June 03, 2026 02:39 PM UTC

Debate Diary: The Most Inane Gubernatorial Forum in a Generation

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• by: Colorado Pols

The most inconsequential Colorado statewide debate in a generation took place on Tuesday at the University of Denver in a forum sponsored by 9News. For the first time this election cycle, all three Republican candidates for governor shared a stage; over the course of an hour, Scott Bottoms, Victor Marx, and Barbara Kirkmeyer demonstrated why none of them will come close to becoming Colorado’s next governor in November. 

That isn’t to say that Tuesday’s debate wasn’t entertaining in its own way, which is why we decided to dust off our “Debate Diary” series. 

You can watch the full debate via YouTube below, or keep reading for our blow-by-blow. In the interest of time and sanity, all comments are paraphrased unless they appear in quotations. 

1:00: Our debate moderators from 9News are the always-excellent Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger, who have been tag-teaming on major political debates in Colorado for most of the last decade. Clark kicks things off by introducing the three candidates. From left to right on stage: 

Colorado Springs State Rep. Scott Bottoms, who is topline on the GOP Primary ballot, is wearing a navy blue suit with a light blue shirt and matching tie. Bottoms is also sporting glasses with transition lenses, which is an unusual choice for an event taking place indoors. 

In the middle is “Ministry Leader” Victor Marx, wearing his standard politician cosplay outfit of a black blazer with a white button-up shirt open at the collar. Marx is not wearing a tie because he’s a regular guy just like other regular guys. Laying on the floor next to Marx, for some reason, is a dog in a camouflage harness. 

On the far right (figuratively) is State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer in a red jacket over a white blouse. 

2:05: Clark kicks things off by asking the candidates to name one specific example of where Democrats have overreached in Colorado since gaining a trifecta (control of both legislative chambers and the Governor’s office) eight years ago, and to explain what they would do differently in that regard. 

First up is Kirkmeyer, who begins by giving a shout out to her six grandchildren. Then she gives the answer that you would expect. “Where have Democrats overreached? Pretty much in every area.”

Kirkmeyer says Democrats have made “a complete mess of our state. We’re unaffordable, we’re unsafe, we’re unraveling, and our roads are a mess, for goodness sakes.” We’d have said that roads are “undrivable” just to keep the theme going.

Kirkmeyer says she has a plan to “whip our budget into shape within six months,” which seems – let’s say “unlikely” – given that it takes the Joint Budget Committee and the legislature more than six months every year just to work out the yearly budget. Kirkmeyer says that Democrats have balanced the budget by cutting funding for education every year, then stops…

“Is my time up?” asks Kirkmeyer, pointing to something near the moderator’s table. “Is that what I’m supposed to be looking at here?” 

Clark responds that her time is up and a countdown clock is right there on the table. “You didn’t tell us that,” whines Kirkmeyer. Apparently she thought she’d be able to talk as long as she wants? 

Clark explains that the clock letters will turn red as a candidate’s time is ending, “as agreed to in the rules.” 

4:00: Same question for Scott Bottoms, who follows Kirkmeyer’s lead by saying that Democrats have destroyed “pretty much everything” in Colorado. 

“Day one, I’m going to go back to using the Constitution as our guide rule,” says Bottoms. “We are not a Constitutional state anymore. We have completely torn apart the Constitution.” Looks like we’re going straight to the hyperbole.

“We’re just going to do a silly little thing called the Constitution,” concludes Bottoms. Okie dokie.

5:06: We’re excited to hear what Victor Marx has to say. Despite the fact that Marx is the clear frontrunner for the GOP nomination, he has yet to demonstrate that he knows, well, anything about state government. There’s a reason Marx has never agreed to a debate until now.

“I’m going to preface this by saying I’m not a politician,” says Marx in an effort to lower his own bar.

“Well, you are tonight,” responds Kirkmeyer quickly. 

“Do I look like it?” asks Marx.

“Yeah,” says Kirkmeyer.

“Well I’ll try harder not to [look like a politician],” says Marx. He follows that up by saying he is a “negotiator, not a debater.” Rarely have we seen a somewhat-plausible statewide candidate going to such great lengths to make it clear that they are about to bomb. 

