January 25, 2006 09:00 AM UTC

State Senate Scuttlebutt

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Aspen Times reported last week that Democratic CU Regent Gail Schwartz would run for state senate in SD-5 (Delta, Pitkin counties), and Democrats are more than hopeful that Schwartz will be able to unseat incumbent Republican Lew Entz. The optimism comes in large part because of a fundraising advantage she may enjoy courtesy of her husband, Alan Schwartz.

While Gail Schwartz will likely be criticized over her work as a CU Regent, her husband, Alan, is a senior partner at the powerful law firm of Hogan & Hartson and is a prodigious fundraiser. If Alan can help Gail raise big money for her campaign, it will mean big trouble for Entz.

Meanwhile, there could be another reason why Republican Reps. Ray Rose and Mark Larson declined to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Jim Isgar. While Larson’s problems with factions of the Republican Party have been well-documented and no doubt played a primary role in his decision to pull out of the race against Isgar, we also hear that some Republicans say Isgar is polling very strong and was going to be a tough out anyway.

UPDATE: Democrats may still be hopeful about a tough primary clearing the road for a potential upset in November, but Keith Igoe won’t be involved — he’s apparently dropping out of the race for personal reasons.

Finally, there’s been more and more talk lately that there will be a bitter primary in store for Sen. Kiki Traylor, who was nominated by a vacancy committee to fill the SD-22 seat that opened when Norma Anderson stepped down, some Democrats are quietly hopeful that Democrat Keith Igoe could slide in and steal the Republican-leaning seat if the Republican primary is nasty enough, though the odds are not in his favor otherwise.