U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Michael Bennet
(D) Phil Weiser
60%↑
50%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Jena Griswold
60%↑
40%↑
Sec. of State
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(D) A. Gonzalez
(D) J. Danielson
(R) Sheri Davis
50%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(D) Jeff Bridges
(R) Kevin Grantham
40%
40%
30%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Manny Rutinel
(D) Yadira Caraveo
45%↓
40%↑
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 10, 2009 07:43 PM UTC
33 Comments
The Ritter-Bennet tour came to the northern Front Range yesterday.
They’re out of control to the point of distraction. News closeups on my gigantic HD TV make him bigger than I am, suddenly these things matter.
That was definitely great framing for the picture.
I’m beginning to see why Ritter was dazzled by Bennet in his 2 private interviews. From reading the Rocky article, Bennet far out-shown the Governor in their joint appearance. Great sense of humor and very impressive handling of the crowd.
With a Democratic President and Congress setting the agenda for the next two years, his toughest task may be to stick to the middle and become the “conservative” Senator from Colorado. I will be very interested to compare the voting records of (B-Lib 😉 Udall vs. Bennet after a year or so.
But I’m glad to see that we Dems have such an amazing depth of talent. The challenges our country faces require it, and I think the Republicans will have to be at the very top of their game to take him out in 2010.
But the Rocky Mountain News unintentionally (I think) brought up something I haven’t heard him talk about.
Really, Sarah Burnett? I mean, setting aside the fact that he doesn’t have a firm grasp on water issues and he’s about to be a US Senator, there’s still the little matter of the United States actually using water torture on terror suspects.
I seem to recall there being a bit of a dust-up between civil libertarians and Mr. Bennet’s soon-to-be predecessor on this very issue. I still haven’t seen where Bennet stands on this, and many other policy matters. Maybe torture is a non-issue now that Obama is in the White House and Gitmo is about to be shut down, but it still makes me concerned.
I’m a long way from being completely sold on MB, but his NoCo trip would have to be deemed successful from a political standpoint.
Looks like I’m the last one to get back on to comment after the tech glitch. Maybe this Bennet thing will work out OK after all.
Not being able to comment for a week taught me two important lessons. 1) I had become a little addicted and there are better ways to spend my time then commenting on every damn thing. 2) The world does just fine without my opinions. So, nice to kow I CAN comment here again but promise to bother you all with my thoughts WAY less!
Let me know if I was wrong either in style or intent when I initially edited this diary. Don’t want to do anything wrong.
But I pasted in a couple more paragraphs so that the image was framed properly above the fold.
I gave them 3 paras max above the fold.
Thanks for this.
…that he looks like he’s about to do some kind of dance in that picture?
It looks like Marcel Marceau miming a wall in front of himself.
“and wave ’em like you just don’t care!”
LOOK AT THE SIZE OF HIS HANDS!!!
Tried to find the “Schwanstuker” line, but I couldn’t. This will have to suffice…
So where is he on this oh so critical matter? Let me guess, he didn’t bring it up. We’ll be watching his vote to consider the EFCA vote too.
I am just so glad to see the bloggers here (Dems) have finally accepted Mr. Bennet as their Senator.
Now we all know that DPS maintained(s) a 30-50% drop-out rate and the capture % of DPS students actually dropped on his watch (more kids chose alternative schooling then enlist in DPS).
Here’s something on the EFCA
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/a…
Of course it’s written by one of those “evil union people” and he would say that it shouldn’t be listened to. According to our favorite poster above me.
Also, looking on Firedoglake, I saw that the public supports it with 78% in a survey conducted on December 4th.
http://firedoglake.com/2009/01…
Eliminating a secret ballot does nothing to enhance democracy. Once this is pointed out to people, they don’t necessarily fall for the EFCA spin:
Now, I realize that card check doesn’t eliminate the secret ballot, but no union organizer worth their salt is going to allow workers to choose a secret ballot election when they have a chance to intimidate and cajole those workers who are forced to put their name next to a vote.
If unions want more membership, then become more valuable to the workers – if you need to resort to getting rid of a tenet of democracy in order to have a bigger market share, then you’re not worthy of having it.
Some unions are fantastic. The workers are protected, workplace safety and productivity are enhanced, and a fair wage is agreed upon.
Some are not. Some have done irreparable damage to the industries they represent – see NEA, CEA, UAW, etc.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this – it was really safe for Dems to support it when Bush made it safe for them to do so by promising an instant veto on that nonsense. Now, with them having to risk losing their jobs with such a silly, blatant attempt at stealing mandatory political donations from business for the Dems, they’re accountable.
Why do we talk of Unions intimidating workers into joining, but not talk here of Employers intimidating workers into NOT joining? While I can see that this has been a problem for Unions in the past, it hasn’t been in Colorado and many other states. I realize that there are two sides to every issue, but the people who oppose this seem to ignore the same level of corruption in business that is a nearly everyday occurrence. As for bad Unions, one might argue that it is not the Unions themselves, but some of the leaders that cause the problem. If that’s the case, then it’s like a boil on your ass. And to quote a poster on this site “If You have a boil on your ass, lance the boil, keep your ass.”
