CO-04 (Special Election)
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(R) Greg Lopez
(R) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%↓
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
90%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
90%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
(R) Ron Hanks
40%
30%
20%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(R) Deborah Flora
(R) J. Sonnenberg
30%↑
15%↑
10%↓
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Dave Williams
(R) Jeff Crank
50%↓
50%↑
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
90%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) Brittany Pettersen
85%↑
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
(R) Janak Joshi
60%↑
35%↓
30%↑
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
September 28, 2013 10:40 AM UTC
73 Comments
Processing. New talking points have not yet arrived. Sorry, I don't have a USB port. Do you still think I'm pretty?
Okay, I am not as willing to dismiss Cruze as a joke – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/49959/open-line-friday-38#comments
As I was saying, just yesterday:
"Okay, I am not as willing to dismiss Cruze as a joke "- ………..
"Cruz is smart, an orator, and I consider him dangerous. Remember, it was just a few years ago that Dems wanted him to be the Republican opponent in Texas because he was going to be so easy "to beat." – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/49959/open-line-friday-38#comments
He will face a massive defeat in '16 when he's up for re-election.
Governor Voldemort can't be governer much more longer either.. so both of the 'baggers will be dead and ancient history by '16.
Doh.. wrong state, wrong senator…
Pardon me.
Same thing… Goodhair/Cruz is finished.
Which Governor Voldemort? There are so many to choose from.
I disagree that the consequences at stake in this ACA or government shutdown piece of extortion aren't as serious as the coming debt ceiling battle.
Forget ACA in particular for a minute. The consequence of the President and Dem majority Senate giving in to a year delay (I can't imagine that they will do that) in response to blackmail would be to prolong the GOTP's ability to impose their will as a minority, possibly for quite some time, regardless of the demographic changes that will make it increasingly difficult for them to win the Senate or the White House.
In fact I believe that's the real goal of the Tea Party minority of the GOP in this battle. It's a way to have power all out of proportion to their numbers and in the country America is becoming it's the only way they can do it.
As long as they can be part of a GOP that hangs on to the House they can use this give us what we want or else, terrorist (that's what it is so I don't want to hear complaints about breaking the Nazi rule. They're threatening great material harm ) strategy to tear up legislation passed by the legitimately elected majority of legislators, approved by the President and even grudgingly accepted by the grownups in their own party.
It won't matter how successful Dems are in keeping the Senate and the White House. All the money and work Dems put into winning the Senate and the White House, all the votes of all the people subject to new difficult election rules who manage to run the gamut and vote, who wait hours in line to defeat the practices meant to discourage them, all the outreach to minority communities to get out the vote, all of it will be futile once the practice of minority rule by blackmail is set in stone.
However dire the consequences of refusing to give in to the GOPTea Party blackmailers may be, they are not as dire as the consequences of surrendering to them. This can't be allowed to happen.
+12
@BC
"This can't be allowed to happen. "
Now, take it a step further. You used the passive voice with the above sentence. Turn it around. "We can't let this happen". So, tell us how you think we can stop it.
Otherwise, you simply have written a rather standard eulogy for the coming off of life supports democratic party.
Oh for God's sake, dwyer. The only people who can prevent it from happening are the the President and the Dems in Senate. They are the ones who must reject the deal. They are the ones can't allow it to happen. I nag them via phone and e-mail all the time, I've been active in numerous campaigns over the years and I can't elect anyone new until the next election so kindly don't lecture me about using a passive voice.
Reid and Obama are both still talking tough and swearing to refuse a deal that includes a delay of ACA. It's in their hands. So whoever you think you are, kindly can the high horse lecturing.
dwyer,
BC is right on this…relax….go out side and take a deep breath (unless you live in the gas patch)…
These clowns have backed themselves into such a weak position all they can do is send out their lead kleptocrat to plead for time because, "we can't give Americans a plan when they don't know what's in it."
This from the party that defended Donald Rumsfeld when he said"well, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had."
The Republican establishment is either going to shatter further or grow a pair and break off from the "Cruz Train". These guys are criminals. Want to see some more like them ? Putins' team are just such men.
I just don't believe they are going to survive this one. 2014 is likely to be a veritable blood bath for the party.
Anyone have polling?
