Why buy TV ads when you can just hang out with Denver in person?
Hillary Clinton is in Denver for the second time in two months. Her last visit took her to a nonprofit that boosts veterans in tech and to the startup-centric co-working space Galvanize (which houses Denverite) -- in other words, it was a tech-themed.
Today, she's visiting tiemaker Knotty Tie, which got a kinda-sorta shoutout in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech in the context of Donald Trump making ties outside of the United States, and Adams City High School, one of the lowest-performing schools in Colorado.
Andrew Kenney (@andyknny) is reporting for Denverite from Adams City High School.
Live updates:
3:48 p.m.: Well, that's it.
3:46 p.m.: "I believe that we are at a crossroads election."
Are we wrapping up? I thought we'd hear more about this huge economic plan of hers.
3:45 p.m.: She pledges to protect public lands, which are a big issue for the West considering the huge presence of both outdoor recreation and mineral extraction on those lands. She says Trump is going with a GOP platform that would "disrupt" and endanger those lands.
3:42 p.m.: Clinton returns to her "best days ahead of us" message. And we're chanting. (I mean, not me personally.)
This small auditorium makes everything really loud. Nobody is farther than maybe a hundred feet from her. I wonder if that was intentional.
3:38 p.m.: Clinton praises Denver's transit system, singling out the University of Colorado A Line.
Other objects of praise: Debt-free college, unions, higher minimum wage, early childhood education, equal pay for women's work.
3:34 p.m.: "Just today, I went to the Knotty Tie company. And I met folks living right here in Denver who are making ties and scarves. I hope you like this one because I got it at Knotty just a few hours ago."
She describes a local newscaster praising the scarf and its "Colorado colors." Good schmooze game, local newscaster.
3:32 p.m.: Clinton just named pretty much every type of infrastructure and said we're going to fix it, and also modernize the electric grid, as well as install broadband everywhere. She says it's "wrong" that kids are getting left behind for lack of good internet access.
3:29 p.m.: Clinton: “What kind of man does business by hurting other people? I’m just so determined that we will not let him do to America what–" (drowned out by applause)
3:27 p.m.: Clinton implies she's coming back to Colorado and will need "larger venues." Still, she likes fire marshals, she says. (That's a Trump dig.)
3:26 p.m.: Clinton says nice stuff about Hick. She contrasts him with Donald Trump, because Hickenlooper "doesn't turn his back" on the people who got him where he is.
3:24 p.m.: He quotes Obama: "There is not a man or woman more qualified to be president of the United States." Boom. Hugs Clinton and she's up. Hickenlooper looks like he had fun.
3:21 p.m.: The governor takes it straight to cowboy territory, citing the "cowboy code of ethics." Clinton is a better moral cowboy than Trump, he says.
He cites these cowboy ethical axioms:
#4 - "Be tough but fair."
#7 - "Ride for the brand." (The brand is "this country.")
He praises her for mastery of policy details, supporting innovation, supporting small businesses. "How do you cut red tape without reducing important regulations?"
3:17 p.m.: Hickenlooper and Clinton enter together to Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Wait, where'd she go? Oh, she sat down next to him.
3:10 p.m.: Why did Clinton visit the Knotty Tie necktie company in Denver earlier today? In part so she could deliver this neckwear-labor-outsourcing burn:
“I would really like him to explain why he paid Chinese workers to make Trump ties instead of deciding to make those ties right here in Colorado with a company like Knotty," she said, as John Frank reports for the Denver Post.
3:02 p.m.: Gov. John Hickenlooper will introduce Clinton, campaign staff confirm. I wonder if he'll bring up that whole veepstakes thing. Maybe he's super mad about it. Good thing Tim Kaine's not here.
2:54 p.m.: "We're up by the flag." Less-than-helpful advice here.
Also, I can confirm that there is bunting around Clinton's speaking spot. Repeat, we have bunting.
2:53 p.m.: Part of the reason Clinton's here in Adams County is likely its large Latino community. Commerce City in particular is about 53 percent Latino. Along with Jefferson County, it represents one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the state.
Clinton had a "really strong" presence here during the 2008 primaries, according to attendee TommyRae Sena, who described himself as a behind-the-scenes local politico. (He helped with an election campaign for former Denver mayor Federico Peña.)
"It's not only just the Latino vote, but the diversity," he says. He says that Clinton's team has been ramping out its Get Out The Vote effort here now.
"They're moving hard," he says.
2:48 p.m.: First playing of Katy Perry's Roar surprises nobody.
2:26 p.m.: OK, I'm confused. Perlmutter just said "now you can boo" Trump for his reported support for the wealthy over the middle class. Then he tells us not to boo again, and to vote.
Also, we're "going to make Clinton a clean energy super power" and support small businesses by "cutting taxes and red tape."
2:23 p.m.: Congressman Ed Perlmutter takes the stage to a lot of applause. Again, "Don't boo. Vote." He claims Trump says American's "wages are too high," citing Trump statements on the federal minimum wage.
2:22 p.m.: Gladys Merino, (whose name I may be misspelling) is an Adams County organizer for Clinton. She highlights her own mother and Clinton as advocates for her family's economic success. "I wish my mom were here to see her daughter on the same stage as the next president of the United States," she says, citing Clinton's work on student debt, among other topics.
Clinton has "always had our back, and now it's our turn to have hers."
2:18 p.m.: Deirdre Garcia, former head of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is the first speaker. She echoes Clinton's line last week about how too many dreams "die in the parking lots of banks." She attacks Trump's business credentials.
2:14 p.m.: "Don't boo. Vote." - Principal Gionni Thompson channeling Obama. He's followed by the National Anthem and a performance of the folk song Down in the River to Pray. Looks like we've got less than a dozen writers in the pen, and a couple dozen television cameras.
