Colorado Ball celebrates big year for Dems

WASHINGTON - Nearly 1,000 people celebrated with Colorado on the eve of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Monday night.

The Colorado Democratic Party hosted a party for 800 to 900 people at the Westin Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Party head Pat Waak says the party was an opportunity to celebrate all the work Democrats in Colorado did last year, from hosting the Democratic National Convention in August, to the election of Mark Udall to the Senate and Betsy Markey and Jared Polis to the House.

"We've all worked really hard, some of us for little or no way, because we believed in what we could do," said Waak.

Guests at the party included all of Colorado's Democratic leaders, including Gov. Bill Ritter, newly-elected Sen. Udall, out-going Sen. Ken Salazar, who is set to become the next Secretary of Interior, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Polis, Markey and newly-elected Rep. Mike Coffman.

Coffman, who was Colorado's Secretary of State, is a Republican, but still wanted to join in the celebration.

He said even those who didn't vote for Obama should feel "hopeful."

We are in this crisis together. These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. So, if this president is not successful, then America will not be successful," said Coffman.

"I realize there are many citizens around the country that voted the other way, but I think the key right now is that we have to put all our support behind the president-elect, and Colorado played a very pivotal role in his election," said Hickenlooper.

Molly Toussant, a fifth grade teacher at Willow Creek Elementary School in Centennial, said the opportunity to experience an inauguration like this is historic. Ever since her class heard the president-elect say that he wanted to hear from everyone, including those who didn't vote for him, she's had her students begin to compose letters to him.

She says the election of a president whose family status did not elevate him automatically and whose name was not political legacy makes this event even more special.

"My kids can work hard and they can achieve great things," she said. "To be able to look at a fifth grade classroom and look at each one of my kids and say, this is possible for any of them is something that I've never felt before."