The last poll was purely hypothetical, but this one is real now that Rep. Tom Tancredo is officially out. Vote below on who you think will win this race.
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GOP voters and independents will elect Coffman. With his name recognition and likely editorial page support, he won't need much money to win.
What most people are asking is who is Wil Armstrong and what have the Armstrong's done for us latelty. Most people today don't even know who Bill Armstrong is. Bill Armstrong is a fine man but Wil is no Bill.
It looks like Ted Harvey is the only candidate that can win this seat. He is a solid conservative with a proven record that the other hopefuls will never match.
Coffman is a political winner with a clean record as a legislator, treasurer and secretary of state as well as a two-time veteran of wars in Iraq. He's both an Army vet and a Marine. None of his competitors come close.
The establishment apparently will back Armstrong, maybe Harvey. The establishment hasn't picked winners in a long time.
Coffman can run against the establishment and the mortgage bankers and make them look greedy, overly ambitious, incompetent and out of their leagues.
Every politician has ambitions for higher offices. Many seek higher offices while in lower ones. So Coffman's no different than half out our presidential candidates.
If Coffman quits his day job and loses, he is highly marketable. As a former owner of a small business, he can start another business and make a heck of a lot more money in the private sector than in politics.
He has nothing to lose by running for Congress this year.
The last time I checked the party helped to get him to where he is today and he is a fool if he thinks his name ID is bigger than the party he represents.
You'll have to do better than that. "Why not do the right thing for the American people, even though it's not exactly what we want." - Speaker Boehner
I think Mike Coffman would make a fine congressman but because of the thrashing we took in the last election he is all we have at the state level. The decisions Mike has made in the past to give up certain things were his to make for whatever the reasons. I personally was really pissed when he decided not to run for governor. I had already given him a check and I let him know my thoughts after he dropped out. But now things are different and we need him where he is at. The timing sucks I agree but I have said it before and I truly believe that he will lose and his career will be finished if he goes down this road.
Mike Coffman should be our next republican governor.
Kudos to Ed Perlmutter!
And while I'm handing out kudos, one goes out to John Salazar on holding what was designed to be a safely Republican seat in CD 3.
Republicans are in a world of hurt with the congressional delegation here in Colorado...
Best part, redistricting is just around the corner, so as it stands now, things look to get only worse for them! "But when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh, shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." Glenn Beck
But kudos to both of them are definitely in order for scaring away challengers so far. "We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating
In terms of political philosophy that district is more like 80-20 left-leaning.
BB lost his OWN congressional district by 20 points when he ran for governor - admittedly a terrible campaign - but that's an astounding number nonetheless. Makes you wonder how he won it in the first place.
We've got Perlmutter in there for many years to come - unfortunately.
When BB ran in 2002, it was a Repulbican year both state-wide and nationally. Allard won his race (by a small margin), Bill Owens won his election in a cake walk.
BB won by what, 121 votes? If CD7's indies were really competitive, one could make the arguement that BB should have carried a competitive district in a Republican year by a larger margin.
2004 was also a good year for Republicans, though more so nationally than state-wide. Bush carried Colorado 51-47, but lost CD 7 by what, 50-49? A district that goes Kerry in a state that goes Bush doen't exactly sound "even cut" to me.
But again, I think it's too soon to tell. If I had the ability, I would love to do a calculation to see how the district behaved in every race since 2002 on the state and national level. That would probably give us a better idea.
My gut though says that the indies in CD7 behave more like Democrats than they do Republicans
This is a national trend, BTW; not only are former independents and moderate Rs switching, but first-time young voters are overwhelmingly tilting D-ward. That last trend is hard to reverse; if someone votes one way in two straight elections as a young voter, that voting pattern tends to guide their votes for life. "We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating
People I went to High School with started as Dems, but have since switched to Republican after being in the working world for a while.
I guess that's where the saying came about: "If you're young and Republican you're heartless; if you're old and a Democrat you're dumb". :)
I'm heartless.
My point is that I think that it's easier for a younger generation to change their voting patterns than it is for a party to repair their brand when it's damaged
Young voters who vote their first two votes for one party are statistically very likely to stay with that party for life, or at least for as long as they remain as active voters. "We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating
Did you hear about Gov. Bla-iosh-whatever from Illinios' new ethical problems? Too bad Judy Barr-Topinka didn't do better
What matters is that Ted Harvey is going to win. Look at his legislative record. He is the only proven conservative. Wil might have daddy's money, Coffman may have name ID, but Ted's got the goods.
