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Months after their historic wins in November, Colorado Democrats have ousted party chairman Chris Gates in an upset organized by activists angered by his handling of Mike Miles' failed bid for the U.S. Senate.
Pat Waak - a nonprofit director from Erie who is little-known in statewide political circles - narrowly edged out Gates in a final vote of 187 to 184 during Saturday's meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee.
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The takeover of the CO Dem party follows Howard Dean's ascension and mirrors events in NC and AR, where establishment state party candidates were turned away in favor of more progressive leaders. Wanting new leadership in the wake of defeat is understandable, but following victory, that's a bit unsettling.
Read here for more on
what happened in Arkansas and North Carolina. In addition to these three states, there have also been recent grassroots successes
Maryland to retake the party leadership, and
in Oregon to capture a national committee seat. Believe me when I say this is just the beginning.
Disturbing as this may seem for some, Colorado Dems were angry over what was a bossed primary in Colorado. The DSCC was complicit in this bossing for a couple of months, not even mentioning on their website that Miles existed. Being shut out of the process of selecting your party's nominee is a bitter pill to swallow, even in victory.
There might be a lesson in this for certain other state parties.
