October 06, 2009 06:34 PM UTC

Rothenberg Political Report Not There Yet

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Rothenberg Political Report recently released new assessments of Colorado’s Senate race and Governor’s race, and we think they’ve got the assessments a little, um, not correct.

Rothenberg lists Sen. Michael Bennet as having a “Clear Advantage for Incumbent Party,” while Gov. Bill Ritter is listed as a “Toss-Up.” We think they’ve got both races listed incorrectly, because we’d put both the Senate and Governor’s race in the “Narrow Advantage for Incumbent Party” position.

This is a classic example of Washington D.C. outsiders looking at races across the country based on limited information. For example, Republican Josh Penry has been getting good national press as the “new, fresh face” in Colorado Republican politics, but that ignores the facts: Scott McInnis beats him easily in head-to-head polling, and Penry has yet to show that he can be a strong fund raiser. Ritter is by no means safe for re-election, but given that there is a tough GOP primary with two flawed candidates, this is still his race to lose.

On the Senate side, Bennet has a tough primary with House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and finally has a strong potential GOP challenger in Jane Norton. Again, this is Bennet’s race to lose, but we certainly wouldn’t say he has a “clear advantage” at winning re-election.

What say you?

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