January 19, 2016 01:44 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Jan. 19)

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• by: Colorado Pols

The AFC Championship Game is still five days away; why are we already so nervous? 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…

► The Iowa caucuses are just two weeks away, and as Politico reports, it looks like a two-man race between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a very distant third.

► In the last seven days, three separate Colorado Republicans have declared their intent to seek the 2016 U.S. Senate nomination. If you’re counting at home (good luck with that, BTW), Jerry Natividad is somewhere between the 9th and 12th GOP candidate to enter the race thus far. As much as it pains us to say this, Bob Beauprez has got to be lurking around the corner somewhere.

Meanwhile, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate — state Sen. Tim Neville — was in Grand Junction over the weekend to make it clear that nobody will be outflanking him on the right.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Colorado House Republicans are doing everything they can to “shield” Rep. Jon Keyser from having to cast any difficult votes one week before the U.S. Senate candidate formally resigns from the legislature. From Elena Schneider of Politico (full article behind a paywall):

State Rep. Jon Keyser, a 34-year-old combat veteran, is planning to resign his legislative seat this week to focus on his just-launched Senate campaign. Before he leaves, though, Democratic legislators are trying to force Keyser to vote on “personhood,” a controversial and recurring proposal in Colorado that would essentially outlaw abortion and some forms of contraception by defining “person” and “child” to include embryos and fetuses in state law…

…But unlike Gardner, Keyser faces a packed GOP primary, where hard-line conservatives are just as interested as Democrats in using abortion as a purity test before the race to take on Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

“I think Republican voters will want to know where Keyser is on this issue,” said state Rep. Justin Everett, a conservative legislator who is backing one of Keyser’s Senate rivals: state Sen. Tim Neville, a tea party favorite. “A candidate that’s going to be successful has to be able to shore up the conservative base, and I’m not sure Keyser can do that.”

So far, Republican leaders have helped Keyser evade the legislative trap, swiftly moving him off one of his committee assignments last week before a vote on a personhood-like bill that would give fetuses some of the same legal protections as children and adults.

 

► Denver’s Archbishop says that candidates who support Planned Parenthood should be “shunned.” So much for that “war on women” theory being a liberal creation.

► In case you haven’t heard, the Republican establishment really, really, really hates Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

► If you needed another reason to root for the Denver Broncos (or against the New England Patriots) on Sunday, consider this: New England quarterback Tom Brady is a YUGE fan of Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

► More than 100 bills were introduced in the first couple of days of the 2016 state legislative session.

► A Pols reader chimes in with an informed opinion on the “Disneyfication” of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

► A group pushing for a change in Colorado law that would allow full-strength liquor, beer, and wine to be sold in grocery stores is making a significant strategic adjustment. “Your Choice Colorado” is removing hard alcohol from their proposed language, which means supermarkets could only sell full-strength beer and wine if voters approve in November.

And for those of you who are just now finding out that Colorado grocery stores only sell beer with a very low alcohol content…sorry.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► If you are like most of us, understanding how the state budget works is like trying to build a rocket out of popsicle sticks. Here’s a great graphic from the Colorado Springs Gazette that  you should bookmark for future budget arguments. You can read more about the Hospital Provider Fee, a big piece of the 2016 legislative discussion, by clicking here.

► Bernie Sanders does not own a tuxedo. Welcome to the club, Bernie!

ICYMI

► Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper got married over the weekend.

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