Alva, can you fix that for me? My font shrinks in my last few lines…it would be groovy if you can. Thanks.
ColPols suggested to me when I was having crazy font size issues to highlight and hit the blue "remove format" thing. It's in the group with bold, italic,etc. Works for me.
That's a great post.
Duke, I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the headline on Huffpo about the booze wafting from members as they walked off the House floor.
Yeah, you're dead on. These baggers are criminals. Traitors. I saw coffman sponsored a rider keeping the troops paid in the event of a shutdown, cosponsored by hacks like kingston from Georgia. Of course, counter that with the measure that providers can opt out of birth control coverage.
I simply can't see how this republican unprofessional behavior can be termed anything less that sabotage at the work place.
The Majority Leader's supposed to be boehner. But the guy that the teabag 40 are taking their marching orders from's an anti government anarchist that only been a senator, not even in their chamber, for about 45 minutes!
As to your bloodbath point, I hope you're right. You can only hope for blowback so severe it destroys that party. We need to get rid of anything resembling a significant republican presence in either chamber.
I've allways said it. This nation decreases its' chances for responsible government exponentially with every republican elected. Imagine a republican majority in 1940. Or '42 or '44. That would have come under the heading "Better learn German".
.
Thanks rocco, The best way to describe the Republican response to this situation is "desparate".
Everything else has failed, so now they have allowed their party to be put on "Cruz Control". The thugs are now in charge and the "old guard" doesn't have the cajones to stop them.
Try highlighting and using "remove format" the blue rectangle in the group with bold etc.
isn't that work…?
If it were, I wouldn't have even tried it!
ummm, . . . Okaaay . . . maybe you could get this started, Dwyer, by listening to, and parroting, a little less (try, say, maybe seven minutes less) of the daily right-wing airwave hysteria . . . ???
Nah!! . . . Just kidding!! . . . I know that's never gonna' happen!!! . . . Alas, poor us, we're all so totally fucked!!!! . . . Last one into the fallout shelter is a stinky Boehner!!!!!
Blue
Obama is a lot more experienced with Republican intrangence since 2009. Unlike George Bush, he is capable of learning and adapting. No way he rolls over on a 1 year delay. I can't imagine it happening. Not this close to implementation. The country is more capable of sustaining heavy economic damage by Republicans today than it was in 2009 so he has a stronger hand to let things play out even if the DOW drops a 1,000 points. If anything it will create doubt among the CEO'S why they are backing the Republicans.
Exactly. CEOs keep score by their net worth. Losing billions is not what they signed up for when they wrote all those checks to the fanatical candidates. The Tea Party has outlived it's usefulness, and is proving to be a liability.
The backlash against the Teahadists will threaten all the gains CEOs have made in the last 40 years. Time to buy some stability with squishy Dems.
I can't imagine him or Reid rolling over this time. What I can imagine is a very pissed off Wall Street. If the GOP is going to hand over the reins to the likes of Cruz and Co, who the Masters of the Universe, not just Dems, consider to be out of control nut jobs, things could start happening that won't be good for the GOP. After all, the Dem establishment is pretty friendly with Wall Street, all things considered, too. The grown up establishment GOP is their considerably friendlier preference but an insane and toxic kamikaze GOP that can do them more harm than good, controlled by the likes of the Cruz gang, not so much.
Wall Street's dirty little secret: today's masters-of-our-universe get just as wealthy, maybe more so, when things are crumbling and in shambles for the other 99% of this country as they do when thing are running smoothly . . .
Traders love volatiity. Without it, they don't make money.
True to a large degree and not even all that secret but everything has a tipping point. There's a line between volatility and a catastrophic drop with catastrophic international consequences.
So far very much not hearing about Wall Street love for the Cruz crowd. Hearing the opposite: WSJ editorials and calls to leadership to do something about these nut jobs. After all, Wall Street has a high level of control over the establishment. If the GOP establishment can't control the nut jobs anymore Wall Street will explore other options. Like more deals with the Dem establishment that is only marginally less friendly.
Jamie Dimon and Barack Obama are good friends. That has always troubled me.
Happy, though, about Summers…we dodged a bullet.
Great statement by Harry Reid (from HuffPo):
That would include our very own Tea Party anarchist: Mike Coffman
Sounds like he means it. This is exactly what he should be saying and standing by. And he's absolutely right. These Tea Party bullies who supposedly love the constitution and are supposedly the super patriots in reality have no respect whatsoever for the constitution and are anything but patriots.