Marx finally tries to answer the question by focusing on housing affordability and claims that Colorado is “not safe” anymore. “And they’ve certainly overreached and taken our freedoms away. And liberties.” Ah yes, Colorado was once a free state until Democrats took control and made it…not free, or whatever. Who can argue?

“This is a great time, and it’s exciting, about what can happen through the next election.” Robert Frost, Marx is not. 

6:15: Next question from Clark is about why Kirkmeyer and Bottoms have both said that they will refuse to support Marx if he is the eventual Republican nominee. Clark asks Bottoms to explain his previous allegations that Marx is a “con man.” As this question is being asked, Marx is doing some sort of sign language thing to an audience member; he nods and writes something down. 

Side note: We have yet to learn why there is a dog on the ground next to Marx. Is the dog a debate support animal?

Here’s what Bottoms says: “Yeah, I stand by that. I also said that he’s corrupt. And I also said that he lies and he lied to me personally, quite a few times.”

Bottoms says that you have to be “blind or naive” to not believe at least some of the allegations floating around about Marx. On this we agree with Bottoms. Also, we just threw up in our mouth at that thought. Then Bottoms gets weird:

“And I’ve also talked to people in the CIA, FBI, State Department – they’ve confirmed a lot of these things to me, personally.” 

Bottoms has talked to the CIA about Marx? And the FBI? Was this before or after Bottoms talked to the FBI about the three “pedophile rings” he claims to have discovered operating at the State Capitol? Can anybody just call the CIA or FBI and get answers to random questions?

“He conned my church,” Bottoms continues. “I’m not okay with that.” Bottoms is a pastor at Church of Briargate in Colorado Springs. Only Bottoms is supposed to be doing the conning at his church. 

Clark asks Bottoms for details on this allegation. Bottoms says that Marx told him he rescued 45,000 people – Marx has long claimed that he has rescued women and children from “terror and abuse” over more than 100 missions across 30 countries. “That was a lie,” says Bottoms.

7:46: Marx gets an opportunity to respond. “You’re mean,” he says to Bottoms.

Marx says that Bottoms is throwing out allegations because he’s losing, which is a good answer. But then Marx screws it up; he says that “as a Man of God,” Bottoms is supposed to talk with him privately about such allegations instead of making them public.

Marx adds that Bottoms tried to talk him out of running for Governor by saying that he hoped Marx would be his Lieutenant Governor. 

“I said, ‘I can’t’,” says Marx. “You [Bottoms] said, ‘Why not?’ I said, ‘Because you can’t win.’ And I stand by that.” 

Okay, that’s funny. Marx and Bottoms are both generally full of shit, but we have no doubt that this conversation actually took place. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when an idiot con man tried to con another idiot con man. 

9:00: Kirkmeyer gets to explain now why she has said she will not support Marx if he is the GOP nominee for Governor. Clark asks Kirkmeyer about what it means for the GOP downballot if they are split on the eventual nominee for Governor.

“First of all, our party is already split,” sighs Kirkmeyer. “I think we’ll lose every downballot race there is with [Marx] on the ballot.” Kirkmeyer suggests a repeat of 2010, when con man Dan Maes somehow became the GOP gubernatorial nominee, which led to the state party backing Tom Tancredo as a candidate for the American Constitution Party. This is all going great for Colorado Republicans.

As to why Kirkmeyer won’t back Marx: “He’s unqualified…and he is unfit. By his own words, he is unfit. He talks about homicidal and suicidal tendencies. Makes me a little worried being in rooms with him, quite frankly. He’s a fraud.”

Kirkmeyer concludes with a lame point. She says if Marx can’t keep his word to show up to a debate – again, Marx has ducked all prior debates – then “I’m thinking that you can’t keep your word on anything.” 

“You can’t keep your word. I can’t trust you. You’re unfit. You’re unqualified. You think you’re an outsider – you’re not an outsider. You’re a politician. You’ve entered the ring right now, so you’re a politician. You don’t get to keep claiming ‘outsider.’ That’s just your way of saying you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Victor Marx for Governor!

10:30: Marx responds by saying that Kirkmeyer is also “kinda mean.” He probably thinks this comes off as folksy, but it really just makes him look silly.

