Remember this day, folks, because in the coming years politicos, reporters, bloggers and everyone with an interest in Colorado politics will point back to this day to mark the moment when the Colorado Republican Party changed completely, and perhaps irrevocably. Whether or not this change will be remembered as something positive or negative may not be known until well after Election Day in November, and maybe not until Winter 2011, when Republicans across the state elect new local and statewide leadership. But make no mistake -- nothing can ever be the same in the Colorado GOP after weeks of events that culminated on Friday.
Because on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010, the State Republican Party told every Republican voter that the caucus and the primary only matter so long as you choose the candidate they want you to choose. Otherwise, your vote means nothing. Incredibly, and inexplicably, the Colorado Republican Party officially declared that a small handful of people will make decisions for you, no matter what the election results say.
In fact, two major changes have occurred: 1) The Republican Party decided that a small committee of people can choose whether or not to support a candidate that Republican voters elected, and 2) Top Republicans have splintered their support in the governor's race in three different directions. Party unity? There's no going back from here.
The Colorado Statesman has an excellent story from Jodi Strogoff and Ernest Luning about the events surrounding the Republican efforts to get Gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes off of their ballot. You really need to read the whole thing, but we'll break down a couple of key sections to illustrate our point after the jump.
(It's a long weekend and a slow times for news -- but check out Neon Nurse's picture from the Alamosa Alligator Farm. You Rock, NN! - promoted by Voyageur)
How much wierder can CO politics get?
* US Senate candidate Ken Buck bragged he doesn't wear women's shoes.
* US Senate primary candidate Jane Norton questioned her opponent's manhood.
* Former Gubenatorial candidate Scott McInnis allegedly plagiarized his paid work (three times!).
* Gubenatorial candidate John Hickenlooper wore a zebra-striped suit to the state Democratic convention.
* Gubenatorial candidate Dan Maes, a Republican who wants to be elected on his business record, is rumoured to have serious personal financial problems.
(Really interesting post-mortem - promoted by DavidThi808)
So I decided to give a shot at this whole dairy thing and write about the 10 people/groups that are fault for giving conservatives the shaft. now granted this is written from my perspective as a small government type.
Despite a mass erosion of support among GOP leaders and grass roots activist, Republican Dan Maes has decided to stay in the Colorado governor's race.
The deadline for certifying the November ballot passes at 5 p.m. on Friday. However, Maes made his announcement at about 3 p.m...
He will face Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo in the November election.
Maes also told FOX31's Eli Stokols that he plans to limit his media access going forward. He feels he has been "too available" and "too off-the-cuff" with his comments, some of which - in his view - have allowed reporters to write politically-damaging stories.
Uh, you think so, Dan? All jokes aside, this is exactly what we would recommend if we were advising Maes. The campaign's best chance at winning in November is to lock Maes in his basement, keep him quiet, and hope that enough voters just mark an 'X' next to his name because he is a Republican. This is what Arizona Gov. Jan Breweris now doing after her disastrous performance in front of the media yesterday.
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UPDATE: 9NEWS' Adam SchragerTweets that "multiple Republican sources" are confirming to him, Dan Maes will NOT pull out of the gubernatorial race. Original post follows.
In a meeting Friday morning, party chairman Dick Wadhams and other members of the state GOP executive committee met with Maes to present what one called "damaging evidence" that hasn't yet been made public but would further erode his standing as a candidate, according to the source.
A second Republican consultant confirmed the account and said while there was no explicit ultimatum presented by the chairman to Maes, the message was clear.
"It was: Do you really want to put your family through this? If you stay in the race, you'll have to endure this and this," said the Republican, citing potential reports by the Denver Post.
Wadhams did not respond to a call for comment and another Republican aide said he did not expect the chairman to address the media until Maes came to a decision...
The Republican source said the timing of Maes's potential exit is key in order to halt the printing of ballots while the party convenes a replacement committee to select another candidate.
"If the secretary of state learns about a change in candidacy today, they would delay ballot printing. This is the Hail Mary pass," said the source.
It's been widely reported that Tom Tancredo has promised to remain in the race, regardless of whether or not Dan Maes succumbs to the intense pressure being exerted. On its face, this would seem to present a strong disincentive to possible Maes replacements. We've heard nothing from Maes' camp to suggest that any of these developments have changed his mind, but the common theme in all of this has been an inability to predict what Maes will do next.
But short of threatening to detach body parts, there's just not much they can offer/threaten to do to a man with nothing to lose, and who just won his first (and likely only) election of his lifetime.
