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New Democrat Update - December 2001

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This email is the monthly update for December on the progress of the Colorado Democratic Leadership Council and New Democrat Movement in our state. The Colorado DLC is a think tank focused on local, state and federal issues of interest to this region. The New Democrat Update is distributed to more than 3,600 elected officials and private citizens the first week of each month. **REJUVENATING RURAL COLORADO** In the old economy, most rural areas had reasonably strong and stable economic bases to support growth and jobs. In addition to low costs, plentiful labor and adequate physical infrastructure, rural regions depended on innovative economic activities "filtering down" from urban areas. Clearly, those days are over. The innovative, well-paying industries increasingly cluster in the metropolitan suburbs, providing minimal economic benefits to rural Colorado. To date, most rural economies have been largely left out and are having significant difficulty competing and prospering in the New Economy. Rural communities face a new opportunity and challenge to prosper in this new world. The opportunity - unlike the old economy, new technologies allow economic activity to be geographically farther apart while still functionally tight. The challenge - much of rural Colorado has limited access to high-speed telecommunications technologies, a critical factor in determining business location and expansion decisions. Federal, state and local governments, in partnership with the private sector, must help rural communities adapt and develop innovative, technology-based economies through seed venture programs, technology-incubators, industry-university research partnerships and collaborative technology modernization projects. Ideally, nonprofit entrepreneurial organizations, linked to the private sector, should run these initiatives. Much like the digital economy, today's economic strategies take a strong combination of good hardware and software. The Colorado congressional delegation can help with the "hardware" by pushing for federal funding to co-invest in business applications with rural broadband telecommunications providers. In addition, they should support Senator Tom Daschle's proposal to provide federal loans to rural utility providers for deployment of broadband telecommunication connections. Growing and prospering in the New Economy also requires the right "software" - in this case, the skills and knowledge of young people. As a result of an undue reliance on property taxes, many rural school districts experience gross inequities. The state can become a much better partner by overhauling its antiquated K-12 public school funding system. While money alone will not solve educational problems, neither will a lack of resources. Innovative private-public partnerships like PowerUP can also help. With centers that have between 10 and 20 Internet-connected computers, PowerUP provides practical training to young people by getting technology into schools, community centers and other organizations. The sites are open and welcoming, as well as safe places for young people to spend time. Staff encourage students to work together, and computers are placed so that supervisors can see what is on each person's monitor at all times. Among PowerUP's notable partners is the Corporation for National Service's AmeriCorps program, which provides young volunteers who, in exchange for help with college tuition, go into communities to set up and help manage the computer centers. As non-technical users and innovators, these "Digital Brigades" help train local students while implementing technology-based projects that improve and help the community. Colorado state and local governments should partner with the private sector and provide matching funds to spur development of rural technology centers. The State of Florida has taken that approach, leveraging a relatively modest $500,000 investment and creating 25 computer lab sites across the state. Universities and community colleges can strengthen the competitiveness of rural firms by analyzing the specific needs of local economies and offering consulting services on technology and processes. Public matching funds for joint university-private sector research can be tied to new product development. Nonprofit corporations, which share technological innovations and identify new product and process opportunities, should be organized. New technology clearinghouses can provide data on new patents and ideas relevant to local industries. Forming innovative alliances - as well as leveraging private/public sector funding, leadership, and volunteers - can effectively meet rural Colorado's economic challenges. We have no time to waste. **CONNECTING TO RURAL COLORADO** To develop a progressive majority coalition, Colorado Democrats must do much in better in rural regions of the state. Republicans control almost 75 percent of county commissions and Democrats send a very small handful of rural legislators to the State House. In the last presidential election, Vice President Al Gore lost the rural vote by 20 points. State Democrats at all levels of government can close this gap by closely examining Mark Warner's gubernatorial victory last month in Virginia. His statewide message - improvements in education and the quality of life would bring "knowledge jobs" to all parts of the state - proved decisive. Just as important, Warner embraced mainstream, values-based positions on cultural issues, realizing that tone matters as well as substance. Our party can speak about tough issues like gun control and gay rights without implying that no decent and reasonable person can have a different view. Voters who feel marginalized, even demonized, by hard-left rhetoric will almost certainly retaliate. For many rural voters, the role of government is in part an issue of values. The New Democratic stance on this issue - that government should equip people to solve their own problems - is sure to make significant inroads into the rural electorate. **NEW WORLD, NEW WAR** The November/December issue of Blueprint provides a roadmap on how America can defeat terrorism, grow the economy and ask all Americans to give something back. This edition includes provocative articles by DLC national Chair Evan Bayh, former President Bill Clinton, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Senator John Kerry. Other pieces provide insight on modernizing our intelligence services, strategies to defend the country from weapons of mass destruction, beefing up homeland defense, the crisis in the Mideast, reinventing NATO, why Saddam Hussein's Iraq must be the next target and more.