Marx then tries a line he must have practiced before: “Just because a person doesn’t believe a truth doesn’t make it a lie.” 

Come again?

Marx says that if you don’t believe his tall tales, you are going against Mark Geist from the movie “13 Hours.” That’s random. 

Marx says that questioning his rescue missions also means questioning his wife, his family, and the “tens of thousands” of people he has helped. He then launches into something about how The Denver Post called some guy in Burma just that morning to verify that someone shot at Marx in the past. 

“I wish you weren’t so emotionally invested in this,” says Marx. He says he wants to “apologize” for ruining the political aspirations of Kirkmeyer and Bottoms.

12:30: Clark notes that Marx has called his opponents “inconsequential” – Marx is not wrong there – but asks why he dismisses people with years of legislative and government experience. 

“Well, what’s your definition of ‘inconsequential’?” asks Marx. This is a standard tactic that Marx has used repeatedly, including during last week’s interview with Clark for 9News. Marx seems to think nobody will notice that he’s trying to duck the question by having a thesaurus debate. 

Clark responds that “inconsequential” is the word Marx used himself. “Tell me what you meant,” says Clark calmly.

Marx says that neither Kirkmeyer nor Bottoms can win, which is why he is running for Governor. He says being Governor would not be a “promotion” for him, and that he is campaigning because Coloradans are hurting. Then he provides a ridiculous example:

“That 6-foot-7 dude I met three days ago at an arm-wrestling match who came up to me – guarantee you he was 320 [pounds] if he was a pound.”

It is well-known that the best way to judge the sincerity of a person is by their physical size. Also, is Marx actually campaigning at arm-wrestling matches? Where do you find such an event?

“He said, ‘I make $80,000 a year, Mr. Marx. I can’t afford to buy a house. I have three children. What are you going to do to help us?’”

Marx doesn’t actually answer that question. He just stops talking. 

Clark asks Marx if he would support Kirkmeyer or Bottoms if they won the nomination. “100%” says Marx. “That’s what you call a good Republican.”

Well, you know, other than the part about dismissing your fellow Republicans as “inconsequential.”

14:00: Zelinger makes a solid transition. “We’ll get back to your feelings for each other later, but let’s talk about something you all agree on, surprisingly.” Zelinger’s question is about affordability issues and what the candidates could accomplish as Governor with a Democratic legislature.

14:38: Kirkmeyer says she would make better choices for the 300+ boards and commissions around the state that the Governor appoints. 

“On day one, I will start looking through all of those boards, and I will have experts that are working with me – people from the industry that are working with me – and we’ll start putting people on those boards that will actually start culling back those regulations…”

That’s really her answer on affordability. She will make different appointments to boards and commissions. It’s amazing that Kirkmeyer is not attracting more support in her campaign.

Oh, wait, there’s more! Kirkmeyer complains that the Department of Public Health is five years behind in giving out permits for wastewater. What this has to do with affordability is not clear.

16:30: You’re up, Marx.

“You know, the cost of living – that’s probably the biggest thing on people’s hearts and minds right now.”

Yes, we’re aware. Thus the point of the question.

“You have to do an assessment of why is it unaffordable,” explains Marx. “Why are taxes so high? Why are fees strangling us?” 

Marx says it goes back to what he calls “the motherlode – the budget.” 

“Those folks under the golden dome, they have an addiction to spending – and that’s the problem.” Marx looks very pleased with himself.

Zelinger isn’t having it. “I asked for something specific, real briefly. I didn’t hear any specific answer.”

“You didn’t?” responds Marx. “Maybe I didn’t…hear it well. How am I going to do what?”

Marx is a ridiculous person. He is clearly not used to being challenged like this. Marx has spent decades giving “sermons” and offering “prayers,” after which his audience applauds in anticipation of the next performance on the schedule. He obviously believes that he can just do the same thing in a debate for governor and nobody will notice.

Zelinger restates the question and says Marx can have 10 more seconds.

“I simply negotiate with people and accomplish a greater good, like I’ve done all over the world,” says Marx. “Just because other people haven’t done it in the past doesn’t mean I can’t.” Marx flashes a cheshire cat smile that must seem charming in his head.

