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Pena, Webb urge party unity

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 12, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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For a brief moment, former Denver Mayor Federico Pena appeared angry.

"I will not tolerate any hissing," he said.

He was addressing an auditorium full of Democrats from the 2nd Congressional District hoping to become delegates to the national convention.

Pena praised Barack Obama, outlining why he thinks he should be the next president, and then mentioned Hillary Clinton. The hisses that ensued immediately subsided when Pena chastised the crowd Saturday.

"I admire the courage she had to run," he said. "We as Democrats ought to be proud that we have such an extraordinary candidate who happens to be a woman, and we have such an extraordinary candidate who happens to be an African-American."

Minutes later, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb echoed the same theme to the same crowd. Webb, who is backing Clinton, stressed the importance of the party coming together after a candidate is picked.

Three of Colorado's seven congressional districts - the 1st, 2nd and 7th - met Saturday to pick 17 delegates and three alternates to the national convention in August in Denver.

The final delegates will be picked at the state convention in Colorado Springs this weekend.

Among the 2nd District delegate candidates was Obama supporter Kellie Rockey, 36, of Broomfield. She skipped her graduation from the University of Wyoming for a chance at becoming a delegate.

"My family was going to come up and we were going to have a big party, but this is a once in a lifetime chance," she said.

Rockey and other Obama delegate candidates each got 5 seconds to introduce themselves.

"Another old white broad for Obama . . . "

"I'm an Iraqi veteran for Barack . . . "

"I'm doing this for my son . . . "

The results of Saturday's delegate elections were expected to be posted online at the Democratic Party Web site - www.coloradodems.org - by today.

Comments

  • May 12, 2008

    8:45 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    vudumom writes:

    If we are going to continue to use hyphenated decriptions of people in this day and age , especially one running for President Of the United States, shouldn't it be African-White-American?
    How about Hillary what is her hyphenated title? White-Female American?
    Anyone running for the Presidency should be an American, plain and simple. This crap has got to stop.
    I guess if I was to describe myself all hyphenated, all the time ,I would be a Scottish- Irish-English-American.

  • May 12, 2008

    12:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    JohnSWren writes:

    South High was packed with people Saturday. Where is the news coverage? Is this it? What did others think about Obama, Clinton, and all the local races?

    What the Republicans and Democrats do in Colorado is just as big a story as it was in Iowa. Where's the local media?

  • May 13, 2008

    10:22 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    MrJim writes:

    Bravo vudumom, you are 100% correct.

    signed: English-German-Polish-White-Male-American.

  • May 13, 2008

    10:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    redwhiteandBLUE writes:

    Heinz-57-American ? lol