October 02, 2007 01:10 PM UTC

CD-2 Comes to Gilpin County

• 8 Comments
• by: Phoenix Rising

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Gilpin County Democrats had a grand time on Saturday at our annual J-J Dinner.  Live Celtic music by local band The Gold Ring livened up the early evening, and then the stage was cleared for our outstanding speaker’s lineup – State Representative Claire Levy, State Party Chair Pat Waak, and all three CD-2 candidates!

More after the break for my impressions on the CD-2 speeches…

I’ll save the analysis until after the speech summaries.

Jared Polis started by saying he had been fortunate as a citizen and wanted to give back; that he had founded schools for disadvantaged children but that public schools could not do what he did essentially because NCLB prevented it.  He briefly touched on similar problems with health care, then moved quickly into the Iraq War issue where he spent most of his speech.  He mentioned he was against it from the beginning, would de-fund it now in a way that would bring our troops home safely, and touched on some other negative points of the war.  He closed by asking for our support.

Will Shafroth followed, and after joking that he was almost able to give Jared’s speech for him (as he was certain JP and JFG could do for him…) introduced himself and his environmental background, promising to use that background to follow in Tim Wirth’s and Mark Udall’s footsteps if he were to represent the district.  He noted his family’s 4-generation history in the state and neatly tied in his great-grandfather’s opposition to the Spanish-American War to his own opposition to the Iraq war.  He called on the Congress (now) to defund the war in Iraq, reminding everyone of the Constitutional authority that rests in the Congress re: the purse and warmaking.  At the end he returned to address the great challenge of Global Warming and that he would like to take up the challenges of being the next Congressman from CD-2.

Joan Fitz-Gerald started her speech by reminding everyone of all the votes they had cast to elect her to the various offices she has held in our district – that we had been there to elect her each time, and that she wanted us to continue that trust one more time.  She then attacked the war issue, noting her family’s military history and saying that she would never have voted for this war.  As a tie-in to defunding the war, she then linked all of the things that were broken because of the way we’re funding the war, from the economy to healthcare to education.  After focusing for a while on health care, she touched on education, calling for NCLB to be repealed, saying that it was too broken to just repair.  She closed by once again asking for our support.

Energy-wise, I would describe Jared’s speech as controlled but lively, Will presented himself as very likeable and easy to take, while Joan’s speech was given from the heart and with fire (as is her style).  In framing, Jared presented himself as willing to think outside the box, Will seemed to present himself as “in the same mold as”  past/current CD-2 Representatives, and Joan presented herself as someone who knows how to get the job done.  It was clear that all shared similar views on the Iraq war, with Joan emphasizing health care, Will going environmental, and Jared taking education as their respective secondary focus.  Of the couple of folks I’ve talked to since the dinner, I think the consensus was that Joan was on the top of her game Saturday night; Jared’s attacks on her I think took a bit of a toll on his support.

It was great to have all three candidates at the dinner; we had 75 people in attendance, and the informal atmosphere lent itself well to mingling with the candidates both before and after the speeches – and all three held on after the dinner was over to field questions from attendees.