The best seat in the house

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Silvia Razgova / Special To The Rocky

Supporters cheer at a block party Thursday while watching a television feed on a large screen in downtown Denver as Barak Obama accepts his party's presidential nomination at Invesco Field at Mile High. Hundreds of people came to the block party to listen to music and to support of Obama.

Barb Sackman was in the second grade when she realized she was different from her friends.

It was 1980, and Jimmy Carter was running against Ronald Reagan.

Sackman's Montana elementary school had a mock election, and she was selected to count the ballots.

"I realized I was the only one to vote for Jimmy Carter," Sackman recalled Thursday. "It was the first sign my Democratic parents weren't the norm."

Sackman's dedication was rewarded by her party this week, when she traveled to Denver as a special guest of Sen. Barack Obama.

The first-grade teacher and mother of two was one of 10 people selected by an online essay contest to go backstage to meet Obama before his speech at Invesco Field.

Each of the winners and a guest also got to sit in the first two rows surrounding the podium, just feet from the Democratic presidential nominee.

"They said we would be on the floor, but I had no idea we'd be front and center," Sackman said. "I keep thinking they meant to have someone else here."

Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center, Sackman got to meet another hero. Seated beside the group was Carter.

"I got to shake his hand," Sackman said. "I was amazed."

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