The Perlmutter campaign responded in the wake of the announcement with a release that underlined Coors' wealth and his support for strict anti-abortion personhood laws, which would make illegal abortion in all cases and would even outlaw some of the most popular contraception, such as the pill.
"Ed looks forward to a spirited debate with Joe Coors. There couldn't be a more stark contrast. You will have an ultra-wealthy, highly partisan candidate who fights for billionaire tax loopholes and Personhood Amendments against a man who holds meetings in local grocery stores, fights to create and save thousands of jobs in the 7th CD and has the least partisan congressional voting record in Colorado," Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver was quoted to say.
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UPDATE: Colorado Democratic Party chairman Rick Palacio gives Coors a volley:
"If Mr. Coors thinks he can connect with the mainstream voters of Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, and Thornton, he has a lot of questions to answer. Ultimately, he won't able to connect to people's daily concerns when his focus has lately been on country clubs and his helicopter. No working family in Colorado can relate to such a removed existence when they are thinking about this month's mortgage, groceries, and the bills that never stop coming.
"Add that to Mr. Coors's personal support of the radical anti-abortion 'Personhood' movement, and he will have a hard time explaining how he plans to work for the benefit of regular Colorado families. Even a cursory glance at his record shows that Joe Coors is nowhere near the reality that most of us live in. And in the Seventh Congressional District, Colorado voters won't support someone who has nothing to do with their needs and interests."
Most of you know my family name but you may not know me. To start with, I am the oldest of the fourth generation of Coors family members - with deep roots here in Colorado. Throughout my career, I have concentrated on my family, work and community service. This is the first time I have ever run for public office...
My wife Gail and I got married as sophomores, when I was twenty and she was eighteen. And this year, we are celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary.
At the time of our marriage, my family - like a lot of other families - had certain unwritten rules, and one of those rules was that Coors children weren't supposed to get married until they graduated from college - and - frankly my comfortable life style was something I had to consider. Family money versus love. Gourmet meals versus fried bread! But love won out...
Then in 1973, I felt called to come back to the family business so we moved to Golden and started my career at Coors Porcelain Company - now called CoorsTek. This company produces ceramics for high technology purposes and because of my study in ceramic engineering - this was the perfect fit for me. Over the next thirteen years, I rose in management to become the President and CEO...
My Great Grandfather's story is a classic American story. He came to this country as a stowaway on a ship. Our family still wonders how he heard about the American dream way over there in Germany in the mid-1860's. My Great Grandfather's life is similar to millions of immigrants like him. It is with pride and humility that I was allowed to carry on his American dream.
I am running for Congress so these stories are not just from the past, but remain in the present and are part of our future.
I am running for Congress because the American dream is rapidly vanishing as government expands its intrusion in our daily lives...
Wasn't it John F. Kennedy who said: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country?"
What Obama and the liberals do not understand - but what I believe Kennedy understood - is that business owners do a lot for their country when they make their payrolls - and pay their taxes - month after month - week after week.
We'll update with coverage and statements as they come in--since we don't believe that Mr. Coors can or even necessarily intends to win this race, Republicans can at least take comfort knowing Coors can pay his own way through the campaign. And as in 2004, either way you come down, your taste in beer should never dictate your choice in the voting booth. Not to mention the CoorsTek spinoff makes high-tech ceramic products, not the beer.
Beer snobs among us understand we're trying to help Mr. Coors by clarifying that.
Republicans in the House today rejected a Senate-approved payroll tax deal. As Politico reports:
With a tax hike looming for 160 million Americans on New Year's Day, House Republicans rejected a Senate plan to extend the payroll tax holiday for two months and instead called for a conference committee to hammer out the differences between the House and Senate.
The 229-193 partisan vote capped a wild few days of legislating and sends a message that Congress has chosen partisan stalemate over finding a quick solution before taxes go up and unemployment benefits go away for millions.
House Republicans, who were taken aback by the overwhelmingly bipartisan 89-10 Senate vote on the two-month extension, are trying to force the Senate to convene an old fashioned conference committee and somehow forge agreement on a full one-year extension of the payroll tax cut. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will not negotiate until the House passes a two-month extension.
Democrats quickly cried foul over the House rejection of the proposal. Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter issued the following statement:
"Once again, Tea Party Republicans are playing games with Americans because they want to block the President's agenda. Because of their irresponsible actions, 160 million Americans face a tea party tax increase in the New Year, and 48 million senior citizens may lose access to their doctors. This is no way to run a business, a family and certainly not our nation. Every day Republicans engage in these kinds of games is a lost opportunity to create jobs."
Yesterday our friends at "The Fix" questioned the political logic of House Speaker John Boehner on an issue that is very popular with middle class voters -- and we don't disagree:
What House Republicans are doing amounts to a political high wire act without a net. In a recent Associated Press-GfK national poll, nearly six in ten Americans said they wanted the payroll tax cut extended including 54 percent of self-described conservative Republicans.
