August 06, 2010 12:47 AM UTC

Larimer County Folks ain't "shaking in our boots" - or - what's up with the Republican Shoe Fetish?

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• by: Meiner49er

(I’d like to see a diary from the Republicans up there too – promoted by DavidThi808)

I’ve been quiet for a good long while of late, because there’s work to do up here in Larimer County.  

Still, it was good to take a moment away from my county map long enough to see that 1) Cory Gardner seems to have forgotten the Republican aversion to the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08…

and 2) that even folks in New York are starting to grasp the urgency of what’s going on “about an hour north of Denver.”   Quoth the Times:

“This state represents a major swing region – the Rocky Mountain West – coveted by both Republicans and Democrats; the political and ideological counterpoint to the industrial Midwest, another major swing region. And Larimer County, about an hour north of Denver, is – in its diversity of interests and allegiances – representative of Colorado.”

Whether it’s a well-known candidate like Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CD4) or some lesser-known candidates like Jay Harrison (first Democratic Sheriff candidate since 1962), Commissioner candidate Adam Bowen, or HD 49 challenger Karen Stockley (who’s looking to be the first Democrat to win the rural parts of the county since the mid-70s), the county’s Democrats are working hard to consolidate our 2008 gains.

More importantly, we’re working to consolidate a vision for the future of Northern Colorado; one the Times rightly recognizes

“as increasingly linked to the high-tech and renewable-energy economy, which leans Democratic…a microcosm of Colorado’s future.  

Maybe that’s what’s got Cory Gardner “shaking in his boots.”

That’s right, Gardner claims we’re all “shaking in our boots” up here, “desperately afraid of what happens next week.”  It’s true that our local economy is a little shaky, but not so much that I meet folks who are “desperately afraid” while I’m out knocking doors.  Maybe Mr. Gardner wants us to be afraid, but we here in Larimer County are proud Americans, and we tend to see the bright side of a future we can work for together.

According to the Times,

the “Brookings Institution…ranked the Fort Collins area as having the second-best-performing small city economy in the Intermountain West.”

That’s because we Larimer County folks have a clear vision to grow a new energy economy that will capitalize on our open spaces, strong winds, and unending days of sunshine.

“Shaking in our boots?”  I don’t think so.  Larimer’s Democrats are out walking in them, and walking tall! I heard a lot more cheers than jeers for the Democrats at the County Fair parade last night.  By contrast, all I saw from the Republicans was a bunch of old men and boys dressed as militia from the original 13 colonies.  That may make for easy earned media, but it doesn’t really have much to do with Colorado’s past, let alone it’s future.

If Larimer County is a bell-weather for the nation, so be it.  For all the bluster from our opposition, we know sunnier days are ALWAYS ahead “about an hour north of Denver.”  If you feel the same way in your part of the state, or in your part of the country, why not jump on our bandwagons and help us make a difference?

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