First of all, Buck's claim that American schools are worse now than they were in the 1950s is laughably wrong. In 1957, less than half of white Americans and fewer than one in five African-Americans graduated from high school. By 2002, however, almost nine in ten white children and eight in ten black children earned their diploma. Likewise, college graduation rates more than tripled during the same time period for both racial groups. Our country has a long way to go before we build the education system Americans deserve, but Buck is simply wrong to claim that American schools haven't made massive strides since the 1950s...
In the 1950s, much of America was an apartheid state. For millions of children, the black educational experience was a tale of crumbling buildings housing overcrowded classes taught by underqualified teachers who were paid a substandard salary. Federal involvement broke this "airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society," and Buck is wrong to ignore this history.
A video clip we were just forwarded, from an appearance last night by GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck before a group of CU College Republicans. Transcript follows--we're running through various things like historical comparisons, etc. to figure out how he doesn't mean...what he seems to mean:
Buck: He still has his recorder on right there... [points, laughter]
Question: [brief lead-in] What plans do you have to make public education better in America?
Buck: "Let's talk about that [education] folks. In the 1950s, we had the best schools in the world. And the United States government decided to get more involved in federal education. [Pols emphasis] Where are we now, after all those years of federal involvement, are we better or are we worse? So what's the federal government's answer? Well since we've made education worse, we're gonna even get more involved. And what's gonna be the result? It's kinda like health care. We've screwed up health care--Medicare--we've screwed up all kinds of other things, so what are we gonna do? We're gonna get even more involved in health care. What are we going to do? We're gonna get more involved in education.
Is this the "Rand Paulmoment" for Ken Buck, folks? Most of the increases in federal funding for education, the federally-guaranteed student loans that Buck so famously wants to do away with, and other federal "involvement," happened in the 1960s, not the 1950s: the federal Department of Education didn't itself exist until 1980. In addition, before the 1965 federal student loan program we know today, which uses private lenders and federal loan guarantees, student loans were made directly by the U.S. Treasury. Is that his conservative vision?
It's time for another edition of "Worst Week in Colorado," where we ask Colorado Pols readers who it is who had the worst week in Colorado politics.
Previous winners (or losers) include Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams and former GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis. Our nominee this week is the Colorado Republican Party and Establishment in general, for its shamelessly apparent attempts to discredit Gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes and force him out of the race so that they can appoint someone else.
We had no problem with the GOP trying to get Maes out of the race prior to the Primary, or even soon afterwards, but this week the process took on a whole new level of desperate absurdity. If they can't get Maes to agree to any sort of plan to bow out of the race, they could at least try to do it a little quieter while not openly poking in the eye the hundreds of thousands of Republicans who, for whatever reason, did vote for him in the Primary.
Who, or what, else would you nominate for "Worst Week in Colorado" this week?
(In an age when billionaires fund "faux populist" tax revolts, a whiff of old fashioned class consciousness can't hurt. JO offers this thought provoking look at inequality in America. - promoted by Voyageur)
--Since 1970 real wages of American workers have declined. To compensate working families adopted three stratagems: a second member of the household went to work, typically the wife/mother; work more hours per year; go into debt, esp. home equity loans.
--Since 1970 the share of national income flowing to the top one per cent rose from 9% to 23.5%. In effect this siphoned off demand for goods and services produced by the larger work force that was working more hours.
--Increased production from abroad (China) put further downward pressure on real American wages.
Charles "Rick" Grice, the man who translated long rumors into print by filing a campaign finance complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, withdrew that complaint Monday. He sent a letter to the FEC and a copy of that letter to the Buck campaign saying he no longer wished to pursue the matter.
"It's a dead issue to me now," Grice told the Colorado Independent, speaking from his car on a highway in Wyoming, "I'd rather have Buck in office. He's the Republican candidate now."
Grice, who supported former Lt Gov. Jane Norton in her primary run against Buck, said he doubted the FEC would pursue the complaint now that he has begged off.
"They're so slow. They didn't want to do anything with it before and now without anyone pushing it, I think they'll just drop it."
An FEC official told the Colorado Independent that the office was not at liberty to talk about nor could it release documents on open cases. He said that, at this point, there was no way to tell whether the Grice complaint would go forward, that there were no written procedures to follow governing requests to withdraw complaints and that he suspected the FEC counsel's office reviewing the file might recommend the six-member Commission to also review the case and vote on whether to advance it...
