At the Governor’s mansion

 

Inside the mansion

 

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Jessica and fellow delegate Sarah Kihm

 

 

Jared Polis, Rep. John Salazar, and Rollie Heath

At the press conference

 

Jessica meeting Kathleen Sebelius

 

 

Jessica meeting Nancy Pelosi

 

 

The Colorado delegates get recognized

 

 

Jessica gets interviewed

Jessica’s Sunday Report — Coming Together

This morning, I shook Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand and took my seat at a press conference kicking off the convention. The four convention co-chairs each gave a little speech, starting with Pelosi and then Kathleen Sebelius. After that reporters asked a few questions — including these cute and professional kid reporters. The most interesting question was asked to Pelosi — a reporter asked about the new McCain ad, which suggests that Clinton supporters have been pushed aside. Pelosi responded by refocussing the conversation on to the important issues (heath care, environment, the war), and said that the reason Republicans are running this ad is that the Republicans don’t have any good ideas when it comes to these important issues, and that the American people are smart enough to recognize that.

After the press conference, I was interviewed by a few journalists, and then I went to the reception at the Governor’s mansion. Here the most interesting conversation I had was with Awilda Marquez, a Clinton delegate. In the past she was upset about the way the primaries had gone, and said that people shouldn’t ask her to support Obama. But today at the reception she came up to me and said “I’m happy”. A key reason she was happy is that Clinton’s name was going to be put into nomination — she felt like she now had a role to play at the convention, and hence was more comfortable supporting Obama. I also talked with Jared Polis and Rollie Heath, and congratulated them on their recent victories.

From the mansion I went to the hotel to check in. While waiting in the lobby for my room to be ready, I was interviewed by the Associated Press (by a reporter with a TV crew). Most of the questions were kind of superficial (What are you excited about this week, what do you think of the convention so far, etc.), and it’s certainly a skill that I have yet to master to sneak in my thoughts on the Obama campaign and why people should support him. I also had the amazing opportunity to meet John Lewis, the civil rights leader from Georgia, in my hotel lobby!

After getting in my room I left again for a reception with Level 3 (a telecommunications company based in Colorado). It was a beautiful event at the home of James Crowe, CEO. Congressman Perlmutter, Rep. John Salazar, Senator Ken Salazar and Governor Bill Ritter talked about their public service and the movement towards more Democratic leadership in the west. I also had the opportunity to dine with Boulder County Dems’ chair, Deb Gardner. I was introduced to James Crowe, and was impressed by how down-to-earth he was. He might be a multi-millionaire executive and I a working-class volunteer, but we had something in common – we’d both been incredibly inspired by Barack Obama and were doing everything we could to achieve that vision of a better America

After this reception, I was running late and missed the fantastic welcoming event with Governor Dean at the Colorado Convention Center! Instead, I attended a barbeque hosted by C-SPAN with a couple of fellow Boulder Grassroots volunteers. While there I met Carlos, a Clinton delegate from Utah. He said that he was a yellow-dog Democrat, a phrase I had never heard before (it means he’d sooner vote for a yellow dog than a Republican). I asked him if he had any anger over Obama’s VP pick, and I was surprised that he preferred Biden to Clinton for this role (his first choice was actually Jim Webb). After talking to Carlos, and many other Clinton delegates, throughout the day, I have real hope that the entire Democratic party will come together and mobilize for Obama and that this convention is starting point.

Jessica at the 2007 Boulder Creek Festival

One of the first activities Jessica organized in support of Obama was a booth at the May 2007 Boulder Creek Festival. Here’s some photos from the event:

 

         

 

        

 

Welcome

This is the blog where Jessica Wittmer will describe her experiences as a delegate at the DNC convention. Jessica is the founder of Boulder Grassroots for Obama, and was elected to be a national delegate for Obama at the Colorado Congressional District 2 Democratic convention.