A coalition of about 70 retired Colorado Division of Wildlife employees have endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall. He is running against Bob Schaffer, a former congressman from Fort Collins, to replace U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.
A letter signed by the DOW retirees, which includes some Republicans and several from the Western Slope, said that an evaluation of the two candidates' records and statements led them to support Udall.
That evaluation focused on the two candidates' records and positions over "hunting, angling and the constitutional right to bear arms," but that it "primarily considered management of federal lands and protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat."
"It is our objective to ensure that the future of wildlife resources, the traditions of hunting, angling and the right to bear arms are protected," the letter said. "Election of Mark Udall as United States senator from Colorado will be a very important step in accomplishing this objective."
Included in that group, which has about 2,000 years of cumulative experience at the DOW, are John Mumma, of Durango, and Perry Olson, of Englewood - two former directors of the agency. Also endorsing Udall is John Seidel, a former area wildlife manager for the DOW. Eddie Kochman, the DOW's former aquatic wildlife manager, helped organize the letter.
John Smeltzer, who retired as assistant director of field operations from DOW in 2004 and who is a registered Republican, said he is going to vote for the John McCain-Sarah Palin presidential ticket, but that he plans to cast his ballot for Mark Udall in Colorado's U.S. Senate race. [Pols emphasis]
Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama 54% - 44%
WASHINGTON - The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an "enthusiasm gap" that has dogged the GOP all year.
McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.
"The Republicans had a very successful convention and, at least initially, the selection of Sarah Palin has made a big difference," says political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. "He's in a far better position than his people imagined he would be in at this point."
However, in an analysis of the impact of political conventions since 1960, Sabato concluded that post-convention polls signal the election's outcome only about half the time. "You could flip a coin and be about as predictive," he says. "It is really surprising how quickly convention memories fade."
McCain has narrowed Obama's wide advantage on handling the economy, by far the electorate's top issue. Before the GOP convention, Obama was favored by 19 points; now he's favored by 3.
In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote.
The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/- 3 points for both samples.
Among the findings:
• Before the convention, Republicans by 47%-39% were less enthusiastic than usual about voting. Now, they are more enthusiastic by 60%-24%, a sweeping change that narrows a key Democratic advantage. Democrats report being more enthusiastic by 67%-19%.
The Pueblo Chieftain supplies an amusing anecdote from yesterday's McCain/Palin rally in the Springs--Bob Schaffer needs to work on his name recognition, but his surrogates are doing a great job getting his opponent's name out there.
While the large crowd was clearly happy to be there Saturday - some arrived as early as 6 a.m. - most stood in the sunshine for several hours waiting the GOP headliners to arrive. There was some grumbling - with only 12 port-a-potties for the huge crowd - the line was always hundreds long. And several elderly people who collapsed from heat or dehydration were carried into the media area where they were assisted by paramedics.
But the crowd came to be energized by McCain and Palin. They only showed their impatience indirectly. After former Rep. Bob Schaffer, who is running for the Senate, recounted the comments of several families in the crowd, the hangar audience called back "No!" when Schaffer asked if they wanted to hear more.
They may not know or give a crap who Schaffer is, but, as the Chieftain continues:
Good-naturedly, the Senate candidate explained that he'd been told to fill some time before the McCain speech with "stories." When Schaffer reminded the crowd that he is running against "Boulder liberal" Mark Udall, they gave him the cheer he wanted.
It's just one incident, but we think this invites a larger question. We're willing to guess that at this point more people have heard "Boulderliberalmarkudall" than have heard the name Bob Schaffer, a logical consequence of the outside groups that have dominated Schaffer's paid media efforts up to now, and the generally attack-driven campaign Schaffer is running. Which is obviously fine in the red-meat Springs.
But has the Schaffer camp done itself a disservice by spending all this money talking about their opponent at the expense of establishing their own brand? Particularly in places other than the Springs where the term "Boulder liberal" won't be met with the same instinctive revulsion?
The ubiquitous liberal activist group Progress Now released a new video yesterday that they say will go up in Western Slope cable markets this week. Targeting Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's 'failure' to protect Western Slope hunters, fishermen and tour guides from harm caused by oil and gas drilling, and narrated by Western Slope locals, it's one of the most damaging--and authentic--ads we've seen yet this cycle. We don't say that lightly, if this ad gets a decent buy it's going to leave a serious mark. Release follows.
