Democrats keep spotlight on Greeley

With campaign workers counting the time left to election day in hours, Democrats continued Greeley's weekend in the political spotlight on Sunday.

State and local Democratic candidates along with U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., led a rally of 400-500 people gathered in the 4-H Building at Island Grove Regional Park. The event was the final stop on gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter's statewide Colorado Promise tour. Candidate for the 4th Congressional District Angie Paccione joined Ritter in the same park President Bush had visited the day before.

Speakers countered Bush's claims Democrats have the wrong idea about the Iraq war, economy and values with promises to support better health care for veterans, build a strong economy in part by focusing on renewable energy and improving access to higher education.

Paccione said she wanted to make student loans more affordable as well as build a voting bloc that could override a presidential veto on stem cell research. The crowd cheered when she said she and Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., would push the president to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"When the team isn't doing well, you fire the coach," Paccione said. "You don't fire the team. The team is our soldiers, and we support our soldiers."

Ritter, who accepted the Democratic nomination in May in Greeley, said he predicted this year's elections would hinge on "hope versus cynicism," and he said the past six months have proven him right.

"We have seen the politics of cynicism, the politics of trying to scare people, the politics of focusing on things that have nothing to do with the future," Ritter said.

He said Republicans have divided the country, but the dozen or so Democratic candidates who joined him on stage would work for unity.

That didn't keep Democrats from taking their shots Sunday. Before Ritter, Paccione and Salazar arrived, the crowd chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Marilyn Musgrave has to go." Paccione later defended herself against a Musgrave ad. The television ad features a blind veteran who says Musgrave came to visit him but Paccione would pull troops and undermine his sacrifice. Paccione said Musgrave had done little to help veterans such as the man in the ad, and she said the Disabled American Veterans gave Musgrave a rating of zero in 2005 for her voting record.

"She will come sit in your living room, but she won't vote to give you benefits," Paccione said.

According to the Disabled American Veterans Web site, Musgrave has voted in agreement with the organization on three of 11 issues in 2006.

Along with Paccione and Ritter, the rally highlighted Democratic races locally and across the state. Senate District 13 candidate Solomon Little Owl led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and Rep. Jim Riesberg, who is running for re-election, warmed up the crowd before Salazar took the stage. He called for everyone who was a "proud Weld County Democrat to make some noise."

"Now people who are not Weld County Democrats make some noise," he said, a jab at limited access to Bush's visit on Saturday.

Alan Ackerman, 57, of Greeley said he would like to see Democrats take the House because he thought balance in power would make the government work better. He said he was disappointed with the direction of the country since the last presidential election.

"I think we've gone down the wrong road the last six years on the basis of a very few votes," Ackerman said.

Three members of the Greeley City Council attended the rally. Pam Shaddock, who is vice chair of the Weld Democratic Party, joined the candidates on stage, while Debbie Pilch and Don Feldhaus watched from the audience.

Pilch, a Democrat, said she attended Bush's speech as well and occasionally voted for Republicans, although Sunday's messages spoke to her more.

"What I liked about today is it's about what the candidates can do for the people," Pilch said.

Feldhaus, an independent, also attended both rallies. He said he wanted to hear both sides and liked aspects of each. One main difference between the parties was the way they saw the economy, Feldhaus said; Republicans depicting it as more robust and Democrats talking about ways to make it robust. Paccione especially impressed Feldhaus. He called her message "uplifting" and "inspiring."