By JOHN FROONJIAN Press Political Editor, and DEREK HARPER, Statehouse Bureau 609-272-7273

DENVER - There were days in the past few years when presidential politics was all about meetings and petitions for Margate resident Mary Slomine.

She would meet volunteers at the Pleasantville Dunkin' Donuts to knock on doors for candidates. She attended meetings or coaxed friends to sign nominating petitions.

One of the candidates she worked for was presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama. This week, Slomine, 59, is being rewarded for her work as she attends the Democratic National Convention as a first-time New Jersey delegate.

Slomine said she never expected to be here. But she and her husband, Art, are taking in as much of the experience as possible, sight-seeing in host-city Denver, joining workshops on issues such as health care and soaking up the color.

"I'm just ecstatic," she said Tuesday.

"We left at 3:20 with the goal of getting there early and we got there at 5:25," she said.

No matter. She said she felt like pinching herself as the Pepsi Center convention site came into view.

"I truly couldn't wait to get to my seat and call all my friends and kids," she said. "I felt like I was part of history."

The New Jersey delegation sits in a far corner of the arena in seats rising off the floor - not prime real estate. But Slomine's view of the podium was fine when Michelle Obama spoke and when Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., emotionally predicted he will return to the Senate following brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

"It was just electric," she said of the night. "There's no comparison to when you're watching it on TV."

Slomine, who summered in Margate before moving there five years ago, had previously been a Democratic county committee member in Blue Bell, Pa. When she retired to Margate, she decided to devote more time to politics.

She attended a meeting at the Hamilton Mall in 2004 to help John Kerry's campaign. She didn't know another person there. But she began doing what she could. Eventually she was elected to the Atlantic County Democratic Committee and worked on state Sen. Jim Whelan's campaign.

She thought it would be easy obtaining 200 signatures to get on the ballot as an Obama delegate this year. But people resisted the time-consuming task of signing state and federal petitions.

"What I thought would take four days extended into two weeks," she said.

Pleasantville activists Irma Curry and Darwin Moses helped her. But some of her friends wondered why she bothered in what seems like a thankless job.

She said she believes the small contributions of nameless volunteers build into a massive effort that can change history.

"People are jaded. They ask, 'Why do you do it? You don't get paid.' But you feel like your contribution, no matter how small, can have a gigantic effect on the future of the country," Slomine said.

She never expected to get to go to the convention. She had heard that only elected and high-ranking party officials become delegates. When a telephone call about being selected came one night, she thought her husband had put someone up to fooling her.

"I said, 'Is this a joke?'" she recalled.

It wasn't. And this week, she is calling her children and Democratic friends from the national convention. She and Art carried signs they waved with other delegates out of the Pepsi Center Monday as souvenirs.

Slomine said she wants to transfer some of the excitement to the campaign back home. And she hopes it inspires others to get involved.

"The grunt work does pay off," she said. "People get fired up and realize their vote does count."

E-mail John Froonjian:

JFroonjian@pressofac.com

E-mail Derek Harper:

DHarper@pressofac.com