November 02, 2011 09:46 PM UTC

Longmont Mayor Bryan "Mad Dog" Baum Narrowly Trailing

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• by: Colorado Pols

A close one up in always-entertaining Longmont, as the Times-Call’s Scott Rochat reports:

According to the final unofficial results, challenger Dennis Coombs was barely ahead with 10,558 votes to Baum’s 10,393. (The total includes one Weld County ballot.) However, that doesn’t include “problem” ballots such as those submitted with unclear signatures or by new voters who didn’t include a copy of their ID…

Late in the campaign, Baum had seen wide swings of the pendulum. He was able to announce that a contract had been signed on the Twin Peaks Mall, resolving a long-standing campaign issue. But political opponents also angered him by bringing up a 2010 small claims lawsuit involving his wife’s dog, in a move they said was meant to illustrate his character.

“If this proves negative campaigning works, I’ll be really surprised,” Baum said.

We have to say we’re not surprised to see Longmont Mayor Bryan Baum on the losing end of this election, and although we thought the dog-bite lawsuit business was amusing, we’d say his proposal as mayor to limit citizen comments at council meetings, saying “I just think it’s ridiculous to be there an hour and a half and listen to the same thing over and over again,” probably contributed more to a lack of reciprocal warm fuzzies on the part of his electorate.

Them’s the breaks, busy man.