Party’s party big show for locals

Barak Obama has been making headlines for months and made history this week by becoming the first African American presidential candidate.

In the Mat-Su, this is interesting news, something to follow on cable television and through major national media outlets. The big Democratic National Convention party is a great spectator sport from afar — protests, marches, 24/7 political analysis and rally, rally, rally. It happens twice every four years (the Republicans are gearing up for their show now) and some are more controversial than ever.

For a pair of local women, however, the Democratic National Convention is more than a television spectator sport and the politics of the event more than lively dinner party banter.

Claudia Douglas and Carolyn Covington are there.

On the floor, meeting the candidates and party movers and shakers.

If the DNC appears a media circus on television, it must be unforgettable to be on the floor in Denver, as Douglas and Covington are. Through a partnership with our parent company, Wick Communications Inc., we hear from our local DNC delegates from the Mile High City where, at least during preseason, the happenings are big enough even to drive the Broncos off the front pages for the week.

In today’s newspaper, the local women give a perspective many at the convention likely share. They are former Hillary Clinton supporters asked to support Obama.

It is interesting to hear from some local voices at such a high-profile national event and we appreciate their time in talking with our Wick reporter while whirling around the Denver Convention Center.

Now it’s on to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., come Monday for the beginning of the 2008 Republican National Convention. We also hope to bring a little insight from the seven delegates representing the Mat-Su (or some parts of it): Richard Stoffel, Grace VanDiest, Tammy McGraw, Elizabeth Burkhart, Kim Skipper, David Lewis and Christopher Nelson.

Now we can watch the GOP convention and that party’s political maelstrom and wonder how the experience is for these neighbors who will be in the eye of the storm.