March 02, 2016 12:41 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (March 2)

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Colorado caucuses are over; what do we do now? It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Say, it wasn’t a “Super” Tuesday for you? Your name must not be Donald Trump.

Trump continues to steamroll the rest of the Republican field en route to the GOP Presidential nomination. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz managed a couple of wins, including a big victory in his home state, but Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is going to need some time to clean all of those footprints off his forehead. Rubio did finally manage to win a state, even if it was only Minnesota, but the crows are circling his campaign now.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton appears well on her way to winning her Party’s Presidential nomination. Bernie Sanders picked up a couple of states on Tuesday — including a victory in Colorado — but the delegate math still doesn’t work out in his favor over the long haul.

► There are 13 (13!) Republican candidates seeking a U.S. Senate nomination in Colorado. This is probably news to a majority of GOP caucus-goers, who would have needed to get excited on Tuesday just to be labeled “indifferent” on the race. State Sen. Tim Neville still looks like he’ll cruise to the nomination.

► Media outlets across the land are freaking the freak out after Super Tuesday; apparently this “Trump” character has them worried. As the editorial “board” of the Denver Post opines today, “Donald Trump’s victories point to a GOP crisis.”

A similar theme is being repeated by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The National Review, and pretty much anybody else with a computer and Internet access.

Eli Stokols of Politico (and formerly Fox 31 in Colorado) writes that Tuesday was “The Day the Republican Party Ruptured.”

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) continues to make us proud…er, no, wait, what’s the opposite of “proud”? By a vote of 371-9, Congress approved a measure naming a post office in North Carolina for civil rights activist and poet Maya Angelou. Can you guess which Colorado congressman was inexplicably included among the 9 “NO” votes? HINT: It rhymes with Ken Buck.

► Colorado Republicans are terrified of Donald Trump, but they have no idea what to do about it.

► State Senate President Bill Cadman will destroy Colorado’s budget if it’s the last thing he does (and it probably will be). Colorado media outlets are not amused.

► The oil and gas industry in Colorado is creating hundreds of gazillions of jobs! Er, not. From Cathy Proctor of the Denver Business Journal:

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of the biggest oil and gas companies working in Colorado, will have only one drilling rig operating in the state during 2016 — down from an average of seven in 2015.

The Texas company (NYSE: APC), based in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston, on Tuesday followed its peers by releasing budget figures and plans for 2016 that are a far cry from last year.

Hammered by a bust in oil and gas prices brought on by an international glut in supplies, oil and gas companies have slashed budgets, laid off employees and sold assets in the struggle to survive.

► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) recently visited the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and he has a plan…for expansion? From the Denver Post:

Rather than close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner said Tuesday that he’d like to see its mission expanded to include fighters taken prisoner in the battle against the Islamic State.

The stance represents a doubling-down of Gardner’s opposition to recent White House efforts to close the detention facility in Cuba, and it follows a tour the Colorado Republican said he took of the U.S. military base Monday.

“Guantanamo Bay is a facility that I think should be utilized by the United States for detainees, say, out of Syria,” Gardner said. “There’s a real question of what the United States could do if we detain somebody out of Syria right now.”

As part of the visit, Gardner said he saw where the detainees were imprisoned — although he did not speak with them. He described the overall conditions as humane.

Gardner went all the way to Cuba and didn’t even bother meeting any of the detainees, but he’s pretty sure they love being stuck in Gitmo and would invited friends and relatives.

► Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Jefferson County) is pushing legislation to bring regulatory relief for community banks.

► The Colorado Springs Independent reports on the graveyard of the Colorado legislature.

► Rain barrels, go forth to the State Senate and try to prosper!

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► No more fake service dogs on our watch!

► House Republicans held another fist-shaking hearing with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell over the Gold King Mine spill from last August.

ICYMI

► Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to earth on Tuesday after spending 340 days in space. He did not make it in time to attend the caucus.

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