18:06: Same question for Bottoms about how he would accomplish something on affordability issues while working with Democrats. 

Bottoms says there are a lot of Democrats in the House and Senate who are ready to break away from their party. Maybe they’re just too busy with their pedophile rings instead.

Bottoms says that you can “deregulate certain things” by executive order on day one. He adds that he wants to “attack” property taxes and “maybe reinstitute Gallagher [the Gallagher Amendment] or something like that…that would probably turn the process over fairly quickly.”

Is this literally the first time Bottoms has thought about how to address affordability concerns? His answer is gibberish.

“And I don’t have to do a study with people,” concludes Bottoms. “I’ve been in the House long enough to know how it works.”

Clearly.

To recap on addressing affordability concerns: Kirkmeyer would appoint different people to boards and commissions; Marx would just “negotiate”; and Bottoms would “maybe reinstate Gallagher or something like that.”

19:30: The next question from Clark is about leadership. He asks Marx about saying that he is qualified to be governor because he is the CEO of a nonprofit, yet he always blames others for mistakes and “basic errors” in his campaign.

“Let’s go to the biggest question: How many kids have I rescued?” begins Marx. 

Huh?

“Here’s the total number of kids I’ve rescued,” says Marx. He pauses for effect. “Not enough. That’s it.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“On the realm of leadership, everything falls back on me,” says Marx. He says he addresses any problem and finds the solution…which, again, is not an answer to the question. Then he flashes that stupid smile again.

21:00: Clark presses Marx. “What should voters think about the fact that your team makes such fundamental errors about core issues about who you are, what you’ve done, and what you’re doing in this race for governor?”

“Well I don’t think it’s fundamental core issues of who I am,” begins Marx. “I think it’s errors done by an IC – an independent contractor – on the website.”

In other words, “everything falls back on me,” except when it doesn’t. 

21:48: This is pointless, so Zelinger moves on to a question for Bottoms. He asks about how Bottoms would lead as governor given that he sponsored 20 bills in his four years in the legislature, and only saw one become law – a commemorative license plate bill.

“So, the license plate bill always surprises me because I forget I was on that,” says Bottoms. Not only did I only pass one piece of legislation – I didn’t even do it on purpose!

Kirkmeyer laughs off camera.

Bottoms continues with a story about how “they” tried to use the license plate bill as leverage against him, for reasons he does not explain. No legislator has ever needed Bottoms’ vote on anything in the last four years, but whatever.

Bottoms talks about the other bills he has run, none of which have made it out of their first committee hearing. 

“When I’m governor, there will be many more Republican seats,” says Bottoms. “And there’s many Republicans ready to cross the aisle and vote with us on some of these issues, and that’s how I’ll do it.”

Republican legislators will “cross the aisle” to vote with a Republican governor. Got it.

“They’re just waiting for you to become governor to agree with you?” asks Zelinger.

“No,” says Bottoms. “They’ve already agreed with me – they came and told me that.”

Both Bottoms and Marx seem to live in their own imaginary world where things are true simply because they say things are true. 

24:00: Clark asks Kirkmeyer to explain how she could accomplish anything as governor when she has not demonstrated an ability to do much of anything as a lawmaker.  

Kirkmeyer begins by talking about being a Weld County Commissioner for 20 years. “I’ve been a great leader,” she says. 

We amend our previous comment; Kirkmeyer also lives in an imaginary world where things are true simply because she says so.

Kirkmeyer continues with something about a health care safety net and bragging that she helped Democrats pass a balanced budget. The legislature is CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED to balance the budget every year, so this is a pretty terrible boast.

25:50: Clark asks Bottoms about his claim that there are 45-50,000 Tren de Aragua gang members in Colorado, which is 10-20 times more than the worldwide gang population according to the U.S. government. He asks Bottoms to defend that claim, as well as statements that Colorado sheriffs are planning to deputize former special forces soldiers to fight Tren de Aragua.

Bottoms says he was told by two ICE agents that there are 45,000 Tren de Aragua gang members in Colorado. He says he went back to them “this week” to ask about the number, “and they said I got that wrong.” Accountability is in short supply tonight.

