April 06, 2016 01:33 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (April 6)

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• by: Colorado Pols

‘Tis a mighty blustery day outside, Pooh Bear. 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 Wisconsin Primary concluded on Tuesday evening in a manner that was largely expected, with Ted Cruz winning the day for the Republicans and Bernie Sanders picking up another victory on the Democratic side. We’ve got two weeks to wait until the April 19th delegate-rich New York Primary, followed a week later by contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

We tend to agree with Chris Cillizza at “The Fix” that Wisconsin was not quite the defining moment of the Republican race for President that Cruz supporters would have hoped, but it nevertheless complicates things for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. Perhaps the biggest loser in Wisconsin was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who wasn’t even competitive in a midwestern state in which he should have performed fairly well. Both Cruz and Trump are pushing hard now for Kasich to exit the race altogether.

► Eight of the Republican Senate candidates in Colorado took to the stage on Tuesday for the first televised debate of the campaign cycle. We handed out debate grades last night, with Robert Blaha appearing to be the big winner (the Colorado Statesman argues that Ryan Frazier performed best on Tuesday, with Blaha on his heels). The debate did not go as well for Jon Keyser and Peg Littleton, the latter of which somehow managed to botch an answer about whether or not she was “Pro-life.”

► We passed a significant milestone in the 2016 election cycle this week with Monday’s deadline to submit petition signatures for ballot access. The Secretary of State’s office announced that 20 candidates across the state submitted signatures before the deadline.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) continues to vacillate on whether or not he will support the Republican nominee for President. Gardner has now publicly taken every position possible…he just won’t settle on one course of action.

► Republican Peg Littleton completely botched an answer on her abortion stance during Tuesday’s GOP Senate debate. What makes this mistake particularly strange is that Littleton made the same mistake during a radio interview on Saturday.

► House Speaker Paul “DJ Paulie D” Ryan insists that he will not be a potential choice for President in a “brokered convention” scenario, but that hasn’t stopped media pundits from suggesting that he will be the GOP nominee when all is said and done.

► If Ted Cruz ends up beating out Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination, he can credit a much stronger on the ground operation for the results.

► Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich tossed out the mother of all backhanded compliments this week when he said that Donald Trump has succeeded in making Ted Cruz “look normal.”

► The Colorado legislature is still trying to hammer out details on legislation that would restrict red-light traffic cameras, but can they come up with a compromise that will avoid another veto from Gov. John Hickenlooper?

► Colorado Democrats are rolling out legislation targeting employers that underpay employees to the detriment of all taxpayers. As Ed Sealover reports for the Denver Business Journal:

Large companies in Colorado that fail to offer health insurance and that pay employees less than $12 an hour would pay a fee to the state to subsidize the cost for their workers to receive Medicaid under a proposal rolled out Tuesday in the state Legislature.

Colorado would become the first state to pass something like the Corporate Responsibility Act, which is being sponsored by House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, and state Rep. K.C. Becker, D-Boulder.

► Efforts to change penalties for teen sexting failed in the state legislature on Tuesday, as Marshall Zelinger reports for Channel 7.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The state legislature is wading into the issue of regulating fantasy sports leagues.

► Many smaller Colorado municipalities  held elections this week, apparently. Erie, Mead, Frederick, Firestone, Berthoud…etc. have new “trustees” and board members, though incumbents fared well across the board.

ICYMI

► Fuckin’ Mississippi.

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