October 01, 2015 01:52 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Oct. 1)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today is October 1^st, which means you can stop watching your inbox for more fundraising emails…at least for a few weeks. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► So, uh, how about that Tim Neville, eh?

The big political news in Colorado is the surprise announcement yesterday from Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler that he will not seek a U.S. Senate seat in 2016.

As we reported last week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was actively pushing Brauchler’s candidacy to top Republican donors and influential politicos, and Sen. Cory Gardner was personally making introductions for Brauchler. At the same time, we also know that Brauchler had been getting a chilly response from some top GOP donors, and state Sen. Tim Neville’s full-steam-ahead Senate campaign no doubt concerned Team Brauchler as well.

Republicans are left scrambling now, trying to figure out if Neville is their guy or if they need to try to convince someone else to run as their third fourth fifth (?) choice. Meanwhile, the NRSC has added to its legacy of failure in Colorado when it comes to pushing their own candidates. Brauchler joins Gale Norton, Pete Coors, Bob Schaffer, and Jane Norton as DC-backed Senate candidates who went nowhere in Colorado.

► Congress waited until the last minute to make a deal, but at long last funding appears to be (relatively) secure to complete the Aurora VA Hospital project. From the Denver Business Journal:

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that will further fund construction of a $1.7 billion Department of Veterans Affairs medical campus in Aurora, as well as an overall spending package that will keep the federal government running until mid-December.

The VA funding bill hit a speed bump Tuesday in the form of an amendment introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican of Florida and the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Miller’s amendment sought to take $200 million from VA bonuses to help fund the project, which needs another $625 million to be fully funded…

…But Miller backed off that amendment early Wednesday, after members of the Colorado Congressional delegation stressed the point that stopping work on the project would increase the costs even more.

It should be interesting to see how much credit Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) tries to take for this last-minute turnaround…particularly after he was taken to the woodshed earlier this week by House Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller. The real credit for this effort goes to Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner, who acted when Coffman and others would not.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republicans continue to make fools of themselves over Planned Parenthood. Even longtime conservative Denver journalist David Harsanyi can’t make…well, that many excuses over this fiasco.

► Speaking of Planned Parenthood, Tim Neville still sees an opportunity to lead on the issue of trying to strip federal funding from the organization.

► Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has seen his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination slowly wither and die over the last few months. Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) head Dudley Brown is a big supporter of Paul, but he might now turn his fundraising efforts toward Tim Neville instead.

► Count Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper among Democrats who are expressing concern about the presidential campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Valid concern, or is Hick just hitting the frack fluid again?

► CNBC has decided on a formula for determining who gets to participate in the Big Boy debate of Republican Presidential contenders on Oct. 28. The formula lays bare the sad truth that at least some GOP contenders aren’t going to be polling above 1% anytime soon. Meanwhile, students continue to protest against being essentially shut out of the debate.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Newsweek has a fascinating in-depth look at our state’s unique politics out today–and how they forecast political changes across America. We’ll have more to say about this story soon.

ICYMI

► Return of the Brown Cloud? Metro Denver’s ground-level ozone air pollution is called out by the feds as standards tighten.

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