Democratic Women of Boulder County Luncheon Wednesday, Mar 12 from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Spice of Life Event Center, located at the Flatirons Golf Course 5706 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO 80302 Superdelegates . . . caucuses vs. primaries . . . the latest on the Democratic National Convention . . . seating the Florida and Michigan delegates . . . . We have ALL the answers. Our guests on March 12 are Pat Waak, the Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, and Dan Slater, First Vice-Chair of the state party. Both are members of the DNC and both are superdelegates. Those of you who heard Pat Waak before know that she is a great speaker. Dan Slater authors a blog at www.demnotes.com/, the “Blog for Colorado Democrats.” He has a solid reputation as a political analyst. Pat and Dan will bring us the latest news and analysis on these issues and on how Democratic candidates are doing across the state of Colorado.

Cost: $18.00 for lunch and program. RSVP (yes only) to Sharon Conley at rsvp.dwbc@gmail.com or 303-554-0960 no later than Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Congressional Candidate Betsy Markey (r) and Pollster Anna Bennett (l) address the DWBC

Democratic Congressional Candidate Betsy Markey, guest speaker at the November 14th DWBC luncheon, is taking on Marilyn Musgrave for the 4th Congressional District, which includes Longmont. The sixth of seven children, Markey shared the traditional values on which she was raised and relied on as she and her husband built two successful businesses (software and retail), raised three children, and committed themselves to public service.

Her career has included working as a congressional aide, traveling around the globe as a software security specialist for the US Department of Treasury, heading up the Food Share program for Larimer County, and assuming the helm of the Larimer County Democratic Party. As Senator Ken Salazar’s Regional Director for Northern and Eastern Colorado, Betsy has served business, agricultural groups, elected officials and public administrators as well as individual constituents.

Betsy was joined by Anna Bennett, a Democratic pollster with the Washington DC based company of Bennett, Petts, and Normington. Anna presented a slide show of congressional district races across the country in 2006 having the same demographics as CD4. Most of these districts were held by Republicans who lost to Democrats. The favorable, unfavorable, and neutral opinions of each candidate by their constituents were graphed.

The analysis demonstrated Musgrave’s vulnerability as higher in every category, compared to each defeated Republican. In 2006, Musgrave won with 46% of the vote, the Democrat came in at 43% and the Green Party candidate took 11%. There is no third party candidate in the 2008 election. If 2006 is any indication, the numbers are clearly with the Democratic candidate.

It was an outstanding program with many attendees inspired enough to write personal checks to the Markey for Congress campaign. For more information, go to www.markeyforcongress.com.

Board of Education Member Evie Hudak, State Rep Dianne Primavera and Betsy Markey

Please join us on November 14, when we welcome Betsy Markey, Democratic candidate in the 4th Congressional District, and Anna Bennett, a Democratic pollster who will be helping Markey win in the 4th CD.Betsy Markey is the only Democrat running for the seat currently held by Marilyn Musgrave (Angie Paccione and Eric Eidsness both recently withdrew from the race). In each of the last elections, the Democratic candidate opposing Musgrave has closed the gap a little more than in the previous election. This is the year for the Dems to take back this seat, and we hope you’ll come and show your support for Betsy Markey.

Betsy Markey brings a wealth of experience to this race. A businesswoman, Markey was co-founder of Syscom Services, Inc., an Internet consulting and website development firm. She helped lead the firm to a #99 ranking in the Inc. 500 list of America’s fasted- growing private companies. In the mid 1990’s, Betsy was also the owner of Huckleberry’s, a popular coffee and ice cream shop in Old Town Fort Collins.

Her extensive government and political experience includes serving as U.S. Senator Ken Salazar’s Regional Director for the north central and high plains regions of Colorado. Markey founded the Northern Colorado Democratic Business Coalition and later served as Chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party.

After completing a Masters of Public Administration in 1983, Betsy Markey was appointed a Presidential Management Fellow. The purpose of the two-year fellowship is to train outstanding men and women who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. Markey later worked for the State Department, where she received the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award.

