President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%↑
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd
(D) Adam Frisch
52%↑
48%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
60%
40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
June 22, 2007 04:13 PM UTC
27 Comments
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Well ok,
When will the party hire staff that has a clue? It is time for the state party to hire a full time finance director and some more field staff to lay some ground work.
The party is up to its eye balls in debt but hire a spokesman? Pat Waak has really done nothing to build the Colorado Democratic Party into anything but the same, the great hope everyone had for her has fallen flat. Even the groups within the party are totally broke and that is the grand key stone of the plan of the CSD.
Yes the dems took power here but the state party really had nothing to do with that at all, I would almost argue it has been what has been holding some Dems back.
Hmmm… Maybe this is a good thing but the party needs to focus on field and finance. Last time I checked you do not win elections by a press release and a press conf.
The CO dems have had some really good years, but unless some serious ground work is laid all these gains can quickly be for nothing.
Word is that the State Republican Party is so far in debt (with lawsuits being threatened) that some Rs have talked about the party filing for bankruptcy.
The only reason… when you lose people dont donate at all. The National’s wont let them go belly up, they can save them pretty easy.
There is NO groundwork being laid here on the D side… well ok not by the Party anyways. It is totally useless here… like tits on a bull.
I’ve been active in the Dems from before the 2004 campaign to the present. When I first tried, and the operative word is tried, to get involved, the HQ had one person other than Chris Whatshisname, hanging around.
“I want to get involved.”
“Oh, as the election gets closer, this place will get real busy.”
Meanwhile, the web page had breaking news of four months ago, the server, as I was to find out, was running NT and totally unsecure. At the same time, the R website was current and eye catching. There was no voter database except as they bought the CD’s from the counties, and then one had to go through several layers of individuals to get a pertinent printout.
In a short while after becoming chair woman, Pat hired Mike Weisman, and incredibly competent IT guy. Now, I can look up voter information from any internet computer. The back room computer is now secure, the web site is concise and presentable, and the HQ buzzes all months of the year.
Pat started a religion-Dem forum and was certainly a key player in getting the convention here. She understood, like the Republicans figured out years ago, that this wasn’t a game to start practice two months ahead of the election.
So, what’s the problem? She doesn’t get instant media attention like Wad Dickems, OK. The lights are on, I’ve not received any emergency pleas for money. I presume that the cost of hiring Sugar was taken into account.
Last, we all know the outcomes of the elections since she took the party over. Granted, she wasn’t in office when The Great Statehouse Takeover occured, but she has been effective since then.
what is the url?
I remember meeting him in 2003 at a Dean event. After working in finance for for than a decade I met a lot of big egos, Chris Gates ranked right up there.
I was willing and able to commit time and money to the party and he so turned me off I basically stayed out. Pat is perfect, but she’s better than Gates.
Romanoff is more responsible for the takeover of the statehouse than anyone.
Next the State chair needs develop stronger county operations. Having worked on a statewide race last cycle, I can tell you that the local county operations are of widely different quality, Places like el Paso were well run, I loved working with them. Pat needs to strengthen the local parties, perhaps by developing a organization best practice manual so that the parties can see what has worked in other counties,maybe organizing small scale conference calls monthly. They also need a centralized resource for support and information. There are so many people who want to help, we just need structure so that it is easy to plug them in.
Finally as a bit of a number dork, the party needs invest in collecting more robust data on a more granular level, that means more detailed polling and more effective canvasing. Good canvasing requires training. We have to get data that has a bit of longitude so we are ready in 5 years for redistricting. Good data will also allow us craft a better message, by understanding what drives peoples concerns, not just what their positions are.
Pat isn’t perfect, but she’s better than gates.
….and getting people to volunteer. Even those who give a damn find it hard to find time and energy to canvass.
Although we are seeing a surge in the youth vote, my subjective sense is that there is no surge in the youth participation of the small d democratic process.