From our "fair and balanced" friends at Fox News. To their credit they do describe the claim in a skeptical manner, though they describe the incident itself in great detail, and with, what one might call, a flair for the dramatic.
Democrats are not caring for their Stars and Stripes. At least that's the message out of John McCain's campaign.
McCain supporters, claiming they rescued 12,000 miniature American flags from the site of Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech last Thursday, redistributed the orphan flags [rsb emphasis] to audience members ahead of a McCain rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
The banners, buttons and signs say McCain-Palin, but the crowds say something else.
"Sa-rah! Pa-lin!" came the chant at a Colorado Springs rally on Saturday moments before Republican nominee John McCain took the stage with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a woman who was virtually unknown to the nation just a week earlier. The day before, thousands screamed "Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!" at an amphitheater outside Detroit.
And from the Denver Post we have a very impressive picture. 10,000 is real numbers.
from pollster.com we have what is looking good. Yes we have to fight with everything we have, but Obama is in very good shape. And we in Colorado are important!!!
Colorado Senator Ken Salazar and former Lt. Governor Gail Schoettler make a brilliant parry to the McCain/Palin thrust, as the Pueblo Chieftain reports:
Arizona Sen. John McCain has abandoned his "maverick" history as a bipartisan leader to win the support of Republican conservatives and that party's nomination for the White House, according to Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar and former Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler...
"I see a huge difference in the John McCain I know in the Senate and in candidate John McCain," Salazar said in a telephone press conference Friday.
Noting that McCain often has broken ranks with conservative Republicans by supporting comprehensive immigration reform and other issues, Salazar said McCain has been a senator willing to work with Democrats. "His history has been one of being in the middle, but candidate McCain, especially with his selection of Gov. Palin as his running mate, continues to be moving to the extreme right of his party," Salazar said...
"I think her selection (as a running mate) was a misjudgment by Sen. McCain. I don't see her attracting any of the women voters who were previously supporting (New York Democratic Sen.) Hillary Clinton. Gov. Palin is 180-degrees apart from Mrs. Clinton on all of the issues," Salazar said. [Pols emphasis]
Schoettler agreed and was sharper in her assessment of McCain's choice of Palin as a running mate.
"Hillary Clinton's supporters are not going to vote for a woman who is anti-choice on abortion," she said. "Personally, I feel like Sen. McCain is pandering to women by picking Gov. Palin. [Pols emphasis] I think it's irresponsible for a man who has had multiple bouts with (cancer) to select someone with so little experience, who could find herself in the White House."
Knowing what we know about these two, we think they're a great team to countermessage McCain and Palin. Salazar has a wonderful homespun believability in his delivery, and Schoettler is as feisty and pugilistic as they come--she could whoop Palin's ass hands-down in any debate. If the Dems are smart they'll put these two on the campaign trail, the unofficial McCain/Palin rapid response team, maybe not just in Colorado but around the Rocky Mountain West--they're not that busy this cycle, are they?
John Mc Same Cain wants you to believe he's a Maverick. That's why he pretends he's against lobbyists (making a veiled reference to convicted GOP felon Jack Abramoff, for instance in his speech last night), even though they run his campaign, even working as foreign agents, or for huge mortgage companies and multi-national banks, while McCain packages their wish list as 'policy.' That's also why he railed against Obama's vote on the GOP-led Energy Policy and Conservation Act (as the crowd chanted 'Drill, Baby, Drill). But the GOP does authentic about as well as they do compassion.
Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of all civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers...
The director of elections at the secretary of state's office resigned suddenly Thursday.
The departure of Holly Lowder, former Alamosa County clerk, comes two months before what is expected to be one of the biggest elections in recent Colorado history. Lowder's work centered on the implementation of the new statewide voter registration system, said Richard Coolidge, spokesman for the agency.
Lowder could not be reached for comment.
The secretary of state's office oversees statewide elections and lost two other employees in the elections division this summer. In June, two employees who handled testing and certification of voting equipment left to work for the El Paso County clerk's office. In addition, Secretary of State Mike Coffman has been running for the 6th Congressional District seat. He won the primary last month and faces a Democratic opponent in November.
Coolidge would not give details on why Lowder stepped down. He said Thursday was her last day. She was hired by former Secretary of State Gigi Dennis and had worked in that position since 2006.
Deputy elections director Wayne Munster will take up Lowder's duties through the November election, Coolidge said.
