Congratulations Cory!

Election night 2010 ended up being much more fun than I anticipated.  Having been out of the political world for awhile now, I have felt really detached from it all.  In an attempt to do something other than just watch returns from our couch, I decided to take Matt up to the GOP victory party in Loveland where I was hoping we'd watch Cory Gardner become the next U.S. Representative from Colorado's 4th Congressional District.  Cory and I (as mentioned in the previous post) worked together in DC many years ago before he went on to bigger and better things (like becoming the Minority Leader in the CO State House!).  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of him and maybe get a handshake out of the night (for all I knew, I didn't know if he'd even remember me after such a busy campaign year meeting thousands of people!).  

Once we got there, I immediately questioned my decision remembering that I am no longer in this world- why would I think I could just act like I never left!?  Maybe we shouldn't have come?!  But - to my surprise, and enjoyment, I started running into people I hadn't seen in ages.  It felt great!  Within a few minutes, I even ran into two of my previous Legislative Directors (Doug Flanders and Chuck Cogar - who now works for Congressman Coffman but wanted to see Cory win as well - below):

It was also fun just being back at an election party!  Nothing beats the memories from election nights in DC, but it was great to be in a room filled with people who were passionate about the candidates and results.  

As I was thinking that I probably wouldn't be able to see Cory with the huge crowd, here he came, ready to give his victory speech.  We caught him in the hallway before he came into the main room, and he walked right over and said "Ali! Where have you been?!", gave me a hug, and then turned to introduce himself to Matt.  It was so worth the drive up to Loveland!

(This is right before he made his speech)

 Awkwardly close pic, but we didn't have any time to redo it!

Also ran into Courtney, someone I used to work with in the Senator's office as well.  Her husband was running a local campaign and at a different party, but I got to meet their son Finn!

Here I am with Cory, ahem, Cong. Gardner's wife, Jaime:

And the other best part of the night was seeing the Senator and Joan and catching up with them.  I hadn't seen them since our wedding, so it was great to hear about what they've been up to and how they're doing.  I really miss seeing them on a regular basis, I must admit!  But even after all this time, things certainly haven't changed much!

While Cory was working his way through the crowd after his victory speech, I got a second hug that happened to be captured by an Associated Press photographer.  Pretty hilarious.  I googled my name yesterday to find that the pic was indeed used in the Pueblo Chieftain's article on Cory's win!  I look so awkward as I'm telling Cory how happy I am for him.  But pretty great!