WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.
His candidacy throws a wild card into the White House race that many believe could peel away votes from Republican Sen. John McCain given the candidates' similar positions on fiscal policy.
Barr, who has hired Ross Perot's former campaign manager, acknowledged that some Republicans have tried to discourage him from running. But he said he's getting in the race to win, not to play spoiler or to make a point.
Next week, all eyes will be on Denver as Libertarians meet to nominate their presidential candidate. (Maybe Denver police will get the chance to try out their new sonic weapons and other crowd-control technology.)
UPDATED TO ADD: The 2008 Libertarian National Convention will be held May 22-26 at the Sheraton (formerly Adams-Mark) in downtown Denver. Here are more details.
Will Barr's run be a Perot-level spoiler and ensure a Democrat in the White House, or will it be more of a Nader-style wrench and just make the race closer than it would have been? Poll after the jump.
The end-of-session posturing continued over the weekend with an inspiring op-ed in The Denver Post from Republican legislative leaders, Sen. Andy McElhany and Rep. Mike May. But a diatribe that was framed as how Democrats talked and didn't deliver was oddly devoid of anything itself:
In the 2008 legislative session, it was not the ruling Democrats but the Republicans who took the initiative. We came up with innovative yet realistic ways to address Colorado's biggest challenges, generating the ideas that formed the cornerstone of this session's accomplishments.
Certainly, Democrats aimed high last year, with bold talk of groundbreaking changes to the way we deliver health care and fund transportation. Gov. Bill Ritter raised everyone's expectations with his blue-ribbon transportation panel and health care reform study committee.
But no major reform of health care ever turned up. Neither did any dramatic infusion of funding for our state's roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.
The one area where some progress was made was public education, which benefited at least as much from heavy lifting by Republicans as from support by the governor. Some signature bills were inspired and driven by Republican ideas, such as new standards for our public schools; ensuring that kids are competent in English; and performance incentives for teachers.
On transportation, it was the Republicans who early in the session sought to assure a steady funding stream by securing current highway revenue in the constitution. On health care, we tried to clear away regulatory hurdles so more Coloradans could afford at least a low-cost option health plan. On the environment, we worked to shore up our ability to fight wildfires, clean up pine-beetle-ravaged forests and expand the use of solar power in homes and businesses. We also tried to advance immigration reform and to address some of the needs of our state's colleges and universities.
How do you write a critical op-ed about how Democrats talked and Republicans acted without bothering to mention anything that you actually accomplished yourself?
For example: "On health care, we tried to clear away regulatory hurdles..." Good job on trying!
And as for McElhany's big idea of the session (toll roads on I-70), he didn't deliver that proposal until after Democrat Chris Romer's idea of an I-70 toll road crashed and burned.
Maybe that could be on their mail pieces this fall. Vote Republican: We Tried!
UPDATE: Also check out the Colorado Springs Gazette'ssession wrapup, where reporter Ed Sealover charitably finds an upshot for Rep. Doug Bruce: "He was constantly getting his name in the news as he prepared for a primary race." Yeah, that's one way to put it.
Continuing to put the cap on this year's legislative session, Grand Junction Sentinel political reporter Mike Sacconeoffers his thoughts:
Winners
Gov. Bill Ritter - Yes, Ritter did not single-handedly resolve many of the major issues confronting Colorado this year, including fully funding the state's transportation system or giving every Coloradan health insurance, but he did score some key victories.
Ritter backed a widely supported bipartisan measure to align K-12 content standard with what it takes to attend college in Colorado. He also supported a measure to stow away a sizable chunk of Colorado mineral revenue for higher education and communities experiencing the ongoing mineral boom.
Those victories might not be flashy or controversial in an election year, but they represent sea changes for Colorado's education and fiscal futures.
Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction - The second-year senator not only pushed through a series of complicated and important bills on education, energy exploration and criminal justice, Penry maintained his mantle as a conservative crusader. From lobbying against the possible ill effects of a series of new oil and gas regulations to providing alternatives to the Democratic agenda, Penry remained a strong voice for conservative Coloradans at the state Capitol.
Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction - It's been a long time coming, but Buescher finally achieved one of his goals since joining the Legislature: a rainy-day fund.
