Steve Cochran has been volunteering to work for Democratic presidential candidates since Jimmy Carter in 1976, but he's nevertheless a newbie to the party's national convention.

And like many political veterans from Southwest Virginia, Cochran finds himself tingling with excitement over the event that starts tonight in Denver -- exuding more zeal and idealism than he can remember in his eight previous campaigns.

The possibility of Barack Obama being nominated for president is energizing seasoned Democratic operatives who say that even after decades of toil in the election trenches, they're experiencing a fresh sense of purpose.

Here's how some describe their political passions and anticipation about this week's rally in Denver.

Steve Cochran: The first-time delegate is a human resources administrator in Blacksburg.

"I'm 53. I been volunteering for Democratic candidates since I was 18. In all that time, I have never felt as strongly as I do this year."

Cochran has been the Montgomery County Democratic Party chairman for 11 years and said his emotions ran strongest in June when he met Obama during the candidate's campaign stop in Bristol. His wife, Victoria, asked the first questions of Obama. Later, Steve Cochran edged close enough to shake Obama's hand and speak with him briefly.

"I told him how proud I was to be his delegate. And he put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'I'm proud of you.' That still gives me chills."

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Ann Trinkle: This first-time delegate is the mother of three children, ages 8 to 16, and married to Roanoke Councilman David Trinkle.

"I'm just one of the ones who have made a bunch of phone calls" on behalf of Democratic candidates over the years, she said. Like Cochran, her first presidential campaign was for Jimmy Carter in 1976.

But Trinkle said there's something special about Obama's candidacy. She remembers being spellbound while watching on television as he spoke at the Democratic convention four years ago: "I was moved so much that I wanted to get involved."

When Trinkle gets to Denver, she won't be embarrassed if other delegates peg her as a rookie.

"I'm so green and excited. I'm going to take binoculars and a camera and be a total dork."

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Joseph Hancock: The second-time delegate's first convention was in 1980 in San Francisco. He's a substitute teacher in Roanoke public schools.

He has been beating the bushes for Obama and professing optimism even during the campaign's bleakest moments -- such as the primary election loss to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in January.

Now, the moment that Hancock expects to be the most compelling he has ever experienced in politics is near: "When the manager of the Virginia delegation stands up on the floor of the Pepsi Center in Denver and says, 'Mr. Chairman, the state of Virginia casts its votes for Barack Obama.' When I see Virginia, the state where I was born, nominate a black man for president, that will be a historic event."

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Tom Mall: The first-time delegate is a retired high school German language teacher who is pledged to Hillary Clinton.

He was long among the politically disillusioned.

"I was active in the Democratic Party years ago, but I got out of it when Bobby Kennedy was killed," he said.

He has waded back into volunteering in recent years: "Jim Webb's campaign for the Senate was the one I really got involved in."

While disappointed that Clinton won't be the presidential nominee, Mall said he's an Obama backer now. "It boils down to: Do you want to let people who supported George Bush get in power or support change?"

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The Rev. Cynthia Hale: Though not a delegate, the native Roanoker, who now pastors the 5,000-member Ray of Hope Christian Church near Atlanta, has been invited by the Democratic National Committee to give the invocation at the convention on Tuesday night.

Hale, a member of Obama's volunteer advisory group on faith-related issues, said his nomination will be "a God moment in history."

Hale said she'll pray for "party unity and for Senator Obama" -- and that Democrats "stay focused on the needs of ordinary people."

She said that as recently as two weeks ago, Democratic officials were checking her background, including her positions on abortion and gay rights. And there was one more thing: "They wanted to make sure I'm registered to vote as a Democrat. And I am."