My daughters and I walked a precinct on election day. We had addresses that didn’t exist, people who were not registered, and the ultimate – walking up to one house and the car had a bumpersticker – “Impeach Hillary.”
We spent all day and maybe impacted 10 votes.
One of the worst things about bad data, is how frustrating it is for volunteers who are doing GOTV. When collecting data you are going to have hang ups and slammed doors, but when doing GOTV you expect to be going into friendly territory.
Keeping volunteers motivated, preventing frustration, and using them effectively is hard enough without sending them out on suicide missions.
…and you’ve won an election.
But I know what you mean. I had similar experiences in 2004. For instance, the sheet shows an older female Dem at an address. I talk to her son – she was gone or sleeping or something – and he tells me that she absolutely is a Republican. All very nice, no hard feelings.
There are a fair number of households with husband and wife belonging to opposite parties. Think Carville and Madelyn. So, an “Impeach Hillary” sticker might be one point of view and not the partner’s. Don’t understand how those marriages work, but more power to ’em.
Question for the activist R’s: Do you have something like our VAN (Voter Access Network)? This is registered voter data base, updated monthly from the counties. We can query and print in almost any conceivable manner, and is available to anyone in the party who has a valid reason to do so.
If you can rely on several multi-millionaires throwing money your way…this goes for both Rs and Ds (hence the need for a strong R state party!). Unfortunately for Ds, one of their millionaires is running for his own office.
All the Rs have to do is sneakily convince the other millionaires they should run for office too and they’re set. Forget trying to put forth strong candidates, that wont work…just get the ultra-rich Ds to fritter their money away!
…to finish their website.
And they are (or should be) the spiritual and financial HQ for Colorado R’s. It ain’t that hard guys, I might even do it out of pity.
Here’s the PeakDem’s site – a thing of beauty.
Does it have weekly updates as to the goings on in the Office of the Ranking Minority on the Armed Services Committee Waiting List?
hour of prayer up on their site:
http://www.gopelpaso…
…you find out that it’s only 50 minutes.
God isn’t going to be pissed off.
Damned fumble fingers. Saw the error as it disappeared into the Pols server…
That Sugar takes a currently open position within the party and isn’t having a spot created for him. Some people on the Executive Committee might get a bit miffed if the latter is true.
OK, so a couple of days ago someone mentioned that Wadhams gets $160,000 a year to lead the CO Republicans. It’s my understanding that Waak gets a big goose egg. I won’t complain about Waak because I’m not willing to step up and do any of what she’s doing for free.
But should Dems consider paying the person who’s supposed to be responsible for the Democratic strategy/implementation for the state? Or are we content to continue to get what we pay for?
for deliverables. The metric doesn’t have to be just elections won, we should also make other activities that strengthen the party over time part of the performance assessment.
The state chair can be an empty chair or a powerful force, or anything in between. Better to pay and demand results.
Mostly because she’s traveling a lot, and it was a completely unpaid position. That was just voted on recently; it’s not a significant sum compared to Wadhams’s $160k.
It is my understanding that Wadhams is getting his cash in part from also being the Executive Director of the state GOP… Not sure how much a regular Exec Director makes for a state party, though.
I’d say that if all we are paying Pat is expense reimbursement and such, we are getting a hell of a bargain! Far more than “what we pay for” and certainly more bang than for a $160K buck. Guess that’s bucks.
What about Chris?
And I should correct my statement about getting “what we pay for” to say, should we keep this a volunteer position and agree to keep our mouths shut unless we’re willing to step up to that volunteer position?
Personally, I think it’s a very odd model where paid folks ostensibly report to volunteers and where the volunteers are relied upon to strategize/organize/speak on behalf of/etc. approx one third of the state’s voters. I also prefer the accountability inherent in a cash exchange.
Who are the sick 9 individuals (thus far) that would prefer to see DICK WAD on their call ID, rather than Sugar.
What is wrong with you people? You must be apart of that bottom 26% that still believes Bush is doing a good job in office.
so CoPols can relax.