Durango delegate a McCain fan
by Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Today's mystery guest is ?
When Colorado Republican delegates boarded the bus Tuesday morning for their breakfast date with the Idaho delegation, they were told only to expect a special guest.
At the Minneapolis restaurant, delegates looked up from their bacon and eggs and then rushed to the front of the room as first lady Laura Bush strode through the door.
Bush spoke for about five minutes, mostly on the importance of Colorado to GOP candidate John McCain.
"I think John McCain can win Colorado. He's a Westerner," Bush said. "But I do think you're going to have to work very hard. You can't take Colorado for granted."
Wendell Coats of Durango was in the room for the surprise appearance. For Coats, it was just one more experience he could have only at the Republican National Convention - the first national convention of his life.

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Durango supporters join in the fun at the Abbey
By Karen Boush | Herald Staff Writer

The energy inside Invesco Field on Thursday night was felt 300 miles away in Durango's Abbey Theatre, where a standing-room-only crowd joined in the Democratic National Convention fervor.

Watching Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination on the theater's movie screen, the crowd cheered, clapped and laughed right along with the thousands at Invesco Field at Mile High.

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Vote early, say governor, county clerks
by Joe Hanel

Herald Denver Bureau
DENVER - Here's Colorado's November nightmare.
States around the country vote the same way they did in the 2004 presidential election, with two plausible exceptions: Iowa and New Mexico switch their votes to Democrat Barack Obama.
In Colorado, meanwhile, voters are waiting in line long into the night, and county clerks are feverishly trying to count a record number of ballots so the world can know who the next president will be. It's 3 a.m., and Katie Couric and Brian Williams are still on the air, twiddling their thumbs and saying, "We're still waiting on Colorado."
Thanks to the Democratic National Convention, this state has already seen the international spotlight once this year. And once is enough for Gov. Bill Ritter.

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