Anna Bennett is a principal with Bennett, Petts & Normington, a Washington D.C.-based firm that provides polling and strategic consulting to a wide variety of political and corporate clients.
Bennett has over 20 years experience in public opinion research and strategic consulting. BPN provides polling and consulting to a wide variety of political and corporate clients. Bennett has specialized in the type of red-to-blue districts that were key to the Democratic victory in 2006. Her firm helped elect 4 new members of Congress in 2006, as well as providing polling in six successful races for the DCCC Independent Expenditures project. In 1993, Campaign and Elections magazine named Anna Bennett one of 74 women changing American politics and in 1994, the same magazine named her a “rising star” in American politics.

The DWBC’s October meeting featured Senator Ken Salazar.  Over 200 members attended this luncheon and so did the local press.  Here’s a link to the story that appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/oct/11/salazar-addresses-iraq-war/

The DWBC met to a full house on Wednesday afternoon.  Interest was high because of presentations by the three congressional candidates competing to replace Rep. Mark Udall who is running for the US Senate: entrepreneur Jared Polis, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, and Environmentalist Will Shafroth.   All three candidates showed that Boulder’s next Representative will be a credit to the community.  Included in the audience were members of the local media from KGNU, the Longmont Times and the Boulder Daily Camera.  Click here to read the full article in the Daily Camera .

We’re beginning an exciting campaign year, and in September, we’ll hit the ground running. Join us September 12 for a candidate forum with the three candidates for U.S. Congress from the Second Congressional District.Joan Fitz-Gerald, Jared Polis and Will Shafroth are capable and dedicated Colorado Democrats. They offer three excellent choices for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat currently held by Congressman Mark Udall. RSVP (yes only) to Sharon Conley at slcdwbc@earthlink.net (it stands for Sharon L. Conley, DWBC if that helps) or at 303-554-0960 no later than this Sunday, September 9.The details:Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.Spice of Life Event Center, located at the Flatirons Golf Course5706 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, CO.

Here are pictures from his presentation.

Dem Women has an unusual opportunity to host a national-level speaker, Michael Isikoff, for a special program in July, and we hope you can come.Michael Isikoff is an investigative reporter with Newsweek. Since September 11, 2001, he has written extensively on the Iraq war, the U.S. war on terror, the Abu Ghraib scandal and other national issues. Isikoff has won numerous journalism awards for this coverage.His book, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, co-written with David Corn, was a New York Times best-seller, published in late 2006. The New York Times Book Review described the book as “fascinating reading” and “the most comprehensive account of the White House’s political machinations” leading up to the Iraq war.Isikoff is also the author of Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story, which chronicled his reporting of the Monica Lewinsky story. For more on Isikoff, go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4863599/site/newsweek/from/ET/. Those who have heard Isikoff say that he is really a great speaker.   Because of Michael Isikoff’s schedule, we will meet in the evening on Wednesday, July 18. Spice of Life puts on a beautiful and ample appetizer buffet, which will open at 6pm, with cash bar available (check-in begins at 5:30). Isikoff’s talk will begin at 7pm. Paperback copies of Hubris will be available for purchase and autograph.

Democratic Women of Boulder County welcomes Sharon Grosfeld, Executive Director of the Women’s Leadership Forum for the Democratic National Committee.  Ms. Grosfeld will tell us about THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WOMEN’S VOTE TO DEMOCRATIC SUCCESS.  In-depth examination of the research on the gender gap shows that women hold the power to direct the course and outcomes of elections.  Ms. Grosfeld will discuss these issues in an effort to appropriately plan the strategy to insure that women get out and vote to elect the next Democratic president in 2008, as well as increase the numbers of Democrats in Congress. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - Dr. Patricia Gabow, CEO, Denver Health will discuss health care. Denver Health is an umbrella organization that coordinates a myriad of health care services for the general public and many vulnerable populations and is considered a model health delivery system for metropolitan areas.