At the end of months-long negotiations, Buescher, along with Penry, negotiated a plan to stash away a significant portion of the state's federal mineral leasing revenue for higher education and Western Slope communities experiencing an energy boom.
Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver - The term-limited leader of the Democratic Party's House delegation made his last year at the Capitol one for the books. From trying to unravel conflicting provisions of the Colorado Constitution to dealing with one petulant Colorado Springs lawmaker to securing more funds to repair crumbling schools, Romanoff rose above it all and maintained order in his House.
I just received the Fitz-Gerald press release about the Convention results. It definitely follows the "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" line of thought.
To date I have viewed all three candidates as very good candidates and I would be happy with any of them in office. I prefer Jared but I don't dislike any of them.
The biggest primary fight in Colorado saw movement today, with the assembly in CD-2 ending up with a result both predictable and unpredictable.
The predictable part? Front-runner Joan Fitz-Gerald received 60% of the vote. That is, a solid majority, which is of course all that will matter on August 12th.
But we would be lying if we didn't note that opponent Jared Polis did better than expected, improving his standing from the county assemblies (a shaky and question-inviting 30%) to a much more respectable 40% of votes cast. It's a substantial move that you can bet the Polis camp won't let anyone forget about between now and August.
We attribute this better showing largely to staff and strategic changes made by Polis in the last few weeks; new campaign manager Robert Becker is proving himself to be a worthy addition by all accounts, and he worked hard since being hired recently on giving Polis better numbers to make his case with over the summer.
Release follows: Polis still has much ground to make up in a relatively short period of time, but it's possible we may at some point look back on reports of his imminent demise and find them a little premature.
At the CD-1 Assembly today, held at South High School in Denver, Representative Diana DeGette was renominated with no opposition as the Democratic candidate for congress in Colorado's first congressional district. This will come as a surprise to absolutely no-one. But the Congresswoman indicated that she may change her support to Obama after the last contest in a little more than three weeks.
Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams is really mad that he can't get the press to do his bidding, so he's resorted to bullying and threats in hopes of getting the media to pretend his candidate for Senate, Bob Schaffer, doesn't have any warts at all. Wadhams and Schaffer shamelessly attacked and belittled a blog reporter a few weeks ago, and Wadhams just recently did the same thing to a reporter for The Grand Junction Sentinel.
Newspaper editors and political reporters don't need a calendar to tell them that it's an even-numbered year. Even-numbered years are election years. We can tell that because those are the years when we get complaints from politicians and their handlers. It's as predictable as Rick Wagner staking out a position to the right of just about everybody else.
We got a couple this week, and I think they are instructive. One was nothing more than a political handler trying to bully a reporter, the other a legitimate question about why we failed to do something. One was ugly, the other a genuine discussion between people who saw the same thing differently.
First the ugly.
Early in the week Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall proposed the government quit stockpiling gas in the strategic petroleum reserve.
Reporter Mike Saccone, as any good reporter would do, called Udall's opponent to get a response. Republican Bob Schaffer is very seldom available. He called Dick Wadhams, Schaffer's campaign manager. I don't think he ever even got to tell Wadhams why he was calling. The minute Wadhams got on the phone he launched into Mike, telling him he was a biased reporter, that he's taken cheap shots at Schaffer and asking when we were going to do the same thing to Udall. I listened to the tape of the conversation. Mike seldom got to complete a question. Every time he tried Wadhams interrupted with yet another complaint about Mike and/or our coverage. He did manage to ask Wadhams for specific instances of biased reporting or cheap shots and Wadhams provided none.
The exchange was amusing. I don't know what Wadhams was trying to accomplish other than to try to get our reporter to go easier on his candidate in future stories. Whatever it was it will have no effect whatsoever on how we cover the Senate race. We'll continue to cover it as completely and fairly as possible.
This has always been a part of Wadhams' repertoire - to attack reporters either directly or through a surrogate in attempts to shame them into reporting more on his opponent than on his own candidate. It worked well when he did it through the use of bloggers in the 2004 South Dakota defeat of Tom Daschle, but it doesn't appear to be working in Colorado, where conservative blogs don't really have the reach or the respectability that they may have had in other states.
