Tom Tancredo's friend and colleague Congressman Mike Coffman is running for re-election in CO-6 against Democratic challenger, Lt. Col. (ret.) John Flerlage, as well as a new challenger -- the man responsible for closing many of Aurora's libraries. "New Republican" only-recently turned libertarian Rob McNealy, the driving force behind "Citizens for Responsible Aurora Government" was able to convince Aurora voters to vote against their own libraries, defeating a minor tax increase to fund them. Now, the struggling City of Aurora plans to close half of the city's libraries. School children all over Aurora will no longer have public libraries near their homes or a short bike ride away, thanks to McNealy.
So I've heard a few pieces of news lately through the grapevine about CD-6. Andy Szkeres, John Flerlage's Campaign Manager was fired after a series of internal disagreements about out of control twitter posts. To be honest I've read some of Andy's and they are just classic including
Andy Szkeres
Is off to Dallas - See some of you there. Joys of planning on taking over the world!
9:00 AM May 15th from web
... Just strange.
The other piece that I heard is that neither John nor David is raising any considerable money after a very pitiful first quarter against Congressman Mike Coffman who already raised 48,000 to add to his just incase fund. I also heard that David Canter finally got a Campaign Manager, Robin Van Ausdall. Lastly, I heard that Hank Eng is endorsing John Flerlage and Bill Winter is endorsing David Canter.
So despite some interesting developments I still doubt anything will change in CD-6.
David Canter, one of the two Democratic candidates for Congress in CD-6, sat down recently to talk with me about why he is running, and what he feels qualifies him for the position. Here are some excerpts from that conversation:
If you were to judge the status of the CD-6 Republican primary by what's recently been aired on television, you'd think that race was heating up, with absentee mail ballots being delivered as we speak.
It's not, Secretary of State Mike Coffman has that race in the bag. However, it's still fun to watch the ads from both the Coffman and Armstrong camps.
Republican congressional candidate Mike Coffman announced today strong fundraising numbers, at the same time that fellow candidates Ted Harvey and Wil Armstrong announced meaningless news.
First, a press release from the campaign of CD-6 candidate Mike Coffman:
Highlands Ranch, CO - Sixth Congressional District candidate Mike Coffman announced today that he will report having raised over $300,000 in contributions this quarter, bringing his overall total to over $750,000 to date.
"The fact that each quarter we have been able to surpass our fundraising total from the previous reporting period is very encouraging. These strong numbers will ensure we have the resources needed to make a strong push in the final six weeks of the campaign", said Coffman Campaign Manager Dustin Zvonek...
...Coffman for Congress will file a full financial report with the Federal Election Commission on July 15th to include all contributions and expenditures during the second reporting period of 2008.
Coffman's fundraising should keep him firmly atop the CD-6 leaderboard, and the amount he raised in Q2 alone will likely be more than candidates Ted Harvey and Steve Ward raise in total when all is said and done.
Elsewhere in CD-6, Harvey announced the endorsement of The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and their Colorado affiliate, the Credit Union Association of Colorado (CUAC). Wil Armstrong added to his list of endorsements by announcing that he has the support of gasbag radio host Dan Caplis. Yay for them.
Republican Wil Armstrong, who is running for congress in CD-6, today announced an online video of support from former Gov. Bill Owens. If you listen closely at the end, you can almost hear Owens saying, "Was that okay, Bill?"
Also included in today's announcement, which you can read after the jump, is a clever new short bio of the man formerly known as a Mortgage lender:
Armstrong is currently the CEO of software developer Blueberry Systems in Greenwood Village. He is running to succeed retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo.
The campaign for Republican Mike Coffman in CD-6 released new internal poll numbers today. According to a press release:
Highlands Ranch, CO - Sixth Congressional District candidate Mike Coffman released today results from a recent poll of likely Republican primary voters.
Question: "If the Republican primary election for Congress were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote?"
Response:
Mike Coffman 47%
Wil Armstrong 19%
Ted Harvey 7%
Steve Ward 4%
The poll was conducted for the Coffman for Congress campaign by the Tarrance Group between 5/27/08 and 5/28/08 with a margin of error of +/- 5.8%
"These numbers are very encouraging, especially considering the fact that there are only 39 days until absentee ballots will be mailed out to voters and just over 70 days until the Primary Election", said Coffman Campaign Manager Dustin Zvonek.
"One of the most significant aspects of these numbers is that margin between Mike and his closest competitor is now greater than the number of undecided voters", added Zvonek.
