As you all know, we here at New Era are all focused on making politics cool. A feat that is worthy of people much cooler than us, I admit, but it’s our focus nonetheless.
ANYWAYS, it’s a good thing that we have Barack Obama to help us out.
Described by white reporters and journalists as a ‘fist-bump’, the Senator has brought into mainstream politics, the famed props, pound, dap, whatever the hell you call it. Here he is with Gov. Easley of North Carolina, embarrassingly testing it out.
Back in January, just days before the Colorado Caucus, we hosted a debate between the CD2 Congressional candidates. The other evening our friends at Elephant Journal brought the candidates back on stage at the Boulder Theater for a brief follow-up discussion. And New Era's Steve Fenberg got that last question in. Check out the short video of the interview:
It was an early morning for New Era today as our Congressman and presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate, Mark Udall, was in town for a small rally at Manhattan Middle School.
Armed with coffee and roller skates (that were later left behind), we set out on our first mission: pick up Erin McCann (New Era intern that had a late previous night). Many phone calls and attempted break-ins later, we aborted the mission to pick her up and headed off to the school.
Mingling with the Congressional District 2 Candidates and others commenced, followed by a speech from Udall.
Note: There was a poodle standing next to me the entire time, and at one point, it attempted to jump on me. I reluctantly pet it. Boulder Democrats...
ANYWAYS…Now we're at the office, getting back to real work, like registering voters, supporting legislation that betters our political climate for young people and endless, endless databasing of supporters.
Also, we’re working on getting ready for the fall and are currently building up our monthly donor base so we can do more awesome, fun things. If you’re feeling generous, as you should since it’s Friday and summer in Colorado, become a Player HERE.
You will get free coffee, the notorious lapel pin, and other benefits for joining our growing network of Players--priceless, huh? (but preferably $10 a month).
This summer in Denver, from July 18-21, Mobilize.org is looking for young folks to develop some innovative projects focused on reforming elections at a local, state and national level. It’s called the Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit.
The goal is to give young people a chance to get a hands on experience in drafting a proposal to fix a problem that directly effects them, with an emphasis on creating public finance reforms. The winner with the best proposal will each receive grants between $3,000 and $5000 and support from Mobilize.org to actually implement the platform you proposed.
If you need more information about it, check out this website. It’d be a great thing to do, considering the amount of money that is funneled through the election process in our country. One of the things that needs to be changed is the lack of attention focused on a wider demographic that does not include big donors (yeah, that means young people).
One of the goals of New Era is also to increase the amount of young people running for office, and with a stable and fair election system, we can make that happen. So get out there and help reform campaign finance and make elections clean!
Looking for a job? Well, you might be in luck--New Era Colorado is hiring a field organizer to help with voter registration and our voter program for 2008. Check out the job description and let us know if you are interested in working with an organization that knows how to have a good time while getting some serious business done.
This weekend, the state convention for the Democratic Party had a record turnout of about 10,000 people packed into the World Arena in Colorado Springs. 9 News reports that this was five times the number of people that showed up in 2004, which is pretty amazing. The Republican State Convention is May 31st.
A couple of our own from New Era--Carrie, Jesse, Danielle and Trevor--went and we have the photos to show those who weren’t able to make it.
It just goes to show how intense the primaries have gotten, but is more representative of how Colorado is ready for some serious change.
Colorado Public Radio has an opportunity available for young people to share their experiences in this year's political hooplah, the 2008 election. They are doing this by having young people blog their experiences to be shared in the community.
Dubbed the Public Insight Network, this gives young people the chance to share their quirky stories with the community since we're turning out in droves all across the state and country.
So, in effect, you too, could be one of those elusive bloggers, minus the Postal Service album and perpetually dilated pupils, brought upon by hours of commenting on the boards of DailyKos.
We have a help-line for that, you know.
All you have to do is go to this website, Public Insight Network to fill out a form and tell us your stories. We'd love to hear them.
If you haven't heard, something big just happened in Colorado. Joe Neguse, a 23-year-old former CU Student Body President and current CU Law Student, is running for CU-Regent in the 2nd Congressional District. He's also a co-founder of New Era Colorado. And if you haven't heard, he did pretty well this weekend at the CD-2 District Assembly. By pretty well we mean that he cleaned up...
Joe received 84% of the vote, meaning that his opponent didn't receive enough votes to even get on the August Primary ballot. In all likelihood, Joe will breeze through the Primary and then secure the seat in the General Election in November.
To some, this may seem like a normal process; one candidate beats another. But, in my opinion, it is much larger than that. I think it's a sign that Colorado is ready for something big to happen here. We're starting to forget the divisive and old-fashioned politics that often paralyze us from addressing the real issues. We're ready to look past the things that often distract us--age, race, party, gender, etc.
The 2nd Congressional District just nominated a 23-year-old, electric bull-riding, 1st generation student and son of immigrant parents from the war-torn nation of Eritrea in Africa. Why? Because they believe Joe has the passion and energy to solve the higher education crisis and come up with forward-thinking solutions for Colorado.
It was an early morning for New Era today as our Congressman and presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate, Mark Udall, was in town for a small rally at Manhattan Middle School. 
Mingling with the Congressional District 2 Candidates and others commenced, followed by a speech from Udall.
Also, we’re working on getting ready for the fall and are currently building up our monthly donor base so we can do more awesome, fun things. If you’re feeling generous, as you should since it’s Friday and summer in Colorado, become a Player 
Looking for a job? Well, you might be in luck--New Era Colorado is hiring a field organizer to help with voter registration and our voter program for 2008. Check out the job description and let us know if you are interested in working with an organization that knows how to have a good time while getting some serious business done. 
This weekend, the state convention for the Democratic Party had a record turnout of about 10,000 people packed into the World Arena in Colorado Springs. 9 News reports that this was five times the number of people that showed up in 2004, which is pretty amazing. The Republican State Convention is May 31st.
Colorado Public Radio has an opportunity available for young people to share their experiences in this year's political hooplah, the 2008 election. They are doing this by having young people blog their experiences to be shared in the community.