Bottoms says that the ICE agents told him that there are 45,000 VENEZUELANS in Colorado, but that there are several thousand cartel members. Again, this number of gang/cartel members does not match up with what the U.S. government says is the TOTAL Tren de Aragua membership worldwide.

Bottoms says he talked to some of the Colorado sheriffs who disputed his claims in a story that Clark ran a few weeks ago; he says Clark never contacted them. Clark responds that he emailed every single sheriff in Colorado and that 40 of them responded. Clark says that Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell, whom Bottoms brought up specifically in previous comments, said that Bottoms is “confused about things you see on the news.”

Continues Clark: “I believe you just confirmed that when you said you couldn’t tell the difference between the 45,000 Venezuelans who came to Colorado and 45,000 Tren de Aragua gang members, which do not exist in the whole wide world.” Kyle Clark always keeps the receipts.

“So I’m right about the fact that not all 65 [sheriffs] told you that?” asks Bottoms.

“Absolutely,” says Clark. “What I said is that we couldn’t find one who said that you are telling the truth….would you like to name the ones who said they support your claim?”

“I don’t have to – you just did,” says Bottoms. 

“No, those are 15 who didn’t respond,” replies Clark. “That’s not how math and logic work.”

Clark again gives Bottoms a chance to name ANY of the Colorado sheriffs who support his claims about 45,000 Tren de Aragua gang members and preparations for deputizing former special forces soldiers.

Bottoms would rather try to argue semantics. “So, when you said that all 65 [sheriffs] said that I was making that up, that you talked to all 65 and they all said…”

“No,” says Clark. “Good grief, sir, that’s not what I said. Anybody watching at home could just roll back the tape.”

This continues for another minute. Clark finishes with, “Tonight’s your chance – lay out your evidence.” Bottoms instead starts talking about something Clark may or may not have said in a broadcast two weeks ago.

“It feels like you think you have won a clever game here,” says Clark. 

Bottoms keeps going, but the moderators ignore him and move on.

29:16: Zelinger asks for a short answer on whether the candidates would try to roll back Colorado’s limitations on local law enforcement working with ICE agents.

Marx goes first, and does not answer. “I love immigration…when it’s legal.” As he says this, Marx leans over the podium in a transparent attempt to seem like he is really engaged in the topic. Marx eventually says he would create a special task force on immigration to do…who cares? This is dumb.

30:15: Without any sense of irony, Bottoms says he would mobilize the National Guard against Venezuelan gangs in Aurora. He says the President of the United States could engage special forces members on active duty, which is completely irrelevant to the question. 

30:45: Kirkmeyer says she would roll back the limits in Colorado. Easy.

31:30: Zelinger asks the candidates if they would try to withhold state funding from so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Bottoms says he would definitely withhold funds…then says he would put certain mayors in jail for going against federal law.

“How would you put a mayor in jail?” asks Zelinger.

“You call the Attorney General and say, ‘Put them in jail,’” replies Bottoms. For a guy who spends a lot of time saying that Democrats ignore the State Constitution, Bottoms doesn’t seem to know jack shit about it himself.

31:50: Kirkmeyer starts giggling uncontrollably. “Okay, I’m not doing that,” she says.

Kirkmeyer says she would consider withholding state funding, but doesn’t like the idea of punishing local residents for decisions made by local leaders. This might be the first reasonable response we’ve heard thus far.

32:50: Marx somehow thinks the question is about federal funding. Both Kirkmeyer and Zelinger correct him.

“You know what? Yes,” says Marx. “The short answer is yes.” Given that Marx didn’t even understand the question as of 10 seconds ago, it’s hard to take his response seriously. 

Kirkmeyer jumps in and says Gov. Jared Polis threatened to withhold state funding from Weld County during the height of the COVID pandemic. Cool story.

34:00: Clark asks Marx about running a campaign promising a return to “Christian values” and the conflict between the separation of church and state.

“I’m starting to believe you’re not a Republican,” jokes Marx. This would come off better if Marx hadn’t been making a fool of himself over the previous 30 minutes. 

Marx then says that “returning Christian leadership” and “making the state Christian” are two different things. Again with the semantics.

