If you're a Player (monthly member) at $10 or more a month, we'll send you this new New Era shirt. All Players at the $5 or more level get a coupon for a free pitcher from our good friends at Mountain Sun, Southern Sun, and Vine Street Pub. What are you waiting for? Do it.
Well, it's that time of year. I'm not talking about the holidays, but more about those annoying "Top 10" or "Top 100" lists of the past year. We figured it only makes sense for us to jump in there as well. So here it is: the Top 10 Moments of the New Era in 2009!
10. Launching New Era News, a political blog.
Ok, so this will actually launch in early 2010, but we've been pretty excited about it for the past year, so we think it counts. New Era News will be a nontraditional political news blog written by the New Era Press Corps, complete with video, commentary, and a new take on the happenings of our time.
9. Trick or Vote 2009
We rocked the local 2009 elections with a Trick or Vote of over 100 volunteer canvassers knocking on thousands of doors in one evening. US Senator Michael Bennet and State Representatives Mark Ferrandino and Joe Miklosi joined us. We partnered with Denver Open Media to throw a pretty raging Trick or Vote afterparty. Next year's will be bigger, badder, and bigger. Yep, I said bigger twice.
8. Meet the Candidates, American Idol Style
11 candidates, one stage, 300 cell phones. We hosted the biggest, weirdest, and most fun candidate debate of the Boulder City Council elections (and we'd say maybe in the history of Boulder city council elections, but we've been told that the Horse Stable Association threw a pretty crazy debate in 1904). Our good friends at our fav eco/yoga/buddhist/mindful living publication ElephantJournal.com co-hosted the evening with us.
7. Fake Doctors for Real Reform
Our team of Fake Doctors for Real Reform engaged thousands of people this summer about the critical issue of the year: reforming our horribly sick health care system. We collected over 5,000 cards written by young people around the state at festivals, fairs, art walks, concerts, etc. When we met with Senator Udall's people at his office to drop off the cards, their response was "Wow. We never even thought about young people and health care before today." Well done, fake doctors. Well done.
6. Defeated the good-for-nothing Denver Impound Initiative
We made calls and knocked on doors with our partner organizations in Denver to beat the dangerous and vaguely-worded Denver Impound Initiative. Since a similar initiative passed just a few years ago, we proved that grassroots action in an off-year can significantly turn the tides on important issues.
5. Registered 1,000 new voters.
'Nuff said.
4. Denver Pride Festival
It was pretty much awesome. Dozens of our fake doctors for real reform marched in the parade and engaged thousands of people about the critical issue of health care reform. Also, the well-decorated New Era bus in the parade was quite fabulous!
3.The New Era Internship Program Expands
Over 40 young politicos in the Denver and Boulder area went through our new internship program in 2009. They not only learned the ins and outs of grassroots politics and lobbying, but they also ran their own campaigns from start to finish. The program in 2010 is our biggest one yet. Let us know if you want in on the action by emailing us here.
2. Released "Get On The Bus" at New Era's 1st Annual Dinner
That's right. Our own little documentary. Check it out here.
1. Passed the Online Voter Registration bill
It took us two years, but we finally got it passed in the 2009 Legislative Session with broad bipartisan support--it even passed unanimously in the State Senate! We were named one of the top youth activism victories in 2009 by WireTap Magazine for it! Starting in April 2010 you'll be able to register to vote and change your registration information on the interwebs without any printing or signing. Thank your local New Era volunteer for that one.
Sarah Horn, a graduate student at the University of Colorado came by our recent Meet the Candidates debate at the Fox Theatre. Here's her take on it:
Sarah Horn
Meet the Candidates
October 22, 2009
The audience members at the Fox Theater texted their way to electing candidate Valerie Mitchell for mayor of Boulder.
In an innovative style forum, New Era Colorado and Elephant Journal invited the 13 candidates running for the five open Boulder City Council seats to the Fox on Oct. 12. The event, Meet the Candidates: Boulder City Council, was set up with American Idol in mind.
