"How many signatures does it take to get on the ballot?'
"300"
"If we're lucky maybe we can get someone to make flyers"
"I hope to at least get into 1 or 2 debates"This was the gist of the conversation over beer and pizza between Doug Anderson and myself at a Colfax Avenue restaurant. Actually it was only me drinking the beer. Doug though he was a bartender at the time stayed away from the stuff. I'm certain as a bartender Doug had listened to crazier talk than one of a politically unknown, call center worker struggling to get by with a small child to support bringing up the idea of running for Mayor of Denver in the upcoming 1987 race but either the idea intrigued him or amused him so he continued to listen.
The year was 1986
3 important events occurred for me in 1986
1. My daughter Rose was born
2. I became a campaign manager for a candidate running for the State House of Representatives .It was the first campaign I had actively been involved with since college and after the years of relative isolation as a part of GO it felt good reactivating talents that had been dormant during those years.
3. The New York Mets became World Champions
The election for Mayor of Denver was to occur in May of 1987. The incumbent was Federico Pena, Denver's first Hispanic Mayor who later on became Secretary of Transportation under Bill Clinton. There were however several candidates jumping into the ring or making it clear that they intended to jump in soon. All of them certainly had more name recognition with a longer history in Denver and sure to have more money going into their campaigns. Those advantages be damned the decision was made I was to run for Mayor of Denver and Doug was to run for Election Commissioner. The time to enter the race was NOW!
Both major newspapers the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News did cover the press announcement sent to them. Kinda thought at the time that would be the highlight of media coverage I'd get.
Something happened when the alternative weekly paper Westword ran its first article on the Mayor's race. It mentioned my name as being one of the "fringe" candidates expected to run . I wrote back thanking him for putting me in the category of fringe and began to name off ideas that initially were considered as fringe that became mainstream. The writer seemed to like that response and from then on out he tended to include something I said in every article he wrote about the campaign afterwards
Something happened with the 1 or 2 debates I thought I'd be invited to. It didn't happen that way. In total I was invited to 110 debates and attended 101. I had writers from both the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post assigned to specifically cover my campaign along with a reporter from Channel 7.
I did the radio talk show circuit. Denver in the 80's was considered as the pioneer city for talk radio and I did every talk station from the 50,000 watt clear channel KOA to one's whose signals would barely reach out of Denver. On a fairly regular basis something I said either at a debate or in response to a question was covered on local TV newscasts. I think given the shape of corporatization of the media nowadays independent and third party candidates would be green with envy with the amount of media coverage I received.
When American Indian Movement leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks came to Denver in support of my candidacy it became the lead story on one of the local news TV shows and was covered by the Rocky Mountain News
The issues I stood for were in contrast to the other candidates I opposed a city subsidized new airport and convention center. I supported drug legalization with an emphasis on marijuana. This caused Robert Kowalski, a writer for the Denver Post to write as a preface on whatever else I may have stated "David Daniels the candidate who would legalize drugs said..." when he missed out of coverage of Russell Means's endorsement of my candidacy he was reassigned from the Mayor's race
I was noted for saying such things as "One of the biggest gang problems in Denver is the police department itself" said at forum sponsored by the Police Union or opposing a taxpayer subsidized baseball stadium at a time when Denver was pursuing a major league franchise. I even said I would remain a Mets fan even if Denver obtained a franchise
What seemed to be the case whether one agreed with my issues or not there was this sense that if you attended one of the many forums I participated in or read or heard about me through mainstream or alternative sources I was being heard
I was part of the 9 News televised debate featuring all 7 candidates and my response to the question regarding my qualifications for the office "I'm not a Lawyer" had the moderator admonishing the audience for breaking the rules regarding cheering for a candidate
On Election Night TV cameras showed up at my house to air my concession speech. I didnt win but the party location switched from my house to Shotgun Willie's an infamous stripper bar located on the outskirts of Denver where Doug was tending bar. Doug Anderson was elected Election Commissioner. Doug's first words when informed of his election: "You're shitting me" Doug's boss thought initially that we were orchestrating an elaborate hoax to get Doug off work. When he realized this was no hoax and his bar was gaining free publicity from Doug's election our election party received drinks on the house
Because no candidate received over 50% in the original election there was to be a runoff between the top two finishers. While the Denver Mayoral race was technically a non partisan election incumbent Federico Pena was a Democrat who beat out other Democratic challengers and an Independent for one of the positions. His major challenger was businessman Don Bain who had been endorsed by the Republican Party. Both candidates sought my endorsement. Pena called me the day after the election hoping to obtain an endorsement. Don Bain's people led by Neil Bush son of George HW Bush and brother of George W Bush wined and dined me at a fancy Denver restaurant hoping I'd endorse Bain. My campaign had been endorsed by the Libertarian Party and I ended up endorsing neither candidate
That race turned out not to be the last campaign where I was a candidate. In 1988 former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy learned about my Mayoral campaign and asked me to be his Vice Presidential candidate on the Consumer Party ticket despite the fact that I was constitutionally too young to hold the office It was participation in that campaign that played a major role in my move to Minnesota that same year. In 2000 I was the Minnesota Grassroots (Marijuana Legalization) Party's candidate for US Senate and in 2014 was the Grassroots Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
I wonder what Robert Kowalski thinks now with Denver and Colorado becoming the first state to legalize recreational marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms?
The Westword writer who called my campaign a fringe campaign? His name was Alan Dumas. Alan later became an Arts and Entertainment writer for the Rocky Mountain News. Alan then ended up writing a feature article on me in the Rocky Mountain News when I brought my play Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh back to Denver.
Crazy how those things work out..
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