With less than two months to go until Election Day, it's not okay for Coffman's spokesman to refuse to elaborate on why THE DIRECTOR OF FREAKIN' ELECTIONS just up and left. What the hell is going on?
A liberal activist group has launched a new Web site titled "Bob Schaffer's Many Scandals," drawing a rebuke from the Republican U.S. Senate candidate's campaign.
The SchafferScandals.com Web site was unveiled Thursday, within minutes of a judge's sentencing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to four years in federal prison.
"SchafferScandals.com details the web of scandals that Schaffer has developed with Abramoff and others," said Michael Huttner, executive director of Denver-based ProgressNowAction. "Schaffer should be ashamed of his history of scandals with Abramoff and his colleagues."
The Web site drew the scorn of Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams who, in a phone interview from the floor of the Republican National Convention, suggested ProgressNow change its name to "ScandalNow.org."
"ProgressNow certainly knows a lot about convictions because the man who funds ProgressNow is George Soros and he is a convicted insider trader," Wadhams said...
We don't know whether Progress Now gets money from George Soros or not, but it doesn't really matter--Progress Now isn't running for the Senate. You'd think Wadhams would keep his eyes on the prize--and not waste valuable column inches railing against mere surrogates. Isn't he supposed to be the lightning rod?
Bottom line: disparaging the messenger instead of the story didn't stop the Rocky from bringing the Schaffer/Abramoff scandal up to speed for the first time after Labor Day:
Schaffer's alleged links to Abramoff stem from what critics have called a free "junket" in 1999 to the Marianas Islands arranged by an organization with ties to the former lobbyist.
Schaffer has said he visited the islands to see if reports of poor working conditions there were true.
Some public colleges are formally opposing a ballot measure that would prohibit them from considering an applicant's race, ethnicity or gender in admissions and hiring.
The board of trustees at Metropolitan State College of Denver voted unanimously Wednesday to oppose Amendment 46. University of Northern Colorado's board of trustees took the same action Aug. 7. Both schools said passage of the measure would hurt minority student enrollment.
Also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, Amendment 46 would prohibit state agencies from granting preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex or ethnicity in hiring, education and contracts.
"The board of trustees opposes passage of Amendment 46 because it would jeopardize our ability to attract and foster a diverse student population," said UNC Trustee Jim Chavez, executive director of the Latin American Educational Foundation...
At CU, however, evidence of Bruce Ben$on's guiding hand? At least enough that, as the Rocky continues:
The board of regents at the University of Colorado does not plan to take an official position on the measures, university spokesman Ken McConnellogue said Thursday.
He said CU regents do not agree on the measures, "And typically, when they come out with resolutions, they like to be unanimous."
In July, CU officials said Amendment 46 would ban them from considering an applicant's race, gender or ethnicity.
The university also said that about 100 privately funded scholarships designed to benefit women and minority students could be restricted.
"If this initiative is passed by Colorado voters, it would indeed have a big impact on the University of Colorado, as we would have to modify some of our admissions programs," spokeswoman Deborah Mendez-Wilson said at the time.
Jessica Peck Corry, executive director of the civil rights initiative, argues that passage of Amendment 46 should not cause minority and women enrollment to drop.
Our view: it's a horrible amendment that will roll back decades of progress on equal opportunity. The colleges will be the first to see the impact. Corry blithely asserts that the law "should not" result in a drop in minority and women enrollment, but she knows full well that's exactly what will happen, and it's exactly what has happened in every state where this initiative has passed.
Unfortunately, current polling indicates that short of a miracle or massive scandal, it's going to pass in Colorado by a wide margin. It's been cleverly packaged as a "civil rights" measure, most voters have no idea that its true intent is to outlaw affirmative action, do not understand what the real effect has been in states where it has passed, and the opposition is too underfunded to get on top of the message.
It looks like we have the final list. According to the Denver Post Inititive 82 (pro affirmative action) was the only one still waiting. And the SoS page does not show that one.
To interject a little bit of totall local news, from the Denver Post
The man pushing a ballot initiative for creation of a commission to study visitors from outer space wants to put his plan before voters in May, which potentially could cost the city as much as $600,000 to hold the election.
...
No other ballot issues have surfaced so far, and there are no other municipal elections, Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell told Peckman during the meeting. That means holding a special election to deal with Peckman's pet project could cost the city anywhere between $500,000 to $600,000, Broadwell said.