They have no respect of our system of government, for our elections, for democratically elected majority rule within the boundaries of checks and balances and guaranteed rights set by our constitution.
Since they couldn't win enough elections to be the majority voice in our two House Congress or three branch government, they are now determined to blackmail and extort and threaten their way to power. They have absolutely nothing in common with the patriots who brought These United States of America into being. Nothing. Nada. The founding fathers would want nothing to do with these crude yahoos.
The Tea Party has been desperate to put that uppity Obama in his place ever since he took office. They'll say anything, do anything, sacrifice anyone to finally feel like they've put him in his place.
It won't happen, of course, because they'll never be satisfied until he's un-elected. Not impeached. Un-elected. They want it to have never have happened in the first place. That's how rat-in-a-coffee can crazy these people are.
Putting that uppity N(clang) in his place is all they have left after their campaign to make sure he was only a one-term president was such a resounding success. The needs and wants of the populace are nothing compared to the needs and wants of the repcon leadership and especially their T-banger captors.
That's priceless…………"rat in a coffee can crazy!".
Requesting permission to use arrormentioned quote as mine.
Growing up we had two fueding neighbors, one of them continually referred to the other as "crazy as a sh-t house rat.": those that live in the underbelly of old outhouses…seems applicable this morning. The methane emissions from the Teajhadists are rotting what little brain they had.
Approved. Since you're much smarter than I am, it will no doubt be put to better use.
Other than that I can't spell "afformentioned".
and I can't spell "desperate."
That would be "aforementioned" and "desperate" is correct. Your welcome.
Thanks BC
Would that be "you're welcome"?
OMG. Thanks rocco. I hate that particular kind of error. That and confusing there with their. That'll teach me! And spell check only underlines things that aren't words, not wrong words.
Be sure to mark November 19 on your calendar. Something epic has been promised. Karl Rove's chickens have come home to roost; they have morphed into "Whack-O Birds".
Gee there's patriotism for you. The overthrow, not of tyrannical dictators but of the democratically and legitimately elected government including a President and Senate majority they don't like.
Too bad they don't have the balls to do any more than talk about it. It would be fun to see them try it and get crushed like bugs in nothing flat. And before the righties jump all over me for wishing a violently crushed insurrection, I don't really. After all, we all know it's not going to happen because they so very much don't have the balls.
You gotta be kidding me!
Mr. Bowman, thanks for the link. I was taken aback enough by that, but when I googled this idiot, I Iinked to his bio on "Right Wing Watch".
His rhetoric is spiced with "Egyptian style overthrow", and one of the titles of his works is "(o)bama, put down the (q)uran, get up off your knees, and come out with your hands up".
This guy's lappiere and nugent on steroids. And just as anti-American.
Although, dollars to donuts, he won't be included in the "rally". No way. BTW, any time a 62 year old right wing activist's bio on Wikipedia begins in his 30's, it's because that's the easiest way to "dodge" questions about said right wing activist's form of dodging the draft.
How can he be an attorney?
I'm pretty sure the status of that will be roughly the same Nov 20 2013 as Nov 19, 2014.
Seems as though we are headed for a shutdown on Tuesday. The Teahadists have Boehner by the, well, you-know-what. The bill they plan to send back to the Senate still has a poison-pill ACA amendment.
Given the Senate rules, Cruz can delay the vote past Monday. The only saving grace is that it really will be GOP/Tea Party shutdown if he or any other Repubs block a vote. No Democratic Senators will be blocking a vote.
If the public outcry is strong enough, the GOP will fold. Boehner will need to get a bipartisan majority, and hopefully burn the Tea Party caucus out his system before the debt ceiling vote. There is no way the GOP can withstand a double-whammy of self-immolation, taking the entire world economy with them.
I know, a fairy tale. But we'll know more in 24-48 hours if Boehner finally takes some viagra to get his stamina back.
Wow. I can't beleive that I'm hoping for Boehner to take viagra to get his stamina back. Where's the way back through the looking glass?
I don't know that Cruz can effectively delay things.