But employers aren’t advocating elimination of a secret ballot.
DPS has a 30% minority graduation rate.
Repeat that over and over again to yourself until it sounds like the CEA (now virtually an arm of both the government and the Democrat party) deserves to keep control of everything related to education in this State.
While Employers are not trying to get rid of a secret ballot, they are doing things pretty egregious. And in the end, it’s not about the Secret Ballot. It’s about intimidation. Employers do try to intimidate. They don’t need to try to get rid of the Secret Ballot to do that.
As for the CEA, it seems to me that everybody puts the burden of responsibility totally on teachers to make sure that kids don’t drop out. There are other forces at work that cause kids to drop out besides the quality of the teachers.
Almost all the teachers are fantastic.
It’s the CEA setting the agenda to keep themselves fat and happy rather than to be creative and progressive so DPS kids have better than a freaking 15% competency level in math.
It’s the clearest example of a labor union being totally divorced from the vocational objective of its members. Too bad these kids are actually being killed in the streets because of their political greed.
…don’t get rid of the Union. Get rid of the corrupt motherfuckers who do this kind of shit. But, you have piqued my curiosity. Do you have any articles on this subject?
Note the BOE candidates endorsed by DCTA lost. I have real problems with DPS. But, I despise whole sale assumptions which are not backed up by objective statistical and other analysis. This is an outrageous statement:
I know you are anguishing about your kids and the kids you work with, but it is not okay to make statements like that w/o backup,
Not too much time tonight Dwyer, but don’t take it as an ignorance of your question. I’ll respond more fully tomorrow.
How about Merrifields “hell” email about ‘charterizers and voucherizers’?
He’s not graduating anyone, and Arrupe is graduating 100% of the same low income Latinos he can’t seem to be able to educate. Many of the dropouts are active in gangs and crime.
The way your comment was worded, it appeared you were directly attacking the union for kids being killed in the streets of Denver. Clarify. Be specific.
No, Arrupe is not
Arrupe is a private, catholic, Jesuit high school, with tutition and admission policies. It is not open to the “‘same low income Latinos”
And who is Merrifields trying to educate, anyway?
I think the unions have made decisions that have caused all kinds of destruction in people’s lives. What is happening now in Colorado’s public schools is completely unacceptable, and my opinion is that the CEA is more interested in holding onto their power as the State’s largest union than they are at making changes that might help the kids. The CEA is also basically a fundraising arm of the Democrat party, too.
[I say “Democrat” party as an intended insult at anyone who tries to piss on my back and tell me it’s raining regarding the EFCA being somehow enhancing of democracy – you don’t get to claim any democratic high gound by eliminating a secret ballot. It is, however not a personal insult directed at you, Dwyer, and I appreciate your dialogue on this topic].
Arrupe does indeed serve low income Latinos. They have a brilliant work study program and a 100% graduation rate. It is a case study in what a voucher school would look like. Yes, it’s Jesuit, but the kids will leave school prepared for life, which to me trumps concerns about State money going to a religious school.
For example:
Give examples. These are terrible things to accuse an organization of.
As for Arrupe, you are absolutely right, it does educate low-income Latino kids. But, they have an admission policy. It is not a turn-key school…they don’t have to take everybody or keep everybody. So to compare Arrupe to North High School, is not fair. Also, the assumption that all low-income Hispanic kids are alike or interchangeable is also not true.
It is emphatically not a case study of what a voucher school would look like. First, public vouchers would come with strings, which the school does not currently have to pay attention to. Secondly, Arrupe is part of a Jesuit Network of such schools. Why would they need vouchers, when they have a financing system in place?
Finally, it may not bother you that it is a religious school, but maybe it would bother the Jesuits to take public money which could impinge on their right to teach what they wanted and how they wanted. THINK, man, THINK.
You are frustrated and angry and looking for a scapegoat.
That is precisely, IMHO, what has fueled the endless, stupid, futile, cycles of changes in the public schools.
Not that I doubt your sincerity. You have kids to educate/ You want the best for them as well as the best for all kids.
But it takes hard work and thinking things through.
Not that I have any answers, at all. In our case, in our family, we took one look at DPS and said no way, no how. However, we paid money then to have our kids in parochial schools where they were educated by perverts and their apologists. Go figure.
..those many years ago during Viet Nam.
the right to decide how to express the choice about going union: through the card-check process OR through the NLRB election process”
Exactly, but it would be helpful if the choice aspect was presented much more clearly and forcefully to the public. The public is being sold the no more secret ballot aspect pretty well with little push back stating what you, CO Dem, state so clearly. Labor is talking almost exclusively to the Dem party, not the people on this.
Well that would be the Right-to-Work!
There’s some connection to Hot Rod so that means the SEIU is corrupt. Really, you’re just an opportunist who is trying to force an agenda on everybody. Using whatever spin you can and the idea of choice is so that you can or choose not to join a union. By Federal Law, you cannot be forced to join a Union. And it really is Right to Work for less. Or Right to Fire. It certainly isn’t Right to Work for a Living Wage.