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July 14, 2009 08:27 PM UTC

Penry To "Reach Out" To "Dissatisfied Democrats"

  • 19 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

We didn’t want this little gem from Sunday’s interview with freshly-announced gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry on KDVR Fox-31 escape mention:

“I think there’s been a recognition that if we continue to run the same old campaign with the same old type of message, that’s there’s going to be the same old results, which are resounding election night defeats,” he said. “And I’m going to be a new kind of candidate in this state. And I do think there will be energy. Republicans want to be energized.”

Penry also plans to reach out to independents and Democrats, who are increasingly dissatisfied with Ritter over his surprise Senate nomination of former Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet and recent vetoes on bills that would have protected labor unions, a key Democrat constituency.

It’s our guess that any rank-and-file Democrat politically conversant enough to be upset about either Michael Bennet’s appointment or Ritter’s labor bill vetoes will know better than to expect anything even remotely preferable from Josh Penry. On the other hand, if we were slick GOP operative types we’d be thinking long and hard about any way we could to PUMA up as much trouble for Ritter as possible, basis in reality or not.

Comments

19 thoughts on “Penry To “Reach Out” To “Dissatisfied Democrats”

  1. Penry also plans to reach out to independents and Democrats, who are increasingly dissatisfied with Ritter over his surprise Senate nomination of former Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet and recent vetoes on bills that would have protected labor unions, a key Democrat constituency.

    I can just see Governor Penry signing those bills he voted against as Senator.

    1. who is more pro-union than the Guv or who would have preferred a Latino or a candidate such as Andrew Romanoff be happier with a conservative Republican?

      Most of the Dems unhappy with the Guv are unhappy because they see him as not sufficiently progressive.  I can see Penry going after the few grumpy old man type conservative Dems, a dying breed, but the examples he chooses here are simply idiotic

  2. It’s clear Sen. Penry is already well versed in the fine art of talking out of both sides of his mouth.

    Saying one thing to Republicans, and then a different (but necessarily contrary) thing to Democrats and independents is going to catch up with him eventually.

    The fact of the matter is that he can’t win the GOP primary while appealing to Dems and indies who are pissed at Ritter. He’s going to have to say things that are anti-labor, anti-choice, anti-government, and anti-Democratic to win the GOP primary–things that Democratic groups are going to remind people he said.

    This state isn’t red anymore. It’s purple, and Josh Penry does not have very many purple state ideologies.

    1. but as RSB points out, he does that by running to the right of McLobbyist.  

      In the General, that will pose a problem, as will his parochial West Slope image–even if he packs up the family and moves off to the Denver–rubbing elbows with them water stealin’ big city elitist left wing nutjobs.

      Penry’s challenge, in the General, will be to 1) moderate the image he has built over the last few years, and the tact he will have to take to win the Primary; and 2) prove that he is not a regional, but is truly a statewide, candidate.  Them are some formidable challenges for the young Jedi Sith.

      1. plus to be really viable, at some point he will have to disavow the “unwed moms and their babies deserve AIDS” and other insanity.  That could get tricky.

        And you are right- he’s not yet demonstrated he can be a statewide leader and therefore candidate.

  3. He didn’t mean actually do anything they would care about- he meant beg them for their votes.

    PUMA voices proved that the country isn’t ready yet for splintered ondie 3rd party campaigns.

    McCain Palin proved that even the most vocal PUMA Clinton supporters weren’t won over by Palin enough to sway the election in any meaningful way.

    Sure- PUMA away- in the end the best a Penry candidacy can hope for from that is a slightly lower turnout- not victory.

    1. I still see the Democratic Party itself as unified. Josh Penry pandering to Democratic voters is only going to piss them off. It pissed me off anyway.

      1. Kind of like when you’re fighting with your brother and somebody else sticks their nose in and then you turn around and kick the interlopers ass.

        1. and that might keep turnout down (a progressive ballot initiative would help).  That doesn’t translate into many Dems (or even Indies) voting for Penry.

          Generic ballots that show a slight preference one way or the other mean nothing–their value is in showing general voter sentiment, and to show movement in a different political direction the numbers would have to be separated by more than a few points.  

          What the 41-40 generic split in the Senate polling shows is that the base–and strongly inclined independents–are staying put (so far) in this race.  

  4. Did not Ritter try, and given his 06 margin of victory he must have gotten, to get dissatisfied GOP votes.

    Seems smart to me. Josh is trying to win, although he needs to win the primary first.

  5. thinks he can dupe D’s, U’s and moderate R’s into supporting him?  Hell, this hypocrite couldn’t even get the people who know him best, his own Mesa County Republican Caucus, to support him. There are sound reasons that they did not back Penry this past election.  And now, he believes that people who do not know him can be scammed?  Then again, maybe uninformed people are his best chance.  Ego is a blinding thing.

      1. is SOP for flimflam men.  It will be interesting to watch the contortions of logic Penry chooses to ply.  And it is coming.  The chance of Penry attempting to alter his smoke and mirrors verisimilitude is about the same as me throwing a dart, blindfolded,  and hitting somewhere inside the Monoceros Ring.  The question is, will McInnis box him in before the primary or will Penry’s spotted skunk markings change have to wait until the general election campaign.

  6. The Republicans reaching out to members of the Democratic Party, such as myself, has begun.  

    “Former First Lady Francis Owens . . .” just sent a robocall out asking me to support McInnis.  And to supply him with my suggestions.  I hung up, I do not think he would follow my suggestions about helping Colorado, repealing TABOR, supporting labor unions, making working families a priority in this recession/depression, funding K-12, funding community colleges, and funding our colleges and universities.

    I do not intend to supply any of my own monies to McInnis or Penry either.

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