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May 13, 2010 08:00 PM UTC

Why We Don't Pay Attention to Everyone Who Runs for Office

  • 30 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

We often get asked about why we don’t write about every candidate that runs for a major office in Colorado, and our answer is always the same: Just because you can fill out paperwork to become an official “candidate” doesn’t mean we have to pay attention to you.

Any knucklehead can file the necessary forms to run for Governor or U.S. Senate or any other race, but spending time discussing a half-assed (at best) candidate is a disservice to the many candidates who spend most of their waking hours raising money and trolling for votes. Just because your name is on the ballot doesn’t mean you deserve to be a part of the discussion. Case in point, from TPM:

When independent Jason Clark threw his hat into the ring for the Colorado gubernatorial race, he didn’t have a Lieutenant Governor candidate he was eager to team up with. So he decided to expand his search — to Craigslist.

Clark, who currently serves as the president of the Aurora, CO investment firm Clark Brothers, forked over $25 for a to-the-point listing on the website, calling on average Coloradans to apply for the job, via the standard anonymous Craigslist email address…

…Clark says that the ad has been “really, really successful” — but that out of the “well over 200 or 300 applications” that the listing had yielded so far, not everyone’s making the cut. “There’s 70 to 75 percent that I would say are not qualified for an office of that caliber,” he says.

Most of the people who responded to your Craigslist ad aren’t qualified to be Lieutenant Governor? We’re shocked!

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30 thoughts on “Why We Don’t Pay Attention to Everyone Who Runs for Office”

  1. I’m struggling to find the link (probably because the details are so forgettable), but you did give some real estate to a candidate for the 2006 Governor race that I believe had a singing and dancing background.

    Best candidate ever?

    Just sayin’.

        1. For the latest on who is running for what (I include ALL of the filed candidates), check out my website.

          I also am tracking the ballot issues and legislative races, as well as a page set up for Denver.

  2. has a lot better chance than this Guy… Vincent Martinez does in running for US Senate as a Republican.

    This guy tried to run 2 years ago and started showing up a Republican gatherings and introducing himself as a candidate and then reading a letter he wrote to Nancy Pelosi … uhh dude, that’s the House not Senate…  and just in case you were unaware, she’s a Democrat, not a Republican.

    As I recall, he was on the ballot at State Assembly, but he couldn’t find anyone who could nominate or second him.

    I am always leery of guys running for office introducing themselves as Mr. So and So, seems to be a bit off-putting to me.

    Guess he didn’t learn last time… maybe we do need to put more money into higher education because his didn’t take.

    Denver Broncos… Still Suck!

    1. I wonder how that’s working for him.

      It is refreshing to see someone running for a US office not waste dollars putting together a decent website.  Lord: )  But he does have a really bad picture of his car or someone’s car, not really sure what his little collage is going after??

  3. Perhaps he should have posted in the “Rants and Raves” section instead. He would’ve gotten even more educated responses.

  4. The only constitutionally required duty of the Lt Guv is head of the Colorado Indian Commission. Even I could handle that, Kimosabe.

    Didn’t Romer’s Lt Guv Mike Callahan resign to open up a fried chicken franchise?  

      2. One of the major disappointments of the “who will replace Ritter?” search period was the lack of respect given to possible women candidates.

        First name up should have been Barbara, not only out of respect for her office, but also because she is qualified.

        Second names up should be a tie between Morgan Carroll and Cary Kennedy. Both women are very well qualified to be running our state.

        I respect these fine women very much. I would trust our state’s recovery from the Bush Great Recession/Depression than anyone else.

        But, it was very obvious that the choice was not to be one of our well qualified women. It was to be one of the guys – again.

        Colorado is a leader for women in politics and office. However, our state lacks for having a woman gov or senator.

        These three women should be considered first not last for these offices.

        OBTW, we need an official “soapbox” in one of our public parks to allow anyone to stand and address our citizens.

        2. Any one of those women are well qualified to be Guv. Unfortunately the “search period” lasted`about a week.

          If, God forbid, the Dems lose the governorship this year, Morgan Carroll would be at the top of my list in four years, but I would work for any of them.

        3. …that Morgan told me, “Not now.”  (Hope that’s OK, Morgan!)

          She only builds more experience in the Capitol to become a stronger candidate in the future.  She’s still young and be a strong winner in 2018.

          While I think it all fine and wonderful that women and minorities run for and hold elective office, I think that the first choice in choosing a candidate MUST be, “Who in the party can carry the election?” We have some very fine female political contenders, but I don’t think any can approach Hickenlooper in electability.  

          Yet.  

        4. but she made it clear from the onset she was not interested. Cary also poo-poo’d the idea right from the get go.

          There are a very few legislators (male and female combined) who I view as governor material, none of whom put up any signal in interest of running.

          So I don’t think it was a matter of not seeking any women candidates, but more a case of there were none seeking to be sought.

    2. Callihan’s chicken was roasted, baby. Not fried. He was the Colorado master franchisee for “Kenny Rogers Roasters.” This was after he famously served Thanksgiving dinner to Colorado’s American Indian leaders … in the back of a Mayflower moving truck. I think he’s back in Gunnison now. What a turkey.

      1. He ran at the vacancy committee created when Ann McGihon stepped down last year, the seat Daniel Kagan won. I think he was a bit miffed people didn’t think his stint as Lt Gov and all that chicken roasting experience qualified him for the job.

  5. Most political contests quickly narrow down to 2 real candidates:

    1) As you pointed out, reporting on other candidates wastes effort

    2) A dollar spent attacking one candidate is de facto a dollar spent promoting his competitor

    Josh Penry is right to say that Blanche Lincoln benefits from AJS attacks on Halter. A reliable conservative would attack Lincoln (+8 to +18 over Halter), force a response, and run down her War Chest.

    Lincoln vs Halter Polls

    http://www.realclearpolitics.c…

  9. Yup, pay a filing fee of almost $10,000 or gather enough signatures.  The amount of the latter depends on the office and population of less-than-statewide districts.

    Sort of harsh, but sure keeps the riff-raff out.  

      1. the less process, the better. I think Florida’s politicians and election officials have proven that they have trouble handling the basic mechanics of the political process.

      2. And Colorado gets top honors because our process is even more cumbersome than Iowa’s.

        Let the other 48 states have their efficient processes, who needs it! 🙂

              1. From the “Free Online Dictionary”:

                1.  Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way: “Sarah Orne Jewett . . . was dismissed by one critic as merely a New England old maid who wrote quaint, plotless sketches of late 19th-century coastal Maine” (James McManus).

                2. Unfamiliar or unusual in character; strange: quaint dialect words. See Synonyms at strange.

                http://www.thefreedictionary.c…

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