I'm glad to see the forced election will be over something important...
Jack A. Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican super-lobbyist, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a corruption scandal that rocked Congress and the Bush administration.
U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle pronounced the sentence as a tearful Abramoff stood before her with his lawyers this afternoon in a courtroom that included both victims and family members.
The sentence was far below the 121 months that Abramoff could have received under federal sentencing guidelines but more than either the Justice Department or his lawyers had requested.
Huvelle said Abramoff deserved the sharp reduction in sentence because of his help in aiding prosecutors pursue other targets in the lobbying scandal.
Local liberal activist group Progress Now wasted no time getting Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's name into the story, announcing a new website that lays out his ties to Abramoff, with other Schaffer Scandals (hence the name), in one convenient spot. Release follows.
Dexter Clark, the Vice Chairman of the Alaska Independence Party sought to clarify the accusations made against Palin by his wife.
According to Clark, his wife's claim that Palin was a member was based on information from a Mr. Mark Chryson. Clark said that Chryson
has repeatedly said to me personally and my wife, Lynette, and groups of party members at large, that at that 1994 convention, Sarah and Todd Palin attended and registered as members
However, when confronted with evidence that Palin has long been a registered Republican, the article says:
Chyrson, in an interview with Mother Jones, backed off his account (Haners emphasis). "What could have been the confusion [because] her husband was a member of the party. He was at the convention. It might (Haners emphasis) have been thought she was a member then."
He goes on to admit that he doesn't "remember" seeing Palin at the convention in question.
"I don't, no. I was working behind the scenes. Back then I was only vaguely familiar with her. I would not have recognized her.
The story also says:
He added that Sarah Palin did not play "an active role in the party" or to speak out for its causes.
There's the silver bullet that incriminates Palin-second hand knowledge from the vice chairman's wife that she got from someone who wasn't even in a position to recognize Palin-despite the fact that the Republican Party in Alaska has produced documents showing Palin has been a long time member. She hasn't ever supported the party's causes.
I guess this is one of those times where we should have waited for the facts to come out.
The GOP is vigorously counterattacking on behalf of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has been subjected to intense scrutiny since her surprise choice was announced last Friday. As the Washington Post reports:
All day, as the delegates awaited her appearance, McCain's advisers were using the criticism heaped on her as a weapon, accusing the news media and others of trying to destroy Palin's candidacy before she was even formally nominated.
In an interview Wednesday with Katie Couric, prospective first lady Cindy McCain defended Palin and echoed Schmidt: "She will be a marvelous vice president, and she is already a marvelous mother. . . . I think most of the people asking the questions wouldn't be asking this if it were a man."
Later, Cindy McCain nodded strenuously when the Wednesday keynote speaker, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, reacted with outrage to the question of Palin's balancing act.
"When do they ever ask a man that question?" he asked.
Our view: there is a real danger that the withering fire directed at Palin in the media and from Democrats, both over consequential and inconsequential questions, could provoke a sympathetic backlash that squelches the real issues that have been brought to light about her candidacy.
In short, there are things that matter: Palin's ties to secessionist Alaska fringe groups, the ongoing investigation into alleged abuse of power in dealing with an ex-family member state employee, her potentially extremist religious views, her culpability in the very kind of "pork-barrel spending" that nominee John McCain rails against, and her lack of experience in the critical realm of foreign policy.
And there are things that don't: we view National Enquirer tripe about a rumored affair to be just that. We think the issue of Palin's daughter's pregnancy is relevant only in the context of Palin's related policy positions, and perhaps as an invitation to question the McCain campaign's vetting process--a far more limited scope than people seem to applying to the situation. And above all, we don't think that Palin's large family is detrimental to her ability to serve as Vice President in the least.
We think Republicans would like very much to amalgamate the reasonable and silly questions about Palin into a single package they can refute out of hand, turning real and meaningless points of criticism alike into a sympathy-generating positive for her. And if Democrats and their surrogates aren't careful, if they can't separate the wheat from the chaff in their zeal to render Palin unelectable, that's exactly what will happen.
Not me. I think you hope for a zinger, or a huge gaffe, but usually it's a snooze festival.
Say what you will about Biden, but he's one of the more colorful characters in politics. Every time he's off script it's an entertaining roll of the dice, and he's a very funny guy. Throw Palin into the mix now, and I'm actually really interested in watching the VP debate.
