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SANTA FE — Politics is the art of showing up, so let's take a moment to consider the subtle swirls and broad brush strokes of a Barack Obama rally at the state Capitol earlier this week.

Not in attendance: Gov. Bill Richardson, State Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, House Speaker Ben Lujan and Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings.

In attendance: State Reps. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, Joseph Cervantes, Al Park, Peter Wirth, Sheryl Williams Stapleton and Ken Martinez.

There, but not there: Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who's supporting Hillary Clinton but got to the west entrance of the Roundhouse just in time to scope out the scene.

I don't know whether Obama can beat the better-known Clinton in the New Mexico presidential caucus on Feb. 5, but from the looks of things, his mere presence — his mere challenge — offers an interesting read on what's going on in the state Democratic Party these days.

Particularly at the Roundhouse.

More and more, there's a sense of impatience among some of the party's backbenchers and young guns — a fatigue and frustration with the glacial pace at which power and influence is attained within the Democratic caucus in this state.

And while their support of Obama's candidacy might be nothing more than a mere coincidence to that itchy feeling, it was striking that most of the Democratic legislators wearing Obama stickers on their lapels Wednesday were in their 30s and 40s.

Their profile? Eager. Ambitious.

"The people you saw here were reformers," explained Cervantes, of Las Cruces. "They're here in Santa Fe trying to reform our state in a fundamental way. Obama represents the same thing on a national level."

It's fashionable and accurate these days to talk about the uncertainty that pervades the state Republican Party, but for all their overwhelming numerical advantages, Democrats face many of the same questions.

Just what it means to be a Democrat in New Mexico is not an easy answer anymore — not at a time when an established, well-known centrist like Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez is virtually shouted down by aggressive, left-leaning members of his own party who favored U.S. Rep. Tom Udall.

Such generational and political divisions are becoming more easily seen, particularly in the Roundhouse, where you know what's up — and who's up — by seeing who shows up.

And so it was Wednesday.

Judging from their stances on topics such as the environment, education or domestic partnership, the Roundhouse's younger Democrats will never be seen as technocrats.

For that group, Obama is the guiding star: a young guy, a new face, someone who wasn't willing to slog through a seniority system to make the Big Step.

And yet, oddly, Obama remains a mystery to most of his supporters: Of the legislators I spoke with, none knew whether the Illinois senator had actually ever been in New Mexico.

No matter. Obama, they said, represents something different on a national level — and maybe, at the party level, too.

"Do we really define ourselves by reaching out to conservatives and moderates, change our message and carve out 51 percent of the electorate?" asked Maestas, a freshman representative from Albuquerque's West Side. "Or do we reach out to Greens, independents, the disenfranchised — the folks who don't normally vote — and build a broad-based coalition to lead this country?"

The question was left hanging, like a streak of color on an unfinished canvas.

What happens on Feb. 5 might fill in the blank.