There’s the life coach, the college student, the McGovern Democrat, the community activist, the pro-Clinton outsider, and even the defense contractor.The lives of the six local delegates headed to the Democratic National Convention in Denver the week of Aug. 25 will converge in a historic moment – Barack Obama’s nomination as the first black major party presidential candidate. Obama plans to give his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, the first at an outdoor stadium since John F. Kennedy pulled it off at the Los Angeles Coliseum a half-century ago.About the only thing the tribe of local delegates have in common is that they don’t know exactly what to expect.Jason DeGroot is hoping Democrats will put aside their differences and unite behind Obama. Brenda Krause wants the chance to give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a piece of her mind. Lynn Young wants to change the trajectory of American history.Other than delegate Mike Maday’s trip to the 1974 midterm convention after he campaigned for George McGovern, none of these delegates has ever attended a national convention.”I’m really not that politically savvy,” conceded Krause, the only local Hillary Rodham Clinton delegate. “Being a naïve newbie in politics, I didn’t realize what a big deal it was.”As the convention approaches, the gravity of the event is sinking in. The delegates are invited to a reception at the Governor’s Mansion, to breakfast meetings with high-ranking state Democrats, to platform discussions, to training sessions to prepare them for the fall campaign and, of course, to the speeches and ceremony that will be broadcast on national TV. They will be in the center of a crush of media and political high-rollers.The delegates’ main role is to soak up the energy from this enormous pep rally and pass it on when they knock on doors and pass out buttons this fall.”In the Democratic Party we tend to reward activists – people who are out there on the front lines, making phone calls, and knocking on doors – by making them delegates,” said Dan Slater, vice chair for the Colorado Democratic Party and a superdelegate from Cañon City.Democrats have more delegates to their convention than Republicans, so the honor is spread more widely. The six local delegates are regular folks, not politicos. There’s a student, a teacher, a social worker, a realtor. No elected officials. No formal positions in politics.The chance to take part in history is a rare opportunity for local Democrats. They live in a county where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2-to-1, and despite a few recent victories, most Democratic candidates in El Paso County know they are lambs headed for an inevitable November slaughter.”So many fellow Democrats have said to me, ‘I thought I was the only one,'” said delegate and Obama activist Young, who sounds as if she’s been leading a support group rather than a campaign. “The truth is there are many. There are many, many of us here.”CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0226 or bill.reed@gazettedev.gazette.com

Photo by (Christian Murdock, The Gazette)