Grice, like Buck primary rival Norton, was an official in Republican Gov. Bill Owens' administration. In the complaint to the FEC, Grice alleged Buck had coordinated with friend and former employer Jerry Morgensen, CEO of Hensel Phelps Construction, to skirt campaign donation limits, reassuring potential contributors that Morgensen would work to finance the Buck campaign mostly through independent so-called 527 groups.
What we understand of these complaints suggests that the Federal Election Commission is under no obligation to terminate their investigation just because the person who filed it asked them to--if you think about it, it's almost certainly not the first time a vanquished primary opponent tried to, you know, take one of these back. But just like that angry lover's quarrel late at night that wakes the neighbors, once the cops get called it's at least partway out of your hands.
Which makes it seem kind of odd that Grice would bother trying to take it back--these complaints take forever to wend their way through the FEC's creaky process, and if there's really nothing to see here as Grice says now they would have gotten around to saying so eventually. Making this letter public actually does more to draw attention to the complaint, and the rather obviously suspect desire to make it go away now that Ken Buck has won the GOP primary.
In fact, it looks more like a perfectly legitimate complaint that's overstayed its partisan welcome.
Every day, every hour, we hear it. Colorado is over taxing, Democrats want to spend more of your money, Hickenlooper raised taxes, taxes are killing our business environment. Bennet is spending like a drunken sailor, everyone in congress is spending money like drunken sailors. We need to lower spending and taxes. We need to keep the tax cuts goings. We need lower taxes to drive more business.
Facts:
Colorado is one of the lowest taxed states in the United States.
The United States is one of the lowest taxed countries among developed countries in the world.
We are among the lowest states, in one of the lowest countries in the world.
We also have one of the highest differences in the world between the haves and have nots among developed countries.
Lost in the hubbub about the Dan Maes for Governor saga was a story about the first public poll in CD-4, which Republicans have breathlessly used to claim that GOP candidate Cory Gardner is going to easily defeat Democratic incumbent Rep. Betsy Markey.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported on the poll this morning, blindly restating the polling memo message that Gardner is outpolling Markey 50-39. Sounds bad for Markey, right?
The problem with the poll, done for the newly-formed Republican "think tank" American Action Forum, is that the results are based on a two-person race in CD-4. Of course, there are four candidates in CD-4, including American Constitution Party candidate Doug Aden and Independent candidate Ken "Wasko" Waszkiewicz.
From what we understand, every other internal poll, done either by campaigns or outside groups, has polled on a four-way race, and the results are dramatically different because Aden and "Wasko" combine for as much as 12% of the vote. This isn't at all surprising, given that Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness grabbed 11% of the vote in CD-4 in 2006, in a three-way race with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and Democrat Angie Paccione. Common sense says that Aden and Wasko take the majority of their votes away from Gardner, because they are more closely aligned ideologically to a Republican candidate than a Democrat -- and because Markey's high name ID means that most people have probably made up their minds about her already.
Saying that Gardner is well ahead of Markey in a two-way race is as pointless as those Gubernatorial polls showing that Dan Maes does better against Democrat John Hickenlooper if ACP candidate Tom Tancredo is not in the race. Sure he does. He probably also kicks ass in a poll in which neither Hickenlooper or Tancredo are mentioned. So what? That's not the makeup of the actual ballot that people will use in six weeks, so none of these hypothetical matchups mean squat. American Action Forum might as well show us how Gardner does in a head-to-head matchup with Aden -- that would be equally irrelevant.
If you still don't believe that this poll is nonsense, consider this: If the NRCC or the Gardner campaign had poll results showing he was ahead of Markey by double digits in a four-way race, they would have fallen all over themselves trying to publicize it. But they don't have those results. The fact that there has been no poll on this race released by anybody tells us that it is basically a toss-up, because neither Gardner nor Markey have anything to gain from releasing polling numbers to the public.
As the last ditch efforts to replace Republican Gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes continue, we've been trying to look at this from Maes' perspective -- since we all know what the GOP power brokers want -- and thinking about what he might be thinking about as he weighs calls for him to step down.
Again, keep in mind this is how we could see the decision from Maes' perspective only. Looking at this from his view, it's really hard to see why Maes would withdraw from the race.
For all his shortcomings as a candidate, the bottom line is that Dan Maes is really not that far away from actually becoming Governor. That doesn't mean he will win, but NEVER in his life will he ever be this close to winning a top-tier race again. Never again will things fall into place for someone like Maes, who had no name ID and no real campaign operation, but won the GOP Nomination because, despite his flaws, he was still better than the other guy (Scott McInnis). Nobody bothered to do any opposition research on Maes, because nobody thought he would get this far. If he ever tried to run again, he would be crushed from the beginning under the weight of his own faulty resume.
