September 04, 2012 08:19 PM UTC

Sal Pace: On the Air

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• by: ClubTwitty

Sal Pace is out with his first ad buy.

In an email to supporters announcing the ad–and to potential supporters to help keep it on the air–the campaign touts the campaign’s efforts to cover the sprawling district:

Campaign Ticker

31,318 miles, 461 days, 427 events, 1 New Fuel Pump for the Trusty Old Ford Pickup, 1 near collision with a moose

Although the ad is a soft sell introduction to Pace, on the trail Sal is going after his opponent pretty hard.  

Pueblo state legislator and democratic challenger in the 3rd Congressional District, Pace has been working hard covering what will be the 3rd CD in the 113th Congress.

In Carbondale, Pace met with ranchers and conservationists representing the Thompson Divide Coalition, as reported in the Aspen Daily News.

There were 14 people representing various interests who participated in the roundtable discussion on Friday. Attendees included Thompson Divide Coalition members Zane Kessler, Laurie Lindberg Stevens and Dorothea Farris; Aspen Skiing Co.’s vice president of sustainability Auden Schendler; Pitkin County Commissioner George Newman and commissioner candidates John B. Young and Steve Child; Wilderness Workshop Executive Director Sloan Shoemaker, and Aaron Kindle of Carbondale’s Trout Unlimited.

If Pace wins Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District this year, one of his top priorities will be to address the Thompson Divide issue by holding another roundtable discussion between the local stakeholders and representatives from the oil companies to see if they can find common ground, he said.

“My philosophy is we’re given false choices too often,” said Pace, who is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton. “And it’s an option of economy and jobs versus environment. I think people try to force you to choose one or the other and those are false choices.”

Tipton, during a campaign visit to Aspen last month, declined to take a position on Bennet’s bill until it had received more public comment.

In Telluride he met with small business owners, where he talked about his support of the popular San Juan wilderness proposal, according to the Daily Planet.

“The guy I’m running against signed an industry pledge saying he wouldn’t support any wilderness under any circumstances,” Pace said. “I think that’s the wrong approach. The way I view it is in an area like San Miguel County, the San Juan Wilderness means jobs. When people come to San Miguel County, they want to bike and fish and hike and ski in a beautiful environment. There’s a broad consensus that creating wilderness designations will help grow recreation in a tourism-based economy.”

In Craig, Pace attacked Tipton on his support for the ‘Ryan budget,’ noted by the Craig Daily Press:

Tipton has twice voted in support of the Ryan Budget.

“Tipton’s multiple votes for the Ryan Budget show he’s lost sight of Colorado priorities in Washington, D.C.,” said Pace during a press call Wednesday. “We have to address the budget. But we have to do so in a fair, deliberate and responsible way.

“The Tipton-Ryan Budget goes against Colorado priorities, and I intend to work, as I did in the state house, in a bipartisan fashion to really address the deficit concerns this country faces.”

Pace also unveiled Wednesday his “Baker’s Dozen: The Worst Things for Colorado About the Ryan Budget” and an interactive online map that localizes his criticisms of the Republican proposal to cities in CD3.

And while Pace has been showing up all around the District, Tipton’s appearances have been more limited. And the crowd Scott’s been running in seems split between him and his unaffiliated challenger Tisha Casida, who has lots of the ‘real’ Tea Party support.  

Rep. Tipton has yet to go on air–and its not yet clear which direction he would be running in…toward Sal and away from Tisha…or toward Tisha and away from Sal.  

But now that Sal Pace is up, maybe we’ll see.  And since all three will be at the upcoming Club 20 debate, Tipton won’t be able to dodge the question for long.  The 3rd CD is about to heat up.