There's a fine line between strategy and flat-out rude bullying, and Wadhams has definitely crossed that line. Here's hoping reporters around the state don't fall into the trap of Wadhams' intentional belittling and end up turning over their lunch money to him.
We've seen the "opinions" of some so-called reporters and op-ed writers, but I believe the Rocky did a relatively good job of breaking down the 2008 Democratic goals and results. I highlighted a few of my favorites.
I would appreciate feedback on this. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or is this worth bitching about?
Here in Boulder (and I assume many other counties) they have come up with 5 county candidates and are strongly pushing all delegates to vote for them. And at the same time, all other delegates should withdraw from running.
"This is the song that we hope will become the theme for the Democrat convention in Denver this August: 'Street Fighting Man,' by the Rolling Stones. Yeah, baby, violence."
Ah, yes-this issue again. When Governor Bill Ritter froze property tax rates last year, many complained that the action constituted a tax increase, and as such, the action violated TABOR.
That's old news, right?
But during testimony in the trial regarding this subject, State Treasurer Cary Kennedy (D) "conceded....that a bill passed last year by the legislature alters the way taxes are calculated with the net result that many property owners pay more."
UPDATE:Catholics United just sent a press release thanking President Bush for signing Marianas immigration reforms into law, and expressing relief that "the efforts of Bob Schaffer and Jack Abramoff to deny workers in the Northern Mariana Islands basic human dignity in the workplace did not prevail" (ouch). Release after the jump.
You'll recall that the Schaffer/Abramoff scandal began with Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's praise for the relatively unregulated labor and immigration standards in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States.
Today, the practices Schaffer recommended as a "model" for the rest of the country have been outlawed, as CNMI human rights activist Wendy Doromal reports first:
Moments Ago President Bush
Signed S. 2739 into law!
This is a significant victory for every advocate, every federal official, and every person who has fought to end labor and human rights abuses in the CNMI. It is a momentous victory for the guest workers in the CNMI. It is a personal victory for me, and for my family.
As an advocate who has worked on passing this legislation for almost 2 decades, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the U.S Congress, especially to the members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources, and their dedicated staff members. They devoted hundreds of hours of hard work, untiring perseverance, and self-less determination to see this issue resolved.
Some members of Congress and staff members including Congressman George Miller (D-CA), Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and Allen Stayman have pushed for effective reform for over a decade in a fight that has been difficult and fraught with obstacles. Some of the strongest proponents of this legislation have been personally vilified, attacked, libeled, and have even have lost jobs because of their conviction and determination to extend just and democratic laws to the CNMI. Yet, they stood their ground and continued the battle. The late Congresswoman Patsy Mink (D-HI) fought vehemently for immigration and labor reform in the CNMI...
Note also that this same set of reforms was repeatedly introduced in Congress before 2006, including years when Schaffer was a member. Schaffer's donors from Saipan are all on record fiercely opposing this bill--after all, the threat of it is why the CNMI government hiredJack Abramoff back in the '90s.
All of which continues to make Schaffer look horrible, and underscores the serious damage already done to his campaign over this scandal. We can only say again how baffling it was for Schaffer to bring this PR disaster on himself by praising the situation in the CNMI territory, at the exact time laws were passing to outlaw what he was praising.
Gov. Bill Ritter said Wednesday that concern over Democratic lawmakers' re-election chances was partly to blame for legislative failure to approve proposals to fix Colorado roads and bridges.
Ritter's comments came at a news conference to talk about the 2008 legislative session, which ended Tuesday night. In it, he and Democratic legislative leaders initially blamed Republicans for the lack of any action on transportation.
That's despite the fact that Democrats hold sizable majorities in the legislature and control the governor's office.
"I feel like this conversation broke down around politics, that we tried to get the Republicans interested in looking at how we would put together different pots of money," Ritter said. "We began our conversation very early in the session and could not get the Republican leadership to act on it at all."
Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, said Democrats could never get Republicans to sign on to a plan.
"So, we are now just crossing our fingers and hoping a bridge doesn't fall down between now" and January, when lawmakers can try again, he said.