While Maes' chances of beating Democrat John Hickenlooper are certainly not great, anything could happen in the next 6-8 weeks. Maes could just stay quiet and stay out of the news (which seems to be what he's been trying to do) and hope that enough uninformed voters just mark an 'X' next to the "Republican candidate for governor."
THURSDAY UPDATE #6: The Wall Street Journal puts Dan Maes' name in lights again, accorded the no-small honor of Quote of the Day:
Enjoy the ride, Mr. Maes. Whatever happens tomorrow, he's writing his poetry and the newspapers are printing it.
THURSDAY UPDATE #5: FOX 31's Eli Stokols Tweets from today's debate:
THURSDAY UPDATE #4: This is all becoming really very silly. Former Senate President, and Republican right-wing standard bearer, John Andrews issued this statement this morning:
This morning I called Dan Maes to withdraw my endorsement and urge him to end his candidacy, for the public good. As a conscientious Republican who earlier voted for Dan, I cannot support a manifestly unfit nominee. He has flunked his job interview with the people of Colorado in the weeks since Scott McInnis faded. The party should cut Maes loose if he does not resign the nomination. I intend to write in a vote for Jane Norton for Governor. [Pols emphasis]
Jane Norton? This makes perfect sense. Try to kick out someone who won the Republican primary in order to replace him with someone who lost a primary election of her own. We've absolutely reached the point where this is causing more harm than good for Republicans, whether or not they can convince Maes to withdraw.
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THURSDAY UPDATE #3: There is a Gubernatorial debate scheduled to be taped today at Noon as a joint production between Colorado Public Television (CPT12) and CBS 4. The debate is scheduled to air at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, which could be a bit odd if Maes did withdraw from the race.
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THURSDAY UPDATE #2: Moments ago, Dan Maes posted this defiant-sounding update to his Facebook page. Does this read like a man about to pull out of this race?
THURSDAY UPDATE: The Colorado Statesman'sJody Strogoff confirms much of this story in a detailed must-read report this morning: renewed pressure to withdraw, a few days of expressed leeway by the Secretary of State's office should a vacancy committee be necessary, and a twist you may not have expected: Bob Beauprez waiting in the wings?
An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately, it sounds like there are no serious injuries, which made us feel better about getting a chuckle from this front-page graphic on CNN:
See? There's Louisiana, there's Vermillion Bay...and there's a little red boom.
Today the Colorado-Cross Disability Coalition responded forcefully to controversial comments made by GOP State House Candidate Don Beezley. In the recently disclosed remarks, Mr. Beezley stated that before the Americans with Disabilities Act, "it had been a pleasure to help a disabled person out with a tray, a door or whatever. After that, I could only think, "you better use my d*** bathroom!" when someone rolled in. ADA took other human beings from being someone with a challenge whom it might be a joy to help, and turned them into a burden."
The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, an advocacy group for Coloradans with disabilities of all kinds, responded forcefully:
"It is unfathomable that someone running for public office would openly and proudly engage in speech demonizing and expressing hatred towards 20% of the population" said Julie Reiskin, Executive Director.
"Clearly, this individual has not read the ADA and shows no understanding of what the law actually says" says Kevin Williams, the Legal Program Director of CCDC. "In fact it is this attitude from business owners that flooded the congressional record proving to Congress that disability discrimination is a prevalent problem in our society."
"It amazes me that a business owner would publicly show his resentment against any segment of the population, particularly one that tends to have disposable income and spent $35 billion in restaurants nationally in 2003 said Joe Beaver, CCDC Board President and retired accountant. If this is the attitude no wonder the economy is in trouble. This is not a problem caused by the Government. It is this attitude that costs jobs and causes businesses to fail"
Mr. Beezley was asked about these comments yesterday by the Broomfield Enterprise and reiterated that he is opposed to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(Interesting discussion about what the odds should be - promoted by DavidThi808)
Earlier this week, polling was released in some Federal office races. Rasmussen has the Republican Ken Buck up over the Democrat Michael Bennet 49 to 45. Magellan has Republican Ryan Frazier over Democrat Ed Perlmutter in CD-7, 40 to 39. Scott Tipton released a Magellan poll he commissioned showing him up over John Salazar in CD-3, 49 to 43. Cory Gradner's race against Betsy Markey in CD-4 has been moved from toss- up to leans Republican by Real Clear Politics. Obama's governing from the far left seems to have come at a cost.
