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%
February 16, 2009 06:40 PM UTC
9 Comments
Maybe it is a result of wadhams clearing the R senate field?
How could Hillman have been taken seriously when he has been silent on anti-smoking ads and their effects on our impressionable young adult legislative aids? If we hold them to the highest pander-standard…then there’s only one candidate that could be taken seriously. HD51’s own Don Marostica.
The GOP bench is looking weak, and candidates for statewide office really need to decide to run and start organizing a minimum of about nine months from now to be viable as candidates.
I’ve said it before and I’ll likely say it again. The absence of a strong GOP bench makes John Elway look good. Note that Elway was part of both the official ceremony and the commercials at the SuperBowl, and he has done a lot of ring kissing of top GOP officials in the past year.
Also, in 20/20 hindsight, Elway’s decision to disaffiliate with Go Automotive couldn’t have come at a better time. The Rocky was reporting on Saturday that auto dealer advertising is down 50%, and car sales are hurting almost as much.
The recent Polis win in CO-2 has also recently demonstrated that an ability to be a self-funded candidate counts for something in Colorado.
The hard choice for Elway is whether to run against similarly electoral experience deprived Bennett, who has less name recognition and probably still will have less name recognition than Elway come 2010, or to run against Ritter, a post which is more management and less issue oriented, hence somewhat less partisan.
The historical trend of the President’s party losing a little ground in off years, also makes the Senate run attractive relative to the Governorship.
Ritter’s Bennett appointment may act like a flare that diverts Elway the heat seeking missile from his own race to the U.S. Senate race.
One of the biggest political powerhouses in Colorado politics on the Democratic side is the union movement.
Pete Coors arosed the union movement’s full fury with a campaign focused on little more than killing them.
John Elway, of course, spent the most productive years as a union member, and has never had much of an opportunity in the business world to establish himself as a hard core union buster. Elway is also, of course, hugely popular with the core middle aged male working class union demographic. And, as a self-made man, he doesn’t attract the emnity that a scion of a great fortune like Coors would from those inclined to make “class warfare” an issue.
In contrast, Michael Bennett has had some bruising fights with unions at DPS, and his legacy of a “turnaround expert” in private industry before joining DPS means that he is no stranger to slashing jobs to save companies.
Used properly, Elway could use his personal biography of union involvement to take some of the sting of the of the potentially most vehement forces that could oppose him. I doubt he wins an AFL-CIO endorsement, but his union history could make the difference between a full fledged AFL-CIO take down fight, and a token opposition to him, if he mumbles some reassuring words on relevant issues. (Keep in mind that the EFCA and pro-management Bush appointments to the NLRB may be irrelevant by 2010.)
Have people seen him give speeches? How is he at negotiating and working with people? Does he have a bunch of skeletons? I seem to remember something about bar brawls, for example.
I, like many, have fond memories of that big toothy smile meaning we were about to score twice with two minutes left. But after OJ, I never think I know what a guy is like from watching him play ball or do commercials.
I’m inclined to ask the same questions of other GOP contenders:
“Have people seen him give speeches? How is he at negotiating and working with people? Does he have a bunch of skeletons?”
The Republican Party is so short of good orators, that it made “Obama is a rock star” a key argument in their campaign against him. Outgoing Republican Senator Wayne Allard was famous for keeping his mouth shut. Bob Schaffer was likewise famous in his campaign for U.S. Senate for how little he said about anything.
Tom Tancredo has a well known case of foot in mouth disease.
The Colorado General Assembly Republican caucus hasn’t earned high points on the play well with others scale. They managed to create an ethics investigation in their own state house leadership fight, and the larger Colorado GOP has been wracked with infighting.
As for skeletons, a lot of mischief that would bring a public servant low if committed while in office (another of Bob Schaffer’s problems), look much more forgiveable when your day job it to clobber people without getting clobbered yourself.
I think he looked at the uphill battle he would face in either election and figured that we Dems have it.
And he is clearly one of the best candidates the GOP has. So this says two things, first that ’10 will probably be another good year for us Dems. And second, the GOP state party has very little sway when they can’t talk Hillman into running.
That the Hillmans have a new 6-month-old infant at home and are enjoying spending time on their farm. That’s all.
If you saw, he helped Ken Blackwell (Former candidate for RNC Chairman) write his platform. I think Hillman was looking for something if Blackwell got to be Chairman