"As sloppy as things look so far, House Republicans believe their arguments about job creation will win out over Democratic talking points on process and Reid's refusal to even negotiate," said Eric Ueland, former chief of staff to then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
Owning that failure, however, could be a devastating blow for a party who is still adjusting to its new majority in the House - and hoping to take control of the Senate and the White House next November.
Already, the public seems inclined to blame Republicans for the lack of major accomplishments by this Congress. In a recent Pew poll, 50 percent of people said this Congress has accomplished less than previous ones; of that group 40 percent said Republican leaders were more to blame while 23 percent blamed Democratic leaders more.
It seems to us that House Republicans are badly overplaying any hand that they think they have here. They can argue about the logic of a two-month reprieve over a longer-term proposal, but those are details that will be lost to the average voter. The message that will be received is that House Republicans blocked a Senate plan to cut taxes for the middle class. Slice that up any way you like -- there's no version where it comes out looking good for the GOP.
There's big news on a big name from out of nowhere.
Republican Joe Coors, Jr. is actively exploring the idea of running for Congress in CD-7 against incumbent Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter.
This one surprises us, to be frank, but apparently Coors has been making high-level phone calls about the race since well before yesterday's redistricting ruling was made final. The allure of a potential Coors, Jr. candidacy is obvious for Republicans: They really need someone who can self-fund a campaign to some degree if they hope to make a serious run at Perlmutter in 2012, because they have too many other national races to worry about than to spend resources going after a popular Democratic incumbent.
While the allure for national Republicans is clear, we really can't see why Coors, Jr. would be serious about running for Congress. He retired in 2000 as Chairman and CEO of CoorsTek Inc., and he'll turn 70 in February -- is he really interested in being a 70-year-old freshman Congressman? His current elected office is as President of the posh Rolling Hills Country Club in Golden.
It's no secret that Joe's brother, Pete Coors, really didn't like running for the U.S. Senate in 2004, when he lost to Democrat Ken Salazar, and surely they've spoken about this on more than one occasion. But at least Pete was seeking a bigger prize in the Senate; we have a hard time understanding why Joe Jr. would be interested in a House seat. Furthermore, the Coors family and business were absolutely hammered during Pete's 2004 campaign, but the intensity of the attacks on the Coors clan would be exponentially greater in 2012. With all of the talk about the "99%" and Occupy Wall Street, we can't imagine a worse year to run for public office with such a high-profile last name. Joe Coors isn't as bad a name as "Joe Citibank," but it's not far behind. The guy owns his own helicopter, for crying out loud.
The boundaries of CD-7 changed somewhat in redistricting, but this is still a Democratic-leaning seat with a popular, entrenched and well-funded incumbent in Perlmutter. In 2010 Perlmutter defeated GOP challenger Ryan Frazier by 11 points; Coors is a bigger name than Frazier, of course, but it can't be overlooked that Perlmutter won a blowout victory in what was a huge wave year for Republicans.
Coors would no doubt try to play off his business experience in a campaign against Perlmutter, but even that comes with problems. He made headlines in 2002 for reportedly being swindled in an investment scheme in which he invested family money in a program that promised a "100% return per week" (seriously, he thought "100% per week" was realistic?) but which turned out to be a "Prime Bank" scheme in which investors are tricked into believing their money is being placed in well-known institutions.
Again, Coors has been making serious inquiries about running in CD-7. We're surprised that he's even considering a run, but we'd be even more surprised if he ultimately jumped in the race; there are just too many reasons for him to not run.
Joe Coors, Jr. is the son of Joe Coors, and the great-grandson of brewery founder Adolph Coors. His father, Joe, Sr., was well-known for his conservative political leanings; he was a founding member of the Heritage Foundation and was also involved in the creation of other conservative think tanks.
We've always been mystified by the interest in Aurora city council member Ryan Frazier, who seems to get a lot more credit than he deserves. But after losing his bid for Aurora Mayor last night to Steve Hogan in a race that wasn't really close (Hogan won by 10 points), Frazier should be pretty well done in Colorado.
Frazier was touted as a rising star among Colorado Republicans when he tried running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2009. He eventually dropped that race to take on incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter in CD-7...and promptly got the crap kicked out of him. Perlmutter beat Frazier by 11 points, yet for some reason Frazier was widely praised by local and national media for having been a strong candidate.
