President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) J. Sonnenberg

(R) Ted Harvey

20%↑

15%↑

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

(R) Doug Bruce

20%

20%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

40%↑

20%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
February 27, 2020 11:01 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (February 27)

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Happy “National Protein Day.” Go eat a burger, or something. It’s time to Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio/visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

As the United States braces for what appears to be an inevitable Coronavirus outbreak, more attention is (rightfully) being paid to Trump administration decisions that have left the country more vulnerable to a pandemic. From The Washington Post:

President Trump insists the United States is “very, very ready” for dealing with the coronavirus. Yet two years ago, his administration undercut its own ability to respond to such an outbreak.

Trump announced in a news conference last night that Vice President Pence will lead the federal government’s response to the deadly coronavirus, trying to reassure Americans amid growing concerns of a global health crisis that has led to tumbling stocks as the virus spreads around the world…

…Trump didn’t mention that there’s evidence the virus could now be spreading within the United States. A person in Northern California has contracted the coronavirus without traveling to regions hit by the outbreak or coming in contact with anyone known to have the infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last night…

And he didn’t point to the history that is making his administration’s response to this new outbreak more difficult. Two years ago, the administration disbanded two permanent groups formed by President Obama to respond to the 2014 Ebola outbreak one within the White House National Security Council and another within the Department of Homeland Security.

That sounds bad, right? But it’s just the beginning…

That’s not all Trump did. He also proposed cutting the parts of the budgets at NSC, DHS, and Health and Human Services designated for fighting global disease. And in early 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dramatically downsized its epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries because money was running out. 

We should also mention that putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of Coronavirus response is a dicey choice considering Pence’s history with such efforts; Pence was Governor of Indiana during the worst outbreak of HIV in state history, and he regularly overruled suggestions by health officials on how to handle the problem.

If you are concerned about how to prepare for Coronavirus coming to Colorado, experts say to plan like you might for a big snowstorm. 9News.com has more on separating fact from fiction.

 

► Colorado lawmakers gave final approval to legislation that will repeal the death penalty in Colorado. As The Denver Post explains:

After nearly five hours of debate Wednesday, the state House voted 38-27 for the repeal, with three Democrats joining all 24 House Republicans in voting against the bill.

In total, lawmakers spent about 36 hours debating and taking testimony on the bill since late January, when the bill moved through the Senate.

The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis, who will have 10 days to sign it or allow it to become law without any action.

 

► There had been scant polling information in Colorado related to the Democratic Presidential Primary until recently. A new poll from Data For Progress shows Bernie Sanders leading Elizabeth Warren in Colorado. Republican polling firm Magellan Strategies sees similar numbers.

Meanwhile, Colorado Public Radio reports that more candidates are spending money in Colorado ahead of Super Tuesday…but nobody is dropping more coin than Michael Bloomberg. Of course, nobody seems to be dropping in polls more than Bloomberg, either.

 

 If you still have a mail ballot ahead of Super Tuesday, DO NOT DROP IT IN THE MAIL. In order to make sure that your vote is counted, take your ballot to a drop-off location in your area; go to GoVoteColorado.com for more information. You might also check out this Super Tuesday Q&A from Colorado Public Radio.

Republican polling firm Magellan Strategies updates its ballot return numbers HERE.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

 

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

 

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper picked up another big endorsement as he seeks the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. From The Aurora Sentinel:

Gun-control advocate and former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is again planning an endorsement trip to Aurora. This time it will be for John Hickenlooper in the U.S. Senate race. 

“A lot has changed in the last severn years. Gun safety legislation went from a political third rail to a winning issue,” said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, the group the former congresswoman founded with her husband to endorse and support candidates, policy and legislation.”…

…During his tenure as Colorado governor, Hickenlooper saw firsthand the outcomes of gun violence, at funerals for Aurora theater shooting victims, Tom Clements, head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, and Claire Davis, who was killed at Arapahoe High School.

 

► State Sen. Larry Crowder apparently believes that efforts to change the name of “Columbus Day” are somehow applicable to the Ku Klux Klan. Also, he uses the term “Orientals” in a Facebook rant. Good times.

 

The Department of the Interior has lifted a moratorium on federal coal leasing. This still won’t change the fact that the coal industry really isn’t financially viable anymore.

 

 Data from The Center for Western Priorities shows that the top three energy producing states in the Western U.S. are averaging 8 spills PER DAY:

A new analysis by the Center for Western Priorities finds that oil and gas companies reported 2,811 spills in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2019, nearly eight per day. Across the three states, drillers reported spilling 23,600 barrels of oil and 170,223 barrels of produced water — salty wastewater often laced with toxic chemicals.

The number of reported spills has increased steadily in Wyoming and Colorado over the past few years, rising 31 percent in Wyoming since 2015, and 58 percent in Colorado since 2012. Companies in New Mexico reported 1,352 spills, by far the most of the three states. While this represents an 11 percent decrease from the year prior, companies reported releasing 812 million cubic feet of methane — more than three times the amount reported the year before.

Via Center for Western Priorities

 

The Trump campaign is airing a new commercial with footage from last week’s rally in Colorado Springs.

 

► Oh, look: Former Colorado lawmaker Ted Harvey is behind a ridiculously-misleading television ad targeting former Vice President Joe Biden that mashes up words from former President Barack Obama in the same shitty way that you made a mixtape with your boombox in 1988.

 

► A legislative effort to end “camping bans” in Colorado went precisely nowhere.

 

► There’s no movement on a stalled PUC appointment that Senate President Leroy Garcia is trying to prevent.

 

► There used to be a line that elected officials wouldn’t cross as a measure of common decency. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner skipped right on past such a line on Wednesday.

 

► Schools in Jefferson County will be closed on March 19 because of anticipated teacher shortages related to an “Educator Day of Action” planned by the Colorado Education Association.

 

► South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg has a plan for his post-Super Tuesday Presidential campaign. Buttigieg’s campaign is anticipating that the Mayor will not carry any states on Tuesday.

 

 

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

► Records show that more than half of students in some Colorado schools are not vaccinated.

 

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is sponsoring federal legislation that would really hurt Colorado if implemented.

 

ICYMI

 

Not a town hall meeting.

 

 

For more political learnings, check out The Get More Smarter Show or The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter

 

Comments

9 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Thursday (February 27)

  1. Once more, I am posting the link to Mark Sumners at DailyKos who provides a daily assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic that is far better than any other source I've found.  Today's post is particularly troubling regarding the CA case who was not tested for more than four days of declining health because there are so few test kits available in the US.  I sold lots of my retirement stock on Monday and Tuesday.  It's probably not too late to consider what will happen to the stock market if/when the US is under quarantine.  The stock market analysts on CNBC, who seem to be uniformly right-wing morons, are woefully behind the curve on this.

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/27/1922435/-COVID-19-is-no-longer-a-China-thing-as-more-cases-are-reported-outside-the-original-epicenter#read-more

      1. Last night, Trump said it was fear brought on my Tuesday night's debate and "democratic socialism" that drove the market to tank on Monday.

        I kid you not.

         

      2. Fine.  Go ahead and ignore what I posted about the coronavirus and the potential for a global quarantine.  The market just closed down (4.43%).  I don't know what else to say, but Itlduso.

  2. Most of us working stiffs have no “retirement stocks” to trade, and PERA routinely ignores its shareholders requests about investing. But thanks for your advice. Do you get it directly from Bloomberg?

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

237 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!