President Barack Obama on Tuesday came back to the city that launched him to the White House, signing the $787 billion stimulus bill and preparing the country for more expensive measures to come.

The afternoon ceremony in a sun-streaked atrium at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science underscored Colorado's burgeoning presence on the national political stage. And, it gave Obama the chance to tout the state's and his own efforts to rebuild the economy, in part by promoting solar and wind power and other forms of renewable energy.

"What makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save 31/2 million jobs over the next two years, including 60,000-plus here in Colorado," he said. "It's that we are putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done in critical areas that have been neglected for too long - work that will bring real and lasting change for generations to come."

Obama finished his 14-minute speech at 1:20, and members of the audience literally jumped from their seats, applauding.

Sitting at a desk borrowed from the Governor's Mansion and using 10 pens, Obama signed the mammoth economic package. "There you go," the president said to raucous applause from roughly 250 people at the invitation-only ceremony.

Rochelle Asmussen and her daughters, 8-year-old Grace and 12-year-old Sierra, stood and watched as Obama put pen to paper. "I thought it was very amazing," said Sierra. "It's history."

Her mother and father are local Realtors. Rochelle Asmussen said the housing market has forced them to rethink their business strategy. "It's a very different market now," she said. "But I'm very excited today. I feel hopeful."

The measure passed with no Republican support in the U.S. House and the backing of only three GOP senators. And more battles loom. Obama plans to propose legislation aimed at reforming the banking system and the housing market and other measures that may ultimately add up to $2.5 trillion.

But Tuesday was about the first step, a stimulus bill aimed at stemming the economic damage that has resulted in millions of lost jobs, widespread foreclosures and multibillion-dollar bailouts.

Obama landed at Buckley Air Force Base late Tuesday morning, then was driven to the museum with Vice President Joe Biden. There, the pair inspected solar panels installed on the museum's roof last summer.

Their tour guide was Blake Jones, head of Namaste Solar, the company that built and installed the panels. But Jones had a bigger role in the day's events: He introduced the president.

Jones recounted his company's history - its quick growth from three employees to 50, and then dramatic cuts that followed last fall's economic collapse. Without the stimulus bill, he said, he would have been forced to lay off workers. With it, he expects to increase his work force by 20 percent this year and 40 percent in 2010.

And then it was Obama's turn at the microphone.

After an array of political shout-outs, the president went to work describing key points of the stimulus bill.

"It is great to be in Denver," Obama said. "I was here last summer - we had a great time - to accept the nomination of my party and to make a promise to people of all parties, that I would do all I could to give every American the chance to make of their lives what they will, to see their children climb higher than they did.

"I am back today to say that we have begun the difficult work of keeping that promise."

Obama hailed the bill as "paving the way to long-term growth and prosperity." He ticked off a list of provisions in it. Then, he returned to the kind of speech-making for which he is known, invoking the country's lofty ideas in his final pitch of the day.

"Our American story is not - and never has been - about things coming easy," he said. "It's about rising to the moment when the moment is hard, converting crisis into opportunity, and seeing to it that we emerge from whatever trials we face stronger than we were before.

"It's about rejecting the notion that our fate is somehow written for us, and instead laying claim to a destiny of our own making. That is what earlier generations of Americans have done, that's what we hope for our children, that's what we are doing today."

What's in it

The legislation is the most sweeping economic overhaul plan put forth in decades.

* It pumps money into infrastructure projects, health care, mass transit, high-speed rail, national parks, renewable energy development and conservation.

* There's a $400 tax break for most individual workers and $800 for couples, including those who do not earn enough to pay income taxes.

* It dishes out tens of billions of dollars to states so they can head off deep cuts and layoffs.

* It provides financial incentives for people to start buying again, from first homes to new cars.

* It provides help to poor people and laid-off workers, with increased unemployment benefits and food stamps, and subsides for health insurance.

Presidential Extra!

It sounds more congressional that way

Univision interviewed Congressman Jared Polis of Boulder - in Spanish. Polis replied in fluent Spanish, but he said "tax cuts" in English.

The biggest winner?

303 pounds: What attorney and Denver Democratic Party powerhouse Willie Shepherd used to weigh.

200.8 pounds: What Shepherd weighed Tuesday.

Jurassic pork

From an alert reader: "I just find it ironic that Obama signs a $787 BILLION stimulus bill at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The museum's newest exhibit opened last Friday - Nature's Disasters."

DeGette with it, sir

They met backstage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004 while practicing their speeches. Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama greeted U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, mispronouncing the Denver Democrat's name as De-Jet instead of De-Get.

Then, on Tuesday, almost the instant the president introduced the dean of Colorado's congressional delegation as De-Jet, the White House was e-mailing her staff, apologizing.

Moving day

The desk came from the Governor's Mansion, the chair from the museum president's den.

Finding furniture for President Barack Obama to use to sign the stimulus bill fell to staff at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Museum President and CEO George Sparks said he will donate the chair Obama sat on to the museum archive.

The desk will go back to the bedroom of Gov. Bill Ritter's oldest son, August, at the mansion, Sparks said.

But the two pieces may be reunited soon.

Sparks said his staff has talked to the governor's office about bringing the desk, which technically belongs to the taxpayers, back to the museum to be put on display.

"That way, the public can see it," Sparks said.

'By God, it's a grizzly!'

The president left Denver with more than he came here with.

Obama took home a replica of the large grizzly bear statue that stands outside the museum.

"This is the iconic piece of the museum," Sparks said.

Before Obama arrived, a Secret Service agent warned museum officials not to be offended if the president seemed less than enthused with the gift; most tokens of appreciation end up in a warehouse, the agent said.

But when Obama saw the statue - inscribed with his name and a note about the occasion - he seemed downright impressed.

"He said, 'By God, it's a grizzly!' " Sparks said.

The president said he'd put the statue in his office, then he handed it to a staff member for safe keeping.

The replicas are tough to come by. They aren't available for purchase, and only four of them have ever been given as gifts.

"Obviously, when it's the president, he gets one," Sparks said.

What took you so long?

Colorado's Senate President Peter Groff is more than ready to spend.

"Last week," he answered, when asked when he'd like to see the stimulus money coursing through Colorado's economy.

Groff believes Colorado will start seeing new jobs by June, with spending accelerating next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The money for transportation will be "incredibly helpful," Groff said.

The funds also will help rebuild outdated rural schools, save human services program slated for the chopping block and - in case you hadn't heard - spur investments in renewable energy.

"I'm waiting for the members of Congress to take their seats so I can ask, 'Did you bring the check with you?' " Groff said.

Thanks but no thanks

All 13 Denver City Council members were invited to Obama's stimulus signing. At least two stayed home.

"Deficit spending, no matter how it's called, just is not my thing, and I don't go to celebrate it, whether it's Republicans doing it or Democrats doing it," said Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, the only Republican on the council.

However, Faatz did appreciate being invited by Mayor John Hickenlooper's administration.

Councilman Charlie Brown didn't go either.

"I stay away from partisan events," said Brown, who switched his party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated last year.

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