When you are in the bottom tier of candidates in the crowded primary field for Colorado’s Republican U.S. Senate primary nomination, you have to do what you can to attract attention. Enter the physically fit and environmentally responsible grassroots candidate Luke Korkowski, who today announces: (more…)

Update 2: NRSC responds again: “Your correction is incorrect. Neither of the folks you mention are NRSC fundraisers in any way. We do have a fundraising department but neither of the people you mention work for the NRSC or are contracted by us. Magda El-Tobgui raises money for Sen. Cornyn personal leadership PAC and she has a number of clients as well – but