My latest trip out west
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008Last week I left the beltway and headed to Colorado and Arizona to help organize a few events for FreedomWorks. I started in Denver on Wednesday, where I met with some local volunteers and sampled the local fare. Denver is a fun city, and has a great area for walking around called the 16th Street Mall.
I also took some time to check out the state capitol building, which is exactly one mile high above sea level. I got some great photos that I’ll post on this blog eventually.
When the rest of the FreedomWorks crew arrived, including chairman Dick Armey, we headed up to Fort Collins to do an event with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who received our Jefferson Award. We were met by a few protesters from Marilyn’s opponent in this year’s election. We just waved and honked at them and acted like we were glad to see them. The looks of confusion on their faces were priceless.
Later that evening we headed to the governor’s mansion for an event with Colorado conservatives. Armey spoke to them about standing on principle and protecting liberty. He was warmly received by the crowd, which included senatorial candidate Bob Schaffer, who is facing a tough battle with Boulder liberal Mark Udall. That was my first time inside a governor’s mansion, and it didn’t disappoint. It was furnished with beautiful furniture, art and other decorations, and it had an amazing view of the city.
That night we headed to the Great American Beer Festival at the convention center in downtown Denver. They had hundreds of brewers there from around the country, and free samples of everything. It was quite the spectacle to see everyone standing in line to get one ounce of a beer they wanted to try. The crowd left the convention center in an especially raucous mood.
The next morning we left for Phoenix, Arizona to do a press conference with state representative Kirk Adams, a leading conservative voice in state politics there. We had about 20 volunteers show up for the event, and a handful of reporters from local newspapers and t.v. stations. We took video and got some great pictures of the event. I was glad to meet some Arizona State students that had read our book, “Who is the REAL Barack Obama?“. They all seemed to enjoy it and find it useful to make their arguments about Obama.
Later that night, Armey and I headed to an event at the Chase building in downtown Phoenix. He gave a speech to conservative donors and legislators with the backdrop of the city behind him. We had an amazing panoramic view of Phoenix, which stretches for miles in all directions up to the surrounding mountains. Armey’s message was the same as before. He urged his audience to stand for limited government and not to give in to liberal ideas, even if you think those ideas are more popular at the moment.
I took Armey to the airport that evening after the speech and headed to Tempe to meet up with friends for dinner and drinks. It was a good trip but I was glad to arrive back in DC on Saturday to watch the Texas Longhorns beat Oklahoma and gain the top spot in the college football rankings.
These next few weeks are going to be extremely busy with the elections approaching. Our country faces a serious question - Who is best to lead us for the next four years through two wars, a faltering financial system and many other challenges.
