The DuPage Democrats are preparing to celebrate the biggest day of their calendar year, the Annual Presidents’ Day Gala at the Drury Lane Oakbrook on Feb 10th. And they have lots to celebrate!

“Just 5 short years ago at this time,” points out Chairman Bob Peickert, “only 18 precincts out of 740+ actually had a Democrat they could go to with any of their concerns.” At this year’s Gala, over 17 representatives from United States Congress to DuPage Forest Preserve will be in attendance to herald the historical 2012 election in which DuPage voters finally drew a big blue swath across a large majority of its 750 precincts.

Executive Director Amy Rohrer had this to say about their success. “Every year we have attracted more volunteers, more dollars, more press. When we turned some of these races over in November, the Democrats who had been undercover in their seemingly ‘red’ neighborhoods finally saw that the tide had turned and contacted us.” She further pointed out that 2012 was the first time that DuPage had ever re-elected a Democratic President.

On Sunday February 10th, Former Mayor of Philly and Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell–no stranger to inter and intra-party struggles and challenges–will be in town to talk with the gathered Gala group. Often a controversial voice on MSNBC, Rendell also has a new book whose title presents a provocative premise: A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great

Former Governor Rendell has been in politics for nearly 35 years in many roles and was the prototype for the Eric Baker character in the West Wing TV series.