Polly Baca, Colorado’s first female Hispanic state Senator and Democratic National committeewoman, who later served for many years as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, shoehorned 40 Clinton supporters into her downtown Denver condo for the first Democratic presidential debate of 2016. State Rep. Angela Williams, who’s running for a Denver Senate seat next year, joined the predominantly female crowd.

Clinton’s Colorado campaign director Bradley Komar — most recently he managed Gov. John Hickenlooper’s re-election campaign — kicked off the evening by emphasizing how important Colorado will be in next year’s election. Since Colorado is joining the Super Tuesday states with caucuses on March 1, the Clinton campaign has no intention of repeating the mistake it made eight years ago when it ignored Colorado, confident she would nail down the nomination on Super Tuesday. By the time Clinton realized every delegate was going to count, Obama had won two-thirds of Colorado caucus attendees, eventually translating that support into convention delegates.

Komar asked the audience how many had ever attended a caucus and was seemingly startled when virtually every hand in the room went up. These were political junkies, not casual voters. Nonetheless, he asked everyone to fill out a pledge card promising to attend his or her precinct caucus for Hillary. The Clinton campaign is collecting these pledges whenever and wherever Democrats gather, and they will file them away in order to remind — or hound — Democrats into showing up in March.

There was a certain amount of dread rippling across the room as the debate began. Would Hillary excel? Could she contain the appeal of Bernie’s outspoken, wish-list liberalism? Might she appear defensive and guarded? As the minutes ticked by, it became evident Hillary was on top of her game, an adult among boys — or, in the case of Sanders, your grumpy grandpa. When Sanders rushed to Clinton’s defense over the email imbroglio, observing that he had spoken with thousands of Americans and “they don’t care about your damned e-mails,” the room erupted in cheers. As Hillary extended her hand and said, “Thank you, Bernie,” Sharon Gonzales accurately predicted the gesture “will be the photo we see in the morning.”

All the Democrats took a turn pointing out they were discussing the quality-of-life issues that actually concern Americans, rather than indulging in petty, personal disputes like their Republican counterparts in their debates. O’Malley was perhaps the most effective when he asked whether the audience had noticed the Democratic candidates weren’t disparaging immigrants or religious beliefs. He capped that attack with a claim that Republicans refuse to acknowledge climate change because they are financed by oil and coal interests. More cheers. This was all red meat for Democrats, but talk of a pardon for Edgar Snowden by Lincoln Chafee, a windfall profits tax by Jim Webb and universal health care by Sanders were likely setting many Republicans’ hair on fire.

There was far more agreement than dissension among the debaters. Family leave, reduced college tuition, gun control, breaking up the largest banks and providing access to health care for undocumented workers received at least a nod from all the candidates. It remains to be seen whether 2016 repeats as another election about the economy or becomes a contest over foreign policy. But, for the time being, the Clinton Democrats at Polly Baca’s home found it useful to have Bernie pushing the limits of political possibility while their candidate could position herself as the progressive “who likes to get things done.”

By the third commercial break, the guests began to grow rowdy. They felt certain their candidate was not only winning the debate but also positioning herself with voters across the spectrum as a credible president. The idea of the first woman president seemed just the right amount of change. If Sanders’s appeal survives until the Colorado caucuses, he seems likely to attract supporters surprised they have to be Democrats to serve as delegates, as many Obama partisans were in 2008. The real Clinton campaign of quiet persuasion — over the fence, at the coffee cooler, in the grocery line — just received a solid jolt of adrenaline. In a tweeting, instagramming world, nothing beats a great clip. How many women listened to Hillary’s full-throated defense of Planned Parenthood against Republican “big government” interference on Wednesday?

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former state legislator. He can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com