With that said, welcome Harvey campaign member to Pols. Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!
And by the way - CD-5 Line isn't a liberal AFAIK; (s)he's a Crank supporter. "We're below sharks and contract killers." -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), speaking on Congress's 9% approval rating
And when you join a party, real or virtual, don't bust into the room roaring. You only alienate. "Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth." Paul Krugman, 9/2010
Ruthie still lurks around. Used to be a regular poster and he may post under other ID's.
So what do you think - is the Ted himself or a supporter? Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!
I live in in the 6th and have enjoyed this stuff for a long time. I have known Coffman a lot longer than Harvey and only met Armstrong a few times. I am just giving my opinion as I see it. But if they would like to put me on the payroll I could always use a little spending money.
If the Republicans have the good sense to nominate Mike Coffman, they win this race in a cakewalk. If they keep tacking to the right and nominate Harvey, they probably still win reasonably comfortably, but not quite as much. And long term, they're shooting themselves in the foot as this district becomes more diverse. "Why not do the right thing for the American people, even though it's not exactly what we want." - Speaker Boehner
Harvey supported Referendum A, the $2.5 billion blank check water plan that was defeated by Colorado voters.
Harvey opposed referendum C, which provides a TABOR timeout in order to alleviate Colorado's fiscal crisis, but he still wants to gut K-12 funding by scrapping Amendment 23.
Harvey opposed Amendment 27 -- campaign finance reform -- which was passed overwhelmingly by the voters.
Harvey opposed Amendment 35, which raised taxes on tobacco products to finance expanded access to health care for children, the poor, and the uninsured.
Harvey opposed Amendment 37, which required public utilities to obtain 3 percent of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2007 and 10 percent by 2015.
Harvey supported Marilyn Musgrave's proposed constitutional amendment to legalize discrimination against homosexual couples.
Harvey sponsored HB 1078, would have made it illegal for bookstores and art galleries to display material that could be considered harmful to minors. The Bible and the Song of Solomon would have been deemed illegal as well as famous pieces of literature such as the Scarlet Letter and Great Expectations.
Harvey voted for HB1161, which sharply limited homeowner's ability to sue builders for damages due to shoddy workmanship.
Harvey voted against HB1120 which would have allowed homeowners to bypass covenants requiring bluegrass lawns and to utilize xeriscaping to conserve water.
In his 2004 campaign for HD43, he had so much popular support that not a single resident of HD43 contributed money to his campaign. All of his contributions came from PACS and outsiders.
Harvey has said that all problems resulting from population growth in Colorado are caused by neglect of our highways, and his number one legislative priority was -- not health care, not education, not jobs, not the fiscal crisis -- but the construction of toll roads.
Harvey was once employed by Caldara's Independence Institute, which shows just how low even he can sink. He doesn't want meaningful government at any level. His government exists for only two reasons: to stick its nose into our bedrooms and libraries and tell us what to think, and to make sure that those who were born on third base get to keep believing that that they really hit a triple to get there.
God help us if Harvey makes it to Congress, because he will make Doug Lamborn look like a reasonable guy by comparison. "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use..." -- Galileo Galilei, 1615
Sounds like if we need to know the outcome of an initiative, all we have to do is ask Harvey how he stands. The opposing side wins. "Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth." Paul Krugman, 9/2010
I think the GOP establishment will use Ward's entry to try to persuade Coffman to hold off, offering as a carrot an uncontested nomination for Salazar's Senate seat in 2010. They don't want to lose the SoS slot to the Dems, after all, and Ward offers Iraq War experience and strong conservative views.
If I'm right about that scenario, then I think Ward is the favorite. If not, then he'll be battling Coffman over the veteran angle.
In any case, Ward appears to be a candidate.
Don't know whether he's done anything oustanding in the private sector, but he looks like someone who's been institutionalized by the government for a long time.
He's interested in the office, not in issues per se far as I can tell.
Anybody have more on this guy. Thank him for his service in Iraq and suggest he get some experience in the state senate.
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