Back-to-back barn-burner speeches — one making the case for Hillary Clinton and one for Bernie Sanders — drew thunderous cheers and boos from the 4,000-plus attendees at the state Democratic Party convention in Loveland on Saturday. The effect in the Budweiser Events Center felt like an enormous valve turned in the ceiling and lifted the hissing tension between the Sanders and Clinton camps out of the hall and into the sky — an offering as good as any to the impenetrable spirits of electoral victory.

Ken for Hillary

Colorado Democratic Party icon Ken Salazar went first. Insiders speculate that the former secretary of the interior, U.S. Senator and state attorney general plans to run for governor in 2018 to replace term-limited John Hickenlooper. The speech will fuel that speculation. It was a polished and unreserved expression of support for Clinton

“I have worked with both Senator Sanders and with Senator Clinton,” he told the crowd. “I worked closely with Hillary Clinton as a member of the Obama Administration on your behalf and I also was happy to work with Senator Sanders, because he’s a good senator. He’s a good senator. I have great respect for Bernie Sanders and we should all have great respect for him and for what he has done for the country with his campaign for president.

“But just like all of you, I have made my choice. I made my choice to support Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States.” Salazar’s frank admission landed with a splash, coming as it did after rounds of speeches made over two days that attempted to smooth over differences among assembly attendees. It drew loud applause and rounds of jeering.

“I’ve been involved in most presidential races since about 1988, and I can tell you this,” Salazar said, his round face under his signature white ten-gallon hat stared down from the video screens arrayed over the floor. “I have never seen a person who is more qualified to be president of the United States than Hillary Clinton.

“In 1999, April 20, when the Columbine high school tragedy shocked the nation, who was here in Colorado and who was working with us at the White House when I was attorney general to stand up to the gun lobby? It was Hillary Clinton,” he said.

“I remember when I was in the United States Senate, when people were talking about a plan to make sure everybody could afford health care in America, Hillary Clinton put together the coalition to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program that now provides health care for more than 8 million children across the country.

“I remember on the U.S. Senate floor,” Salazar said. “I remember her leading efforts to finally achieve comprehensive immigration reform, which was blocked by the Republican House. But she’s been there, working for reform… And she will lead in forming new relationships with Latin America, with Mexico, with bringing immigration reform into the next century.

“She knows climate change is here. She is leading efforts to bring states together to tackle climate change and save our planet.

“And Hillary Clinton has led in the fight for civil rights, for women’s rights, not just here in the United States, but around the world,” he said. “No matter who you are or where you’re from, the color of your skin, who you love, you’re native American or African American, we all have a place in Hillary Clinton’s heart.”

Then came rippling dissent from the floor.

“Super PAC!” “Super PAC!” “Super PAC!” chanted Sanders supporters.

Salazar chanted back into the microphone. “Hill-a-ry!” he said. “Hill-a-ry!” The volume in the hall ratcheted up. “Hill-a-ry!” “Hill-a-ry!”

“When all of the noise is gone,” Salazar said. “When all the noise is over, come that Tuesday in November, you have to remember this race is about the greatest nation on Earth continuing to be a beacon of the progress that Martin Luther King talked about, and I can tell you that when all the shouting is done, when all the counting is done, that we all matter, and that’s why Hillary Clinton time and time again has delivered for the American people.

“Let me conclude,” he asked the restless crowd. “Let me conclude.” Again came shouts in support of Sanders.

“I love Bernie too,” Salazar said, “I just happen to know Hillary is better to be president of the United States.”

The floor erupted for a long stretch.

“Let me conclude. Let me conclude,” said Salazar. “Let me tell you what’s true about Bernie and also about Hillary,” but he was forced to break off again.

“Let’s say Hillary!” he said.

“Hillary!” answered the crowd.

“Let’s say Bernie!” Salazar said.

“Bernie!”

“All right! United Colorado!” Salazar said.

“Colorado, you’re going to decide the next president of the United States because our nine electoral votes will make all the difference. We’re going to come out of this election united, one group of Democrats. Thank you!”

Joe for Bernie

Next came state Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, a leader among Colorado Sanders supporters.

Joe is a Salazar who is less icon and more iconoclastic. His theatrics and rousing speeches in the state House often go against leaders on the right and the left. He is a proud member of what he refers to as the Capitol’s “Doghouse Dems.”

“Everybody was saying to me, when you go up there are you going to behave?” he told the crowd. “I said, ‘As a founding member of the Doghouse Dems, what do you think?’”

“I support Bernie Sanders because I hark back to where we have come from, because in 2016 we need that next visionary leader,” he said. “We need that next original leader to move us forward. We need a leader who can see the forest despite the trees, a leader who can hear the cries of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the poor and weak…

“Sanders has been discussing economic injustice for 40 years,” Salazar said. “I say that because he is the first presidential candidate in the history of this country to be invited to the Vatican to talk about it. That’s right,” said Salazar. “That’s right.”

“And you know what, everybody? He’s original, too — so original he never had to change (his stance) on $15 an hour — what?!”

The crowd shouted in response.

“He’s never had to change on being against the Keystone pipeline,” Salazar said, revving up into the speech. “He never had to change — never on fracking! Never had to change on freeing our political process from the undue influence of corporate money and reversing Citizens United. Never changed on supporting issues that matter to our Indian brothers and sisters. And he knows, he knows, that the corrupt practice known as private prisons has got to go.”

“Bernie Sanders is an original! Since 1990 he has spoken out against the deleterious effects of mass incarceration,” Salazar said. “He has warned about climate change. And he’s visionary, too. He’s visionary because he knows the positive power we possess as a people. If we could put a man on the moon, if we can spend trillions of dollars on horrific wars, we can provide public education free to all of our students and we can provide health care for everyone.

“Our country is needing this visionary original.” Salazar continued. “A person who is morally just for all people, a person who has inspired millions across the nation. Our country needs Bernie Sanders!”

“Ber-nie!” chants filled the hall, and the moment seemed cathartic.

There had been a sense all weekend that Sanders supporters were being only warily accepted into the delegate-selection process by longtime party activists and insiders. Salazar’s informal and unabashedly progressive speech, issuing from the stage and ringing from the sound system, had the feel of official acknowledgment and acceptance on some new level of the legitimacy and the power of the Sanders movement.

— john@coloradostatesman.com

— Ramsey@coloradostatesman.com