These are certainly strong numbers, and although they should be taken with a grain of salt coming from an internal poll, it's hard to argue the logic of the results. Coffman has both the money and the name ID, and none of the other candidates can match him in either department. Whether or not Coffman really polls at 47% is irrelevant; what this poll shows is that his numbers are strong enough to indicate that this race is all but over.
Republican Secretary of State and CD-6 candidate Mike Coffman begins airing television and radio ads today, the first of the campaign cycle in CD-6. The ad is available on You Tube.
Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman reported raising $244,239 in Q1 for his campaign for congress in CD-6. Coffman now has $323,897 cash on hand. Click below for the full press release.
From the campaign of Republican CD-6 candidate Mike Coffman:
Highlands Ranch, CO - This past Friday, March 14th, the Coffman for Congress campaign sent a letter to all of the candidates in the race for the 6th Congressional District urging them to sign a pledge to disavow any and all negative 527 activities.
"The voters of the Sixth Congressional District deserve a campaign that is centered on issues and ideas, not petty personal attacks", said Coffman.
Coffman for Congress Campaign Manager, Dustin Zvonek added, "After what took place in the 2006 primary for the 5th Congressional District and in the primary for the U.S. Senate in 2004, we believe it's important for the voters and the Republican Party to have a clean and honest election. We hope our opponents agree and will sign the pledge".
Sign the pledge. Disavow away. Who cares? No candidate is supposed to "know" anything about 527 campaigns anyway. It doesn't take a lot of backbone to disavow something you aren't supposed to acknowledge anyway. Or perhaps this is Coffman's way of pre-emptively giving himself cover for 527 attacks that he knows will come against his opponents.
Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman took time out from his day job of dismantling voter confidence to commission a poll in the race for CD-6. According to a press release, Coffman is an overwhelming favorite to win the GOP primary.
Question: "If the Republican primary election for Congress were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote?"
Response: Mike Coffman 44%
Wil Armstrong 10%
Ted Harvey 8%
Steve Ward 1%
The poll was conducted for the Coffman for Congress campaign by the Tarrance Group between 1/22/08 and 1/23/08 with a margin of error of +/- 5.8%
That Coffman is ahead at this point should be no surprise, but the margin is a little shocking (although 37% are apparently undecided). In terms of name recognition, Coffman is heads and shoulders above any of his other opponents, and apparently few average voters are interested in the fact that Coffman is a complete disaster as Secretary of State. That last point shouldn't be a surprise, either, because voters in CD-6 continually turned a blind eye to Tom Tancredo's congressional ineptitude and re-elected him repeatedly.
Perhaps Coffman shouldn't be such a favorite in CD-6, but as we've said from the beginning, his name ID alone makes him the man to beat in a district that, by and large, is not that politically-savvy.
Political consultant Walt Klein is apparently telling friends that he has been hired by Wil Armstrong, who is expected to be a Republican candidate for congress in CD-6 (along with several other Republicans).
Tom Tancredo continues to move closer to becoming a full-fledged candidate for President.
Political commentator Bay Buchanan announced today that she is leaving CNN to become Tancredo's senior advisor, and expects a formal announcement on a Tancredo candidacy in about a week. As the Associated Press reports:
CNN commentator Bay Buchanan said Monday she will temporarily oversee the presidential campaign of Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo and has resigned from the cable network.
Buchanan said she will function as campaign manager until someone is appointed to that job.
Tancredo said last week he had not yet formally decided whether to run.
"I'm certainly encouraging it," Buchanan said. She said she expects Tancredo to formally announce his plans in the next week or so.
Two things are abundantly clear after this news: 1) The GOP primary fight in CD-6 is about to heat up, and 2) Bay Buchanan is going to be looking for a job in 18 months.
...he had set a goal of raising $1 million for his exploratory committee, Tancredo for a Secure America, by the end of the first quarter of this year.
Crossing that goal, "kicks my enthusiasm level up about a million times," Tancredo said in phone interview. "It just simply means it's certainly more likely that we will announce I will be a candidate for president," he said.
More importantly for Colorado, Tancredo's fundraising success means that he is less likely than ever to run for re-election to his congressional seat. Several Republicans, including state Sens. Tom Wiens and Ted Harvey, and Wil Armstrong, son of GOP patriarch Bill Armstrong, have already been putting together shell campaigns for taking a run at CD-6 in the event that Tancredo doesn't run for re-election; expect them, and others, to speed up the process in the next couple of weeks.