In the State office races, Magellan polling is now available, which seem to indicate the same trending, except for the Governor's race.
http://www.magellanstrategies.... The Results are as follows:
Governor: Hick 46, Maes 27, Tank 17
Treasurer: Stapelton 42, Kennedy 38
Atty. Gen.: Suthers 47, Garnett 32
Sec of State: Gessler 37, Buescher 31
Interesting news today from Missouri, via the campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan:
Missouri media outlets have pulled two misleading attack ads against Robin Carnahan being aired by Congressman Blunt's corporate special interest allies. This weekend, a Missouri network including 77 radio stations pulled a false attack ad being run by Americans for Job Security - a group with a long history of campaign related citations and violations. [Anchorage Daily News, 8/17/08; FEC.gov]
In addition, Karl Rove's special interest group, American Crossroads GPS, had their attack ad pulled down by CableNet while the FEC looks into allegations of illegal coordination between Congressman Blunt's campaign and Rove's group.
Both Americans for Job Security and American Crossroads GPS have run ads in Colorado on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck, with Americans for Job Security (AJS) spending more than $2 million for Buck in the primary alone.
We've long wondered about potential coordination issues with Buck's campaign and these outside interest groups. The question first came to mind when Buck raised a curiously low $40,000 in the last fundraising quarter of 2009, because normally such a poor effort for a Senate candidate would all but end their campaign; the only way Buck could have remained credible was if his campaign (and high-level supporters) knew that there would be significant outside help available. Buck had raised $1.2 million for his campaign as of the July 21 reporting period, which was less than Republican Cory Gardner had raised in his CD-4 congressional campaign, and about half of what AJS spent just on TV ads on Buck's behalf.
The connection dug up in Missouri between Republican Rep. Roy Blunt and outside interest groups like AJS may very well end up being made with Buck as well, and if so, it will play a major role in deciding whether Buck can defeat Sen. Michael Bennet in November. If Buck doesn't have these ads on the air in Colorado, he's in trouble.
We were pleased last fall to note a new addition to the reporting team at the Colorado Springs Gazette: we knew about the work of Eileen Welsome from the 1990s during her time at the Albuquerque Tribune. Welsome won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on government radiation research on human subjects during the Cold War. As a reporter for the Gazette this year, Welsome was already showing great promise doggedly running down the story of Doug Bruce'scovert role in Amendments 60, 61 and Prop. 101--known colloquially as the "Dr. Evil" initiatives.
As most of you know, the Colorado Springs Gazette is party to a legal dispute with this blog, and we have been ordered not to quote any of their stories. But we of course do read the Gazette every day, and value the work of their reporters--as we do at newspapers across the state.
But we were surprised to hear today that Welsome has suddenly resigned from the Gazette. It has been suggested to us that there may be a political reason for her departure; we want to stress that we have no way of confirming that, but it comes from a reliable source. Given the quality of her work in her brief term at the Colorado Springs paper, this would be another big loss for political journalism in the state, at a time when that can least be afforded.
Dan Maes just can't catch a break. Seems that the best he can hope for is that people will just STFU, or maybe that Paris Hilton will be caught with a bag of cocaine at the Wynkoop.
Certainly exposure is doing him no good. It would seem that name recognition is no friend of Dan Maes, when nearly each mention is in conjunction with something a bit... well strange might be the nice way of putting it.
Today we get a threefer:
1) Kansas Bureau of Investigation denying Dan Maes ever helped them in any undercover operation, Maes refusing to answer who posted such, ummmm, embellishments on his website (and his campaign spokesman quickly acknowledging that it was Dan himself);
2) Dan dropping an unsigned check into Freda Poundstone's purse (from his personal slush campaign funds) with Ms. Poundstone insisting it was never a campaign contribution and the Maes spokesman insisting a valid check will soon be in the mail; and
3) Water experts claiming that Mr. Maes' position on water policy is property theft.
This was a surprising interview. I expected to mostly be discussing illegal immigration and why that was the key issue in the race. Instead I found Congressman Tancredo to be primarily concerned with the lack of integrity in Dan Maes and secondarily concerned with the state of our public schools. And yet, Tom's instinct is to discuss illegal immigration to the exclusion of most everything else.
So I started off by asking him why he choose to enter the race. He started off by saying that he is a strong believer in working within the party and that he was very comfortable supporting first Josh Penry, and then Scott McInnis. Tom then discussed the last couple of months.
