordP]

Yeah, and San Francisco and L.A. are only two thirds of California ;-) San Diego is a Red County...Orange County is even redder!

[redhead]

"Denver is a pretty conservative city and I think it'll be a hoot to see what happens when the circus comes to town. This city will spew the Democrats out."

Which is more than likely what MPLS is going to do to the Republicans. I cannot even IMAGINE what the h-e-double toothpicks the Pubs were thinking of when they chose that hotbed of Wellstone-style FDR Better-Red-than-dead "Progressives." Oy, my head hurts...

[Theresawithanh]

Here's all you need to know about today's democrats:

http://marklevinfan.com/DNCThemeSong.swf

[TASMANIANRED]

Are they gonna drop the name Democrat and start calling themselves Commies.

[Rawlings]

Yeah. Minneapolis is a crazy city--a crazy choice for the GOP. I don't see why the GOP didn't go after Denver. Denver is more conservative than not and it's the capital of a region the Republicans cannot afford to lose. Why give it up to the Democrats?

Oh well. So we'll have to put up with the crap downtown for a couple of weeks. This city and state will totally freak out the Democrats. Denver is the coronary artery of the Heatland. Unfamiliar territory for the liberals.

[cosine]

Unfortunately, you are dreaming when you say metro Denver is solidly conservative. The Dems just took the state house, senate, and governorship. And the guy who ran for governor was a lib from Denver. Owens won by a few thousand votes statewide his first term.

[Rawlings]

I'm well aware of what happened in Colorado this year. My question to you is this: Do you really--REALLY--think that our government is representative of the people of Colorado? I don't think there's any question that our Congressional delegation and our state assembly is dramatically to the left of the state (the same state that failed civil unions and protected marriage with a comfy margin of victory).

2006 was a burp. That's all. We burped out all the RINOs and Tricky Dick Wadhams will bring conservative leadership back to a conservative state. Metro Denver is still solidly Republican--demographicallly--and culturally still quite conservative. You just have to look at our city compared to other cities and realize that we are so much more pro-family and church-going than most other places.

We have a bad habit of spazzing out every several years and voting against what we believe. That said this is the heartland and Denver is fundamentally conservative.

[wodinoneeye]

"Different Kind of Democrat"


One that doesnt even pretend that they're NOT lying their asses off ?????

[AVNevis]

Pikes Peak is less than two hours to the south — near resolutely Republican Colorado Springs, home to the Air Force Academy and religious conservative organizations such as Focus on the Family. I'm sure all the convention goers will be flocking there! (sarcasm)

[EternalVigilance]

Hillary in spandex. Perish the thought.

They'll have to come up with a new product for her: Expandex.

[quantim]

"A Different Kind Of Democrat"

Maybe even the leftist dimbulbs have realized that a sitting senator (either party, thank Heaven) is not going to be elected to the WH.

The article is just an example of the MSM testing the waters.

[quantim]

Minneapolis is a crazy city--a crazy choice for the GOP.

Detroit was already booked solid.  ;-)

[conservativeimage.com]

Denver is a pretty conservative city

Rawlings, I don't know what alternate universe you live in, but the 2006 election results for Colorado don't show a very Republican friendly state:

Attorney General - DEM - Fern O'Brien 64.16%

CONG. 110TH DIST 1 - DEM - Diana L. DeGette 80.74%

Gov./Lieutenant Gov. - DEM - (Plea Bargain) Bill Ritter Jr. 77.16%

Secretary of State - DEM - Ken Gordon 70.92%

St. Rep. District 1 - DEM - Jeanne Labuda 55.12%

St. Rep. District 2 - DEM - Mike Cerbo 100.00%

St. Rep. District 3 - DEM - Anne L. McGihon 100.00%

St. Rep. District 4 - DEM - K. Jerry Frangas 82.04%

St. Rep. District 5 - DEM - Joel Judd 100.00%

St. Rep. District 6 - DEM - Andrew Romanoff 75.72%

St. Rep. District 7 - DEM - Terrance D. Carroll 100.00%

St. Rep. District 8 - DEM - Rosemary Marshall 100.00%

St. Rep. District 9 - DEM - Alice Borodkin 100.00%

St. Senate - District 32 - DEM - Chris Romer 70.59%

State Treasurer - DEM - Cary Kennedy 72.76%

U of C Regent - At Large - DEM - Stephen C. Ludwig 66.14%

See here or here for sources.

These results are shameful and depressing. I don't know what I'm doing in this state. But when Dems come to Denver and see the bumper stickers on my car, they will see:

These bumper sticker designs are free and are available in full clear resolution at ConservativeImage.com

Click here if you're looking for direct quotes of Democrats supporting the war in Iraq

[nctexan]

If you watch closely, you'll finally get to see our stand on the important issues of today...

[SAJ]

Some women age gracefully. The rest resort to stretch pants.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The type of Democrats the writer is talking about have been largely abandoned by the Democratic Party. They have to cater to their loony moonbat base to win votes, as Hillary is being reminded. Joe Lieberman was a "New Democrat" who was forced out. The type of people the writer is talking abut are actually Republicans; they just don't know it yer.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi will be wearing their "queen bee costumes" just like the ones on the Official Rush Limbaugh website. That's what they mean by a different kind of Democrat.

[Liberty Valance]

"I don't know about Denver but Boulder sounds a whole lot better than Vegas.

[JennysCool]

a "Different Kind of Democrat"

Reptilian, as opposed to insectoid?

[goldstategop]

El Paso County is the most Republican county in the nation. I live in Chaffee County so I live in the 5th CD. We'll be in the minority for quite awhile yet both in Colorado and in the nation.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[goldstategop]

El Paso County is the most Republican county in the nation. I live in Chaffee County so I live in the 5th CD. We'll be in the minority for quite awhile yet both in Colorado and in the nation.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Caipirabob]

Sorry, not matter how the Democrats dress it up, Lenin is still a freakish dweeb who wears stupid hats and probably got the tar knocked out of him daily in High School. Communism was his revenge for that, pure and simple.

*sniff* My hat iz not stoopeed...

[Trteamer]

FReeping the convention should be fun!

[gakrak]

"Convention organizers will no doubt spotlight a new breed of Western Democrat that is more iconoclastic and centrist than party colleagues from either coast."
What a bunch of BS. The Dumbs are and always will be left wing socialists that want to control and run our lives. Amen.

[tcostell]

It's a new kind of Democrat, with a new kind of tax increase and a new kind of regulation, and a new kind of government spending program, and a new kind of way to take decision making out of the hands of the people and put it in the hands of a new kind of government.

Isn't this the same thing that Lenin said when he took over?

[redhead]

"Are they gonna drop the name Democrat and start calling themselves Commies."

That's next. First, though, we have to call them "PROGRESSIVES." They really like it when we call them that. Guess it sounds much nicer than "Leftist," "Commie Pinko Ratfink Bastids..." etc.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Denver is a pretty conservative city

You are obviously on crack as is the author of this piece.

No mention of what Chickenlooper and Sh***er are going to do with all of the homeless, crackheads, crackhos, crack dealers, methheads, pimps, poofters, drunks and other riff-raff clogging "16th Street, the city’s spine,".