Liz Villarreal may be missing moose season, silver salmon season and a full week of work, but what this Homer resident isn't missing may be history in the making.

At about 7 p.m. Tuesday Denver time, Villarreal and her fellow delegates were walking around the Democratic National Convention with salmon on their heads. The Alaska delegation wanted people at the convention to realize how important commercial fishing is not only for Alaska, but for the Lower 48, she said. Commercial fishermen make up a large part of the delegation and they wanted to be sure people knew why it's important to support a sustainable valuable resource.

"It's electric," she said, while waiting for Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker to speak. "It's so amazing, so empowering."

Homer residents elected Villarreal as their delegate on Super Tuesday, she said, speaking over the crowd's roar. Villarreal traveled to the state convention where she was chosen as an alternate and made the trip to Denver.

She supports Barack Obama as the next president of the United States, she said.

Villarreal wasn't always this enthusiastic about the political process.

"The last two administrations had made me very apathetic about our government," she said. "It made me feel unempowered and helpless to the changes that directly affected me on a regular basis."

A young woman with no health insurance, Villarreal said these were strikes working against her at the height of the Bush administration. But with Obama this is already changing, she said.

Obama, his wife Michelle and his running mate Joe Biden listen to everybody and everyone's needs, said Villarreal, who comes from a commercial fishing family.

Obama recently released a sportsman policy statement, which Villarreal says is integral to Alaska, and he's working on the same policy for fisheries as well.

"He will unite our nation and include regular everyday people in politics as he's already doing," she said. "He will just make people proud to be Americans again."

Despite Alaska's physical size, Villarreal said, the state has a small delegation. Obama has 55 people working his campaign in Alaska, she said, opening the first presidential campaign office in the state of Alaska.

Nathan Osborn, Alaska Democratic Party deputy communications director, said not every delegate gets to be on the floor, but the Alaska delegation is excited to be on the floor. "It's a testament to Alaska being a battle ground state," he said.

According to a press release issued by the Alaska Democratic Party, the delegation sent 18 delegates and four alternates to the convention. Osborn said the delegates were dressed in kuspuks, traditional Alaska Native light jackets.

"They all have matching kuspuks," he said. "They've (attracted) quite a bit of attention since they're all in uniform."

For Villarreal, being at the national convention not only gives her a chance to witness history, she's also making a lot of great connections.

"It's so amazing," she said. "We're a really small delegation yet everybody knows about us and everybody is excited that we are leading the way in making sure that we're represented here. It's not just history, now it's our story."

Jessica Cejnar is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.