There is a CR already in process; it's the one the House sent to the Senate and the Senate sent back. That bill is available for negotiation – Reid can table the new bill with a majority vote and Cruz will be left swinging in the breeze. Before the House sent over a CR, the Senate was in a bind; now, not so much.
Reid has called the Senate back in session tomorrow.
Really interesting point – Broken Windows, Broken States
The thing about this is not that we have some legislators who are willing to destroy the village in order to save it, we have a significant chunk of Republican primary voters insisting that they do so.
But wait, you get more! House Republicans have voted to add a "conscience" clause allowing employers and insurance providers to opt out of providing any care that would violate their sense of conscience or morals.
And Boehner's backup plan if the Senate rejects this current measure is to try to pass yet another CR – this one with the amendment from Sen. Vitter that would deny Congress and its staff from receiving an employer co-pay for their healthcare. Technically (27th Amendment), Congressmen cannot be denied these benefits until 2015; their staff, however, would be immediately affected – and a lot of them aren't paid so well.
When this is all over, they will need a rubber room to hold all these guys in the looney bin. Boehner is probably crying in his Jack Daniels as we speak.
If I were Boehner, *I'd* have a drinking problem…
I believe Merlot is Boehner's drink of choice.
Time for McCain to take on "Whack-O Bird": Go cut a deal with Pelosi and Boeher; walk away from the "Hassert Rule" [which is neither "Hassert" or a "Rule"], fine 81 Democrats who will vote with the moderate Republicans on a Democrat bill…and burn these "Cruzians". And in return, Boehner gets their agreement ot vote for him to retain his Speakership for the next year. Boehner can create his own legacy right now….
I'm hoping Bohner gets his hands on a couple of those bright blue pills and maybe some AndroGel for his "low t". Maybe they'll help him grow a pair and take his gavel back from the t-errorists. For that's exactly what they are and rule 1 is " You don't negotiate with terrorists." Let 'em go home and brag about the great thing they did to the people who'll be denied Federal services. I suspect they'll get their ears blistered and collectively whupped in '14. I don't remember the election after the last shutdown rolling the Repubs way, and that was before they started letting the genuine lunatics run the assylum.
Heard an interesting analysis of Boehner's technique. He stands by while the crazies make their crazy demands, then a deal gets made that allows him to say he got 90% of what he wants. Sound familiar? As in last debt ceiling crisis? Don't think it will work this time. Feels like the Dem leadership really isn't going to cave on ACA delay or other wacky "compromises" and will leave it to the GOP, for a change, to blink or go over the cliff.
What if there is no compromise? There's a significant number of GOP reps who would prefer the government shut down for the next 2 years if they don't get their way. So what if a clean bill doesn't come out of the House? Not now, not 2 weeks from now, not 2 months from now?
And keep in mind, a giant chunk of those reps will get re-elected if they force a permanent shut-down. For many of the primary voters, that's the goal.
So what happens if 2 months from now we're still in a shut-down?
That would mean the Debt Ceiling has been surpassed. That is cataclysm. Nothing short.
Global implications.
I know of 6 sitting goper HOR members that as of now think the Debt Ceiling implicates only future spending. One is a former doctor from Indiana, 2 are from Georgia.
Those republican members are correct that they'll get paid. They will collect their salaries. For now. That is a compelling reason to slap a black President in the face. As any coward will, from a safe place far away, they stike.
Yes there are, David – and that should scare everyone.
No transportation funds to rebuild roads in Colorado – if that money doesn't come in quickly, the mountain towns will be shut off through the winter. No money to pay out Medicaid to the states. No federal funds for schools. No military pay (though they want to pass a separate bill to ensure that…). No veterans health care. No court system. No FAA or TSA to get air traffic where it needs to go safely. No DHS to prevent the imminent immigrant invasion Republicans worry about so much.
Republicans talk a good game about shutting down the government, but look how much they whined at the cuts the sequester made to their favorite airport's staffing. They won't last two months.
VA, Social Security, Unemployment benefits, SNAP cut off for veterans, elderly, unemployed. No environmental or health oversight for industry. The consequences of a long term shutdown are so horrible that I don't think that they'll go there. I think that there will be a shutdown of a few days, maybe a week.
Of course, my crystal ball does seem to be cracked these days.
