A GOP delegate with no contested races

Eileen McGuire Mahony

By EILEEN McGUIRE MAHONY

It’s not yet eight a.m. and I’m already peeling campaign stickers off my perfectly pressed Armstrong for Congress shirt. Having narrowly avoided a collision with a group of volunteers carrying campaign banners, I find myself face-to-face with a star-shaped doughnut with red, white, and blue sprinkles. Tempting as it is, first and foremost I need coffee, which is everywhere.

Yeah, it’s campaign season.

As soon as I start walking precincts, I’ll be able to eat all the doughnuts I want. Until then, I’m going for the cereal bar, which I will probably get a chance to eat in about three hours. Somehow I have already gotten covered in a fresh layer of campaign stickers. I love this stuff.

In 2006, I was working on a campaign for the state House. Facing a brutish three-way primary, we showed up shortly after two a.m. to get the best spots for campaign signs and start blowing up balloons. At half past five, we decided we needed more flags to decorate the campaign’s table. And so, by the dawn’s early light, I found myself greeting the manager of the nearest Home Depot as he showed up to open the store, set to buy every flag I could find before someone else did.

So far, 2008 is shaping up to be a very different political animal. In two years the landscape has changed a lot. Rick O’Donnell isn’t here and neither is Bob Beauprez. The McCain and Paul campaigns are, though. They’re at the far end of a narrow hallway full of campaign tables, nearly lost in the melee of legislative races.

Here, in the heart of Colorado's 6th Congressional District, it’s hard to miss the rapidly intensifying four-way primary for Tom Tancredo’s soon-to-be vacant seat.

The Congressional Assembly is still eleven weeks away, but you wouldn’t know that today.

In 2006, Congressman Tancredo faced much easier opposition and that March my focus was on the 37th House District. Now a freshman Representative, Spencer Swalm, earned a narrow victory that fall and is here today, ready to accept his nomination by acclamation. Likewise, Senator Nancy Spence has no primary.

So I find myself a delegate with no contested races.

My assignment for the morning is to circulate and engage supporters for Wil Armstrong’s campaign. This suits me perfectly; I’ve got an hour to take in the sights, provided I can move.

This year, the county assembly is the first in a series for me. I’ve got Judicial, Congressional, and State assemblies to go to as a delegate, all hopefully culminating in a trip to Minneapolis for the Republican National Convention.

I probably like the county assemblies the most. It’s the best of grassroots. I like the chaos, born of the sheer number of candidates there. I like seeing such amazing proof that the "average" voter can have a massive impact on this government.

I like seeing a first time delegate meet her elected representatives face-to-face and realize that these are citizens, too – not out of reach and distant politicians.

The turnout is phenomenal, which I don’t fully appreciate until the delegates are seated and there isn’t an inch to spare in the gymnasium.

Asked who’s assembling for the first time, more than half the hands go up. The speeches and honorifics begin, but I don’t see people checking their watches. This is a room full of Americans engaged in their government.

While the speeches wrap up and the first-time delegates get a briefing on the process, I catch up with a friend who’s working with Jim Geddes’ campaign for the CU Board of Regents.

While a political junkie needs to remember that not everyone is so heavily into politics, we agree that this year there is a marked rise in voter’s interest. A long campaign season is only starting to ramp up. The morning goes quickly. It’s warmed up beautifully since I arrived and I’ve still got the entire weekend ahead of me. Tomorrow may indeed blanket the city with snow, but right now it’s a lovely day.

Eileen McGuire Mahoney is a Denver native and a graduate of Regis University. Politically active for several years, she has served as president of Regis' Campus Republicans, and worked on several campaigns (state legislative races, Congressional seats, gubernatorial), and is currently the Political Director of the Denver Metro Young Republicans. Aside from politics and policy, she is a huge baseball fan, a sports car enthusiast, and a swimmer.

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