Audience members could vote off stage the least agreeable competitors. Candidates were questioned in four rounds, one question for all of the candidates, then questions from the judges and a third portion that ranged from a trivia question to performing a joke.
“A dyslexic man walked into a bra,” said Fenno Hoffman in the shortest one-liner, eliciting a lot of laughter from the crowd.
After each round, the audience shows support for a candidate by texting their name to a number that is then logged and shown as a percentage on a white screen hung on stage. Everyone can watch the bars beside the names grow and shrink as more and more people vote. People shouted out the names of candidates they wanted to stay on stage to encourage more votes. There were five hopeful council members sitting on the stage at the end, representing the five open seats.
Yep, if you didn't know it, there is an election in 2009. And these local elections can arguably have a more direct impact on your daily life than the big ones. This election will be an all mail ballot, meaning your ballot will be mailed to the address you are registered at. If you need to check to see where you are registered, go to the Secretary of State's website to search your name. If you registered recently with New Era your record might not be updated yet, so don't worry. Below is what you need to know about what's on your ballot.
Boulder
5 of the 9 City Council seats are up in Boulder. Quick math tells us that's a majority of the council, which means this election is pretty dang important for city policies and such. New Era is holding our signature candidate debate, Meet the Candidates, at the Fox Theater on Oct. 12th to give you a chance to get to know these candidates as real people rather than just funny names on your ballot. The audience will even have a chance to vote people off stage American Idol style via text message or twitter! stick around and listen to the Dovekins play a killer show. Click here for more deets.
New Era will be hosting a BYOB (Bring Your Own Ballot) party on Thursday, Oct. 22nd for those of you who want to discuss the candidates and issues a bit more with people before you turn that ballot in. These parties turn out to be a pretty good time, so stay tuned. Location to be announced shortly.
Denver
There aren't any city council elections happening this time in Denver, but there is an important ballot measure that voters will be voting on. The measure, being referred to as the Impound Initiative, would require police to impound your car (which costs $2700 to get your car back) if you are ever pulled over and caught driving without your license on you. Ever drive to the grocery store at night and forget your license at home? Yea, us too. This one isn't a good idea in our opinion. It forces police to be sitting around waiting for a tow truck instead of actually doing their job and keeping us safe. We're voting a big fatty NO on this one.
The front page of the Denver Post was an important one today. The article describes numbers for Colorado that were just released for the first time by the US Census Bureau. We knew it was bad, but this puts it in black and white.
Not only did 1 in 6 Coloradans not have health insurance last year (which is well above the national average), but the article shows that there are huge disparities across our state. For instance, 1 in 4 people do not have insurance in Aurora, yet that number shrinks to 1 in 20 for Highlands Ranch. A lot of this disparity can be attributed to Aurora's high population of young people--the most uninsured age demographic in the country.
Check it. New Era joined forces with Rock the Vote to release this report highlighting the views of young people on health care reform. The numbers are quite staggering. Young people are not only watching the health care debate closely, but they are the absolute most supportive age group of reform. Read the report below and feel free to download it and spread it like the piggy flu.
RTV-Health Colorado Report FINAL (September 2009)-1
We rocked the local 2009 elections with a Trick or Vote of over 100 volunteer canvassers knocking on thousands of doors in one evening. US Senator Michael Bennet and State Representatives Mark Ferrandino and Joe Miklosi joined us. We partnered with Denver Open Media to throw a pretty raging Trick or Vote afterparty. Next year's will be bigger, badder, and bigger. Yep, I said bigger twice. 
Our team of Fake Doctors for Real Reform engaged thousands of people this summer about the critical issue of the year: reforming our horribly sick health care system. We collected over 5,000 cards written by young people around the state at festivals, fairs, art walks, concerts, etc. When we met with Senator Udall's people at his office to drop off the cards, their response was "Wow. We never even thought about young people and health care before today." Well done, fake doctors. Well done. 
thousands of people about the critical issue of health care reform. Also, the well-decorated New Era bus in the parade was quite fabulous! 
passed unanimously in the State Senate! We were named one of the 