NY Times shutdown decision flow chart:
You're right. The long term scenario is just not realistic. Think of all those blissfully ignorant Tea Partiers holding up signs demanding things like "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare". A lot of those people are probably primary voters and it would take a lot less than two years for them to feel the pain of their dream of government shut down. Just look at the average age of core rightie media listeners and viewers. It's well into social security and medicare territory and includes many rightie vets. These are very largely not 1 percenters or even close. To paraphrase a famous movie line…. they can't handle a real government shut down.
They will blame the Democrats for the problems, not the shut-down. True believers can rationalize most anything. I hope it doesn't go that long but I think it is possible. Not likely, but possible.
So the the people solidly in the GOP voting blocks will blame the Democrats. Wow! That's certainly a revelation David!
If this shutdown (and the threat of a default) go more than a week or so, the scars will not be healed by the 2014 elections. We'll see how many "safe" red House districts there really are in that case.
The more accurate paraphrase…or at last as accurate:
these freaking people have no idea how to run a governement …all the shutdown would do is weaken a nation
Looks like Mike "Bipartisan" Coffman's true colors were shown on last night's vote. Of course, he voted in lockstep with the GOP's hostage bill. How am I to reconcile this act of extreme partisanship with the mailers I keep getting from the Congressman touting his "bipartisanship"?
Time for Team Romanoff to make some hay.
1995/6 – Newt Gingrich and the Contract on America R"s shut down the gov't.
1998 – Gingrich is out.
2013 – The Canadian Senator with a Cuban father vows to shut down the gov't.
2016 – No way this guy is a presidnetial contender.
Meanwhile- the artillery of time did not work for Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, the CDC, the CIA, the
WarDepartment or a jillion other obvious steps on the sllipery slope to socialism and even communism taking over America.MADCO – there you're wrong. If either Ted Cruz or Rand Paul aren't the 2016 GOP nominee for President I'd be shocked. That's what this is about – proving Cruz has the power to lead the masses and the party on whatever mad quest he dictates is best for the country. The Republican masses will follow in a lathered-up mob.
I agree with you, PR. Yesterday, there was Cruz addressing the media and standing next to him, very deferential, very submissive almost, was Mario
Rubio. Picture was worth a million words.
The question is, PR, will McCain and the rest of the
"old guard" go with them?
I'm thinking they won't.
NFW.
We've been through this the last two presidential elections, especially the last one. You know, the one where Romney wasn't supposed to have a chance because surely the base was going to insist on one of the Tea Party darlings? In both cases the same old guard next up, McCain and then Romney, got the nomination just as they would have with no Tea Party wing and in the face of poor ol' Rush and everyone like him turning blue in the face trying to prevent the "moderate" from being nominated.
Now this time it's true there aren't very many possible non-crazy candidates available because so few are left, much less any who aren't too old or haven't already blown it. But I don't think it's going to be anyone quite as out there in their different ways as Cruz or Paul.
That's because I don't think it's a coincidence that, in spite of all the Tea Party, rightie radio and Fox hi jinks, in 2008 and 2012 the candidate most acceptable to Wall Street still wound up winning the primaries to be the GOP candidate. Neither Cruz nor Paul is there kind of guy.
I'll certainly spot you that one, BlueCat. A shutdown, which seems inevitable, is going to play hell with the markets. I'll wager the Dow down 1000 points on day one. At that point the Republicans' corporate masters will have a come-to-jesus meeting with the leadership and tell them to get the bomb-throwers in line. If that doesn't do it ,calls will be made to said bomb-throwers fom their corporate doners (oh, yes, they have them) and tell them the checkbooks are about to snap shut. We'll see how long the teapublicans holdout then.
That's why I moved my Roth IRA out of equity funds last week. If those stupid motherfuckers want to blow up the economy (again), I don't want them blowing up my retirement.
And it's hardly as if the Dem establishment is really anti-corporate so it's not as if the Masters have no alternative but the GOP. They contribute to Dems already, just a lot more to Rs. The GOP establishment is more friendly and better for them on many issues. But a GOP entirely in the hands of loons …. not so much. Wall Street prefers GOP grown ups to Dems but they need grown ups to deal with in any case, not nut jobs.
Oops, "from". "Hold out". Damn this stiff keyboard!
"Write drunk, edit sober?"
write drunk…retract sober. That's how I roll.