You're Damn Right Mike Coffman Is Sweating

16 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora)

FOX 31’s Joe St. George takes a look at the local fallout of yesterday’s announcement by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan that he will not run for re-election–which naturally has an impact on Colorado’s most perennially vulnerable member of Congress, GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, as he plots a way forward through 2018’s historic headwinds:

“It is the clearest sign that we’ve seen that the Democrats are going to win,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., told Politico, “I’ve been saying, ‘I don’t quite see the wave, but I’m starting to feel the mist.’ Now I’m starting to see the wave.”

If there is in fact a wave, in Colorado the Republican trying to avoid getting drenched is Congressman Mike Coffman…

According to officials, there are 157,000 unaffiliated voters registered in the district, 145,000 registered Democrats and 138,000 registered Republicans.

But Coffman has perceived as vulnerable before — most recently in 2016 — yet he still won. In fact, Coffman won by more than 34,000 votes in 2016.

Rep. Coffman’s survival over the last few elections has come despite a district that reliably supported Democrats at the top of the ticket–like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Michael Bennet–which speaks to the success Coffman has had positioning himself apart from his own party’s unpopular brand, even as he remains a loyal Republican vote in Congress on the overwhelming majority of issues.

This year, even before Paul Ryan announced he is pulling the proverbial ripcord, Coffman’s string of luck looked to be running out. The first year of Donald Trump’s presidency has forced Coffman to juggle his contradictory images like never before in his career, and the results have not been positive. The impression Coffman sought to foster in 2016 that he would “stand up to Trump” has not been matched with action since then, and Coffman’s vote in favor of the unpopular Trump tax plan removed all doubt as to what side he is on.

That means it’s going to be difficult to impossible for Coffman to pull off the kind of triangulation off his own party that has proven successful for him in previous elections. The failure to defeat Coffman in a district that otherwise handily elects Democrats has proven to be one of the most vexatious failures for Colorado Democrats in recent years, even as they’ve enjoyed success in so many other races.

With both Democratic as well as unaffiliated voters looking to punish the Republican Party as a unit for inflicting Trump upon the nation, Coffman’s strategy of triangulation may fail him just when he needs it most.

16 thoughts on “You’re Damn Right Mike Coffman Is Sweating”

Moderatus says:

April 12, 2018 at 12:47 pm

Every year, Democrats and Colorado Pols predict doom for Mike Coffman.

Every year he crushes your hopes under his USMC boot heel.

2018 will be no different. You'll never understand the secret of Mike's success, because you're fake people yourselves. Fortunately his constituents get it and they are all that matters.

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1. Mike W. says:
  
  April 12, 2018 at 12:53 pm
  
  Looks at who's President this time around…
  
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2. unnamed says:
  
  April 12, 2018 at 1:09 pm
  
  And we need a hyper-partisan trump turd who champions Cory Gardner and his fake smile to call us fake?
  
  I'm still trying to figure out if YOU'RE real. Because it strains credibility that anybody could be as stupid as you.
  
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3. RepealAndReplace says:
  
  April 12, 2018 at 1:34 pm
  
  You've got a crush on both Coffmans, Fluffy!
  
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4. skeptical citizen says:
  
  April 13, 2018 at 9:19 am
  
  Hey Moderatus, explain the Hypocrisy of why Coffman voted to support the sham Balanced Budget Amendment after recently voting for the tax cuts bill, which the CBO has said will Increase deficits by $trillions.
  
  Voodoo economics "logic" is not permitted.
  
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  1. MichaelBowman says:
    
    April 13, 2018 at 9:59 am
    
    So much #winning…
    
    TRUMP TAX PLAN: 80 PERCENT OF ECONOMIC GAINS WILL END UP GOING TO FOREIGNERS, CBO SAYS
    
    “We heard statement after statement about how this tax plan would be great for American workers but the analysis is clear,” Senator Chris Van Hollen told Newsweek. “When this thing kicks in, 80 cents of every dollar [gained from the tax plan] will go to foreigners and not American workers. That’s a stunning number.”
    
    The U.S. government is set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year
    
    The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion this fiscal year — Trump's first full year in charge of the budget.
    
    That's almost double what the government borrowed in fiscal 2017.
    
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itlduso says:

April 12, 2018 at 1:38 pm

Coffman supported the original version of the GOP health care bill that Trump labeled, "mean, mean, mean".

Coffman hasn't stood up to Trump, it's more like Trump has stood up to Coffman.

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1. Mike W. says:
  
  April 12, 2018 at 2:34 pm
  
  Very easy to do, given the height differential.
  
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  1. unnamed says:
    
    April 12, 2018 at 2:40 pm
    
    delete
    
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dustpuppy says:

April 12, 2018 at 6:10 pm

I thought I saw a blurb last week elsewhere that Coffmann wasn't running again. I cheered at that news.

Now I'm reading something else…

On an unrelated note, does anyone here think that this Vic Mitchell (or whatever his last name is) commercials aren't working? I'm deaf, RL, and all I saw was California stuff. Nothing to do with Colorado, and he's running for governor? Good luck, there pal.

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MADCO says:

April 12, 2018 at 7:56 pm

If he is on the ballot, Coffman wins.

I love Levi Tilleman (I know CoPols is on the Crow train) and I will vote for the D nominee.

and I don’t really understand why COffman is so bulletproof. He’s not that warm and engaging. He’s not a conservative. He’s not a hawk. He’s never carried legislation. He f’d up the VA hospital. It’s difficult to identify his friends. He said Social Security was a “Ponzi scheme.” He has at least three public funded pensions – but he opposes them too. He’s got three kinds of public funded insurance – 4 if you count his plan from his current employment. But he opposes making insurance affrordable for anyone else. He promised he would repeal and replace Obama care, but he failed.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  April 12, 2018 at 9:29 pm
  
  Who doesn’t love a gnome? . . .
  
  . . . especially a gnome with those cute size five “USMC boot heels” (and lifts)!
  
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  1. Diogenesdemar says:
    
    April 12, 2018 at 9:33 pm
    
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2. slavdude says:
  
  April 13, 2018 at 10:05 am
  
  From what I understand from a profile they did on CPR, it's because he actually listens to his constituents, many of whom are immigrants. Whether he takes heed of what they say is another matter.
  
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3. mamajama55 says:
  
  April 14, 2018 at 7:15 am
  
  His staff does great constituent service. You have a problem with a Federal agency, Coffman office will help. That’s his secret.
  
  Unless, of course, you have just been kidnapped by ICE and are in forced servitude in a Federal detention center. Then, you’re on your own.
  
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MADCO says:

April 13, 2018 at 7:59 pm

bullshit.
There are immigrants in CD6.

There are dreamers.

There are vets. QMB. Social Security (aka 'ponzi scheme") recipients. Medicaid beneficiaries. Obamacare shoppers.

He doesn't listen to any of us.

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