Here's what we wrote about Frazier following the 2010 mid-term elections, when we named him one of the "Losers" of the cycle:
Sometimes a candidate will lose a big race but do well enough that he or she is considered a rising star. Frazier? Not so much. He got bullied out of the Republican Senate primary to run in CD-7, where he proceeded to get the absolute crap kicked out of him by Rep. Ed Perlmutter. Frazier is a good fundraiser and is decent at delivering a prepared speech, but his campaign was amateurish at best and he otherwise proved to be immature, vacuous and just plain silly in unscripted moments. In one debate, he repeatedly demanded that Perlmutter tell him the page number of something in the health care bill; when your big attack is that your opponent can't recall page numbers, you're running a student council campaign.
It's not losing the race that hurts Frazier, but the fact that he couldn't even be competitive in a Republican year. Frazier lost by 11 points to Perlmutter and received about 13,000 fewer votes than 2008 GOP candidate John Lerew, a guy whose own yard signs said "John Who?"
Ryan Frazier has now lost high-profile races in consecutive years by double digits, and there's now no denying the fact that he's just not a very good politician. Sure, he's a good speaker (even if he sounds like he's doing an impression of Barack Obama) and a decent fundraiser, but his campaigns have been downright ridiculous at times. Whether traveling to the Mexico border to stare at the fence, or claiming in a recent robo-call that the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd was out to get him, Frazier was less statesman than used-car salesman. And voters have noticed; it's worth repeating that Frazier hasn't just lost -- he's lost in a landslide in consecutive elections.
If the shine wasn't completely off of Frazier after 2010, surely it is today. Donors aren't going to back him a third time, not after that performance record, so we've probably seen the last of Frazier as a candidate for public office.
Discussing the surprise victory this week by Democrat Kathy Hochul in New York's CD-26 special election, for which credit is broadly being attributed to the Republican 2012 budget proposal and its replacement of Medicare with a voucher system in ten years, we posted video clips of Colorado freshman Reps. Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton defending it for posterity.
Tuesday, reports the Colorado Independent'sScot Kersgaard, Colorado Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutterresponded to the GOP budget proposal, and attacks on Medicare generally.
"Americans know Medicare didn't get us into this financial pickle, yet the Republicans in Congress want to pick on Medicare because they've never liked the program. Medicare is not harming the financial success of this country, so why are we blaming a program that is working and helping seniors have healthier, longer lives?"
Like we said yesterday after the Senate rejected the "Ryan Plan" with five GOP defections, it's a very easy choice for us which of these two positions we'd rather run on in 2012. Fortunately for our two freshman Republicans, we haven't seen any redistricting maps that would pit either of them against Perlmutter--but we expect their challengers will know what to say too.
And now there's evidence it might really work, like 2010's "death panels" but based in reality.
According to a press release from Rep. Ed Perlmutter:
Tomorrow, Congressman Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) will host Vice President Joe Biden, and members of the Colorado delegation at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) located in the 7th CD in Golden, CO.
"Vice President Biden's visit showcases the importance NREL, the crown jewel of renewable energy research labs, has in transforming the way we power our nation and achieving energy independence," stated Perlmutter. "The best way to move our nation forward toward long-term economic security and stability is to ensure a solid infrastructure allowing innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship to flourish. The important research work from the dedicated scientists at NREL means about 5,500 private and public sector jobs here in Colorado. Investing in our long-term energy independence will help us afford to fill up our gas tanks in the short term, and quite simply, is good for jobs, our national security and our climate."
This event with Vice-President Biden launches Perlmutter's Innovation Tour scheduled for June 28 - 30th. Each of these days, Perlmutter will highlight local small businesses spawned by the growth in the alternative energy, aerospace and bioscience fields. Details of the tour and media availability will be released in the days preceding the tours.
"Small businesses are the engines of our economy," said Perlmutter. "Our commitment to helping small businesses in these industries succeed will mean good paying, stable jobs for now and into the future. They will help our district, state and nation lead the way toward ensuring the United States' remains competitive and we achieve long-term security and prosperity."
Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter easily dispatched Republican challenger Ryan Frazier in 2010 despite Frazier (and the RNCC) spending a good deal of money on what turned out to be a rather weak campaign. But Perlmutter isn't sitting back and hoping that he scared off a potential 2012 challenger -- not with redistricting looming and potential changes to CD-7 making his re-election tougher.
Today, Perlmutter's campaign announced that he had raised $277,617 in Q1, the highest total amount reported by Perlmutter for this period since 2006. Full press release after the jump...
UPDATE (11:25): The big Denver paper and many of the other big TV stations have some major problems with their reporting. The Denver Post, for example, had Buck ahead of Bennet 48-46, on the strength of a 52-45 advantage in Boulder. A quick check of the Boulder Clerk and Recorder's website has Bennet leading Buck 67-29. There are a lot of somebodies who should have caught this immediately -- there's no way Boulder County would go solid red for any Republican.
We recommend sticking with the results from Fox 31, which not only has a page that seems to actually load correctly, but isn't making any obvious errors that we can see.
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UPDATE (11:16): It looks like we may be headed for at least one state legislative recount. In HD-29, Democratic Rep. Debbie Benefield trails Republican Robert Ramirez by 148 votes (50.34% to 49.66%).
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UPDATE (11:12): That didn't last long. With 56% of ballots counted, Bennet and Buck are now tied at 47-47.
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UPDATE (11:00): Buck has pulled ahead of Bennet for the first time tonight, leading 49-46 with 49% of precincts reporting.
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UPDATE (9:50): It's looking like the race that will have the biggest impact from an ACP candidate will not be the one anybody expected. The Secretary of State race is neck-and-neck, but the ACP candidate is already pulling 6% of the vote. Buescher may well win this seat by virtue of the American Constitution Party.
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UPDATE (9:44): The percentage of precincts reporting continues to rise, and Michael Bennet continues to hold a 50-45 lead over Ken Buck. This is not good news for Buck, because early returns should have favored him (Republicans voted in higher numbers than Democrats in early and absentee voting). Given Buck's numerous gaffes in the last two weeks of the campaign, it's not likely that late voters are going to choose him over Bennet, so it's hard to see how Buck is going to make up 5 points with 27% of the vote already tallied.
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UPDATE (9:08): It's always fun to see those really early returns that show absurd numbers. In HD-22, Democrat Christine Radeff is pummeling Republican incumbent Ken Summers 7,875 to 12. Yes, 12. For a few more minutes, anyway.
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UPDATE (9:05): Republican Cory Gardner is being declared the winner in CD-4.
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UPDATE (9:03): The Secretary of State race is coming down to the wire, and may be decided by the number of votes pulled in by the American Constitution Party candidate. Meanwhile, the race for Attorney General seems to be widening in favor of incumbent John Suthers.
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UPDATE (9:00): Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter has been declared the winner in CD-7.
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An attack ad by Republican Ryan Frazier that goes after Rep. Ed Perlmutter for "allowing convicted rapists to receive Viagra" -- a claim that has repeatedly been found to be untrue -- has been pulled by 9News and will no longer run on the station.
According to a press release from Perlmutter's campaign:
In a rare move, KUSA - Ch. 9 decided to pull the false and misleading ad against Ed Perlmutter which asserted that because he voted for the new health insurance reform law, he supported the ability for convicted rapists to access Viagra. Adam Schrager from KUSA did the fact check on this ad, declaring it completely FALSE and stated "Perlmutter never voted for it." Furthermore, the new health insurance reform law does not contain any provisions in it concerning this assertion.
This is the second attack ad run against Perlmutter that Schrager and Ch. 9 declared false. The ads, were funded by the shadowy, Republican-operative run American Action Network, which sunk more than $1 million into the false advertising.
"KUSA did the right thing," said Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver. "These kinds of false and distorted ads are examples of what happens when these outside shadow groups aren't required to disclose their donors. This is an abuse of our political system and a disservice to voters who should be able to make a decision about the future of our country based on the truth - not lies."
According to the Denver Post, one of Frazier's donors, Rich Beeson, who is a Republican political operative in Colorado, is connected to the consultants for the AAN, and was involved in the decision to run this ad attacking Perlmutter.
KMGH and the Denver Post have both declared the ad false as well.
As we wrote when Cory Gardner's false ads were pulled in CD-4 for accusing Rep. Betsy Markey of taking votes that actually belonged to Rep. ED Markey, this kind of press is really damaging to the candidates behind the ads. When a station pulls an ad for being false, it leaves voters to question how much of your other assertions are really true.
The campaign of Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter is asking local television stations to stop running an ad from the American Action Network that Perlmutter's camp says has been proven false. From a press release:
Today, the Perlmutter campaign sent a letter asking TV stations in Denver to remove an advertisement attacking Ed Perlmutter based on the fact that it is "grossly inaccurate...and includes claims that independent news organizations have already declared false." Attached is the letter sent to station managers today, as well as a fact check on the entire ad.
In addition to numerous false allegations, the commercial alleges the health insurance reform bill "spent our money on health insurance for illegal immigrants." This is beyond political gamesmanship, this is a blatant lie, and the worst kind of scare-tactics that TV stations shouldn't be a party to. The health insurance reform bill signed into law by the President states that undocumented immigrants are specifically "excluded from receiving any benefits under health care reform." Perlmutter voted to ensure this provision was inserted in the law. See the attached letter for independently-verified citations.
The million dollar commercial is paid for by the American Action Network (AAN) and is funded by the very big Wall Street financial firms Ed voted to crack down on.
There is precedent, both in Colorado and in other states, for television stations to remove ads that are intentionally misleading or inaccurate. Click here to read the full letter from law firm Rothgerber, Johnson & Lyons.
Republican Joe Coors, Jr. is actively exploring the idea of running for Congress in CD-7 against incumbent Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter.
