When you spend your adult life active in politics, you inevitably encounter other activists, a few prominent but most invisible, who leave an indelible impression. You also become privy to bits of the story that puzzle the media. Why, for example, did Federico Peña’s first campaign for mayor in Denver deploy those eye-catching blue, triangular signs? It wasn’t by design, but a serendipitous fallout from Bill McNichols’ Public Works Department strictly enforcing and then removing the first edition, which were just a few square inches larger than city ordinances permitted.

A young volunteer, Jeep Campbell, was responsible for producing and placing Peña yard signs. He figured out that he could diagonally slice the remaining blank placards and still stencil the “Peña for Denver” message onto the remaining triangles. Walter Mondale’s loss to Colorado U.S. Sen. Gary Hart in the 1984 New Hampshire primary prompted the former vice president to call the surprising defeat a “cold shower” for his campaign. That launched me, as Denver Democratic chair, on a last-minute search for an exotic showerhead that could be used as a prop at Gary’s homecoming press conference. The $100 chrome beauty I purchased appeared on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News. Mission accomplished!

In the spring of 2004, I was riding the private subway connecting Senate office buildings with the U. S. Capitol when I first heard Barack Obama’s name. A group of Illinois’ women seated in my car were discussing an earlier meeting at the White House with President George W. Bush. One member of this group apparently asked the president whether he had met or knew their Democratic candidate for the U. S. Senate. He had replied that he didn’t know Mr. Obama. She giggled and allegedly told him, “Trust me, you will.” Together with Colorado’s Ken Salazar, they were the only freshman Democrats elected to the Senate that year.

In the fall of 2007, I was inclined to support Hillary Clinton for president. I jiggled a few connections to arrange a meeting with Hillary’s campaign staff, already operating from an office in Arlington, Virginia, during a business trip to Washington. It was my intention to urge a vigorous presence at Colorado’s Democratic caucuses. I had scheduled a meeting with Capricia Marshall, a senior Clinton advisor. Upon arrival I learned that Capricia would be unable to meet with me. Instead, I was passed off to a young woman who was taking a year off from Sarah Lawrence College to work on the campaign. She politely explained that their Hillary expected to secure the Democratic nomination at the Super Tuesday primaries.

Since Colorado’s caucuses came after this anticipated victory, the campaign was not budgeting resources to assist later states. I told her, “Your strategy strikes me as very shortsighted.” I was assured they would certainly welcome any organizing efforts I was willing to undertake on my own time and on my own dime. Later that winter I attended a rally for Barack Obama with several thousand other Democrats in a hangar at the Jefferson County Airport. I left convinced the presidential primary would not be over on Super Tuesday. In fact, 2008 Colorado caucuses were swept by Obama, as they would be again in 2016 by Bernie Sanders.

My stepson, Chris, worked construction that summer, mostly demolition. He called me just before the July 4 weekend from a turkey processing plant in Longmont. He reported the plant’s offices would be torn down the following week even though they remained equipped with new furniture and computers – all headed to a landfill. He wondered if I knew anyone who could use this stuff, free for the asking. I had recently met Ray Rivera, who moved from New Mexico to open an Obama headquarters in Colorado. I knew he would be leasing empty space on South Colorado Boulevard.

A holiday weekend is a lousy time to rustle up a work crew. I asked Ray for a rental truck and three young men with strong backs. Four hours later Ray called me back to as whether two trucks and five young men would do? That meant more beer, but I was genuinely impressed. Four trips were needed to retrieve eight truckloads of furniture, filing cabinets and miscellaneous gear. Rivera’s swift response confirmed I was supporting a winning campaign.

This year Ray Rivera has been opening nine Colorado campaign offices for Mike Bloomberg. New York’s former mayor is promising to keep these offices and their staffs open through November whomever the Democratic nominee turns out to be. “We are putting an infrastructure in place so that Colorado Democrats can defeat Donald Trump,” Rivera explains. With Super Tuesday ballots already delivered, Ray knows he is competing in a ballot chase. He will have to identify and turn out voters. I wouldn’t bet against him.

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