Asked why Democrats, who have a 40-15 majority in the House and a 20-15 majority in the Senate, couldn't pass a proposal themselves, Ritter cited re-election concerns.
"There are a lot of Democrats, and they have every right to feel and think this way, who know that they're freshmen, they're incumbents, they're in districts that for a long time have been Republican districts," Ritter said. "And then they have to go and get beat over the head by a Republican opponent saying that they unilaterally increased fees for transportation funding without us having conducted the necessary education campaign."
Ritter also said he believed Coloradans expected that Republicans should be included in any discussions about transportation funding.
Ritter is correct that Democrats are worried about being labeled "tax and spenders," but it's a shame that they won't just stand up to the criticism and tell the truth about Colorado's crumbling infrastructure. They need point no further than El Paso County, the bastion of Republican chants of the evils of government, which is on the brink of collapse because of years of lowering taxes and spending...
First we had Crystal Gray who resigned as Adams County parks and open space director after 7 News found she spent most of her work day shopping, getting her hair done, etc.
Now we have a 7 News story about the Adams County directory of public works giving sweetheart deals to a friend.
UPDATE: Gov. Ritter issued a press release about his version of how the session went. Full release after the jump.
The 2008 Legislative session is in the books, and the Rocky Mountain News takes a look a the winners and losers:
The biggest loser of the 2008 legislative session?
That's easy.
Lawmakers, lobbyists and longtime Capitol observers - polled for their take on winners and losers this session - pointed to Rep. Douglas Bruce as a loser.
The Colorado Springs Republican turned into a one-man headline machine. He so antagonized his colleagues they refused to vote with him even when they thought he was right.
The winners?
Well, the answers are much less clear cut.
Democrats control the House and the Senate and the governor's office, but Republicans said it was an extraordinary year for the GOP.
Gov. Bill Ritter got behind one of their key education bills. They avoided devisive social issues that made them look silly in past elections. They had a clear message during the budget debate: In a bad economy, the state should save more, spend less.
"We drove the agenda on many levels - and stopped some proposals from the other side of the aisle," said Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee.
"They've gotten a lot of press coverage, but they didn't drive any agenda," countered House Majority Leader Alice Madden. "They got things done where Democrats agreed with them."
But - but - but - how could we be sure they weren't illegal aliens, or part of some ballot-box stuffing scheme?!?
Nun working Indiana poll turns fellow sisters away for lacking photo ID under state's new law
The AP's Deborah Hastings reports:
About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.
El Paso County Republicans are gathering support for a Lincoln Day Dinner fund-raiser. Last year was fun... this year should be good too. If you're in the greater Colorado Springs area and you are of the conservative bent, you should come!
2008 Lincoln Dinner
FEATURING Political Cartoonist: Chuck Asay
AND speaking for Bob Schaffer: Dick Wadhams
Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at the The Antlers Hilton
Reception at 5:30pm, Dinner at 6:30pm
Make your reservation online by filling out the form below.
Make your reservation by phone at 719-578-0022
Tickets Start at $80 per person
Maybe we should designate a time and place to meet and drink our beverages of choice. 6:00 at the bar anyone?
Local news station 5/30 breaks huge news with report of (gasp) local DA John Newsome drinking after work (past 4 in the afternoon anyway). Then the poor bastard got in his car and drove. NOW... in all fairness it does seem like he had a higher than possibly wise number of drinks. That said... it's all pure speculation as to whether the hapless fellow was above the legal limit.
I've known my fair share of people who could drink 6-8 beers across this same time frame (5+ hours) and still be completely okay to drive. I've also known some who would be blubbering idiots and passed out at that level.
This is a classic example of a story with precious few facts and a whole lotta speculation. Was he drinking a non-alcoholic beer? Did he eat?
Here's the current link. I am sure there will be video later and I'll update as needed:
Bottom line... if the media really thought he was drunk they should have either asked him to take a breathalyzer or they should have called CSPD and had him pulled over.
If he was/is over the legal limit. Throw the book at him. If not... tough shit, lousy story.
****UPDATE***** Newsome apologized for the perception of wrongdoing, but says he did not and does not drive impaired. CSPD says no criminal investigation is going to occur. FULL GAZETTE STORY
`What is a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.