Marx then does the I’ve worked with people of all religions thing and concludes with a grin. Marx did not answer the question. 

35:50: Clark asks Bottoms about his endorsement from Joe Oltmann, who has called for Jewish and Democratic politicians to be hanged on more than one occasion. 

 Bottoms says he and Oltmann disagree on the State of Israel and that he doesn’t have a problem with Jews. Then he dips back into the crazy juice.

“I do know that there are indictments coming down pretty soon for Secretary of State Griswold and Attorney General Weiser…I don’t think it has anything to do with them being Jewish. I think it has to do with them being corrupt.” 

Bottoms says the indictments will be coming for sedition. Clark follows up by asking if Bottoms is really saying that he has inside information that Griswold and Weiser are about to be indicted for sedition.

“Yes, treason,” says Bottoms. “And the indictments are probably going to come down in mid-summer.”

Clark asks if Bottoms agrees with Oltmann that if Griswold and Weiser are indicted and found guilty, that they should be executed. Bottoms responds, in a completely serious tone, that he is against the death penalty.

Clark then asks if Bottoms would find a role for Oltmann in his administration. “Probably,” Bottoms replies. Kirkmeyer starts laughing again.

38:30: Zelinger asks a question about ballot measures trying to specify funding priorities that would force the legislature to make other cuts.

Kirkmeyer dances around and says Democrats just spend too much money. “We don’t have a revenue issue – we have a spending issue,” she says. Zelinger points out the obvious discrepancy here: isn’t requiring the state to spend money on road construction, as a ballot measure is trying to do, also a spending problem?

“No, it’s not,” says Kirkmeyer. Logic be damned!

40:31: Clark asks Bottoms about his desire to get rid of property taxes altogether, which would create a $20 billion budget hole that Bottoms says can be filled by ending taxpayer funding for abortions, transgender surgeries, and other funds for illegal immigrants. 

 Bottoms tries to make another semantics argument, then he says he wants to get rid of BOTH property taxes and income taxes. Clark asks how that could possibly work in practice and how Bottoms figures that these handful of programs – like abortion – would add up to more than $20 billion.

Bottoms says it works, because he says it does. Clark says the nonpartisan budget staff estimates the cost of funding abortions to be $6 MILLION, not billion, and that transgender surgeries are about $230k. So where would the rest of the $19.9 billion come from?

Bottoms replies by saying the numbers provided by nonpartisan staff are wrong.

43:30: Clark asks Kirkmeyer, who sits on the Joint Budget Committee, “How do you assess his math?”

“Wrong,” says Kirkmeyer. “To cut $20 billion would be more than the General Fund operating budget by $1.5 billion.” 

44:27: Zelinger asks Marx about his calls for state audits, even though the state already does audits of the budget.

Marx says the state shouldn’t be auditing itself. “I opened up the Long Bill the other day,” he says about the annual budget bill. “I started looking at it and thought, ‘Pretty complicated.’” 

If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if someone who had never paid any attention to the government decided to run for the top job in the state…it would look just like this.

46:00: Next question: Is Tina Peters correct in saying that there was fraud in the 2020 election in Colorado?

Kirkmeyer: “I don’t believe so.”

Bottoms: “Yes.”

Marx: “Well, it’s her word against everyone else.”

46:30: Would you provide a full pardon to Tina Peters?

Marx: “Well, I believe [President] Trump is going to do that before anyone else…”

Clark: “He can’t constitutionally do that. You could as governor. Would you do that?”

Marx: “Sure, if I needed to.”

There are not enough face palms in the world to do Marx justice.

Clark: “I’m asking you if you would.”

Marx: “I’m asking you if I should…”

Clark: “We can move on.”

Bottoms says he would pardon Peters. Kirkmeyer says she would not.

47:00: Zelinger asks Kirkmeyer why voters should trust her to lead a state she wanted to leave when she supported a secession campaign in 2013. 

Kirkmeyer gives a word salad about how the campaign was just about whether some northern Colorado counties should consider secession, not whether they would. This is a distinction without a difference. 

“Any time voters ask me to put something on the ballot, and they want to have their voice…I am going to do that,” says Kirkmeyer.

Really? So if some Weld County voters propose a ballot measure to turn all Colorado reservoirs into giant pools of lemonade, you’ll back them? What if your constituents want to make Tagalog the official language of Colorado? You’re cool with that, too? That’s some solid leadership, Barb.

Zelinger asks Kirkmeyer how she voted on the question of secession.

“I voted for it,” she says. Kirkmeyer tries to keep talking, but it makes no difference what she says next. A candidate for Governor of Colorado just acknowledged that she voted to secede from Colorado. Even in a room full of twits like Bottoms and Marx, this is disqualifying.

48:30: Clark ask Marx about his wild claims of everything from rescuing people from human trafficking; calling in airstrikes that killed ISIS fighters; and being the first American into Gaza following the current conflict with Israel. 

“How should voters decide whether you’ve lived one of the most extraordinary lives in human history, or whether you are a liar and a fraud?”

Marx turns beet red and tries to deflect. “Can we back up to [Kirkmeyer] for one second?”

“Please answer the question, sir,” says Clark.

“I will,” responds Marx, turning to Kirkmeyer. “But I want to make a little informal complaint. The folks at home don’t want to hear about her past and what she did. That’s not going to make a lick of difference to those who are having trouble putting food on the table…” Yada, yada. Does this crap actually work with other people when they question Marx? He couldn’t be more obvious.

Clark: “Sir, how much of your time do you plan to burn before you answer the question of how and where you tell the truth?”

Marx: “Do I tell the truth?” Marx says the proof of his claims is that he has 20 years of videos and pictures to back up his historical record. Then he starts talking to the dog.

No, seriously.

“Reagan, I said I was going to talk about you,” he says as he looks down at the dog. “This little dog, she’s going to go bite you now, Kyle. She was in Syria and Iraq. So, is she lying, too?”

Clark: “Well, the dog’s not running for governor. You’re running for governor, and you’ve spent precious little time answering the question other than to say folks just need to take the word of you and your staff for your accomplishments.”

Marx tries to keep deflecting, but Clark rightfully ignores him for another question to Bottoms. 

51:18: Clark wants to know if Bottoms has evidence for his claims that he uncovered $30 BILLION in waste in the state budget.

Bottoms says the Executive Director for the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline uncovered this evidence five years ago.

Clark jumps in and says what Bottoms is referring to is a $2.6 million scandal that has been widely reported by the news media, which is less than one-tenth of one percent of $30 billion. 

Bottoms responds by saying Attorney General Weiser has hidden $3 billion in fraud. 

53:00: Zelinger asks for a raise of hands: Would any of you try to take abortion rights out of the state constitution? Only Bottoms confirms.

Zelinger asks how Bottoms would do this. Bottoms says 40% of people who voted in favor of a constitutional right to abortion were misled, or something. 

Bottoms and Kirkmeyer then spend the next minute debating about the language in the Constitution surrounding this issue. Absolutely nobody cares.

54:15: “I didn’t give my answer,” complains Marx.

“Your answer was not raising your hand,” responds Zelinger.

“Well, it was kind of a tricky way you said it,” says Marx, who has yet to understand ANY question asked thus far. “What’s your name again?”

“Marshall, his name’s Marshall,” says Kirkmeyer. “Mine’s Barb.”

Yes, Victor Marx really just tried to pull a power play by pretending not to know Zelinger’s first name. Somewhere, Jon Keyser and his dog are smiling.

55:00: Time for one-minute closing statements, which should be not at all illuminating.

Bottoms says Democrats in Colorado don’t like Democrats in Colorado. He rattles off a bunch of confounding numbers that he says shows people don’t want boys playing girls sports. Probably. It was hard to follow. He concludes by saying Democrats will vote for him for governor.

Marx uses his minute to make a prayer. Was this part of his debate prep?

Kirkmeyer says Democrats are bad, blah blah. She says she is the only person in this field who is actually qualified to be governor. We’d quibble with “actually qualified,” but she’s certainly less inept than Bottoms or Marx. 

So, what did we learn here? Only that not one of the people on stage should be anywhere near the levers of power in Colorado. Based on recent election results and the asinine campaigns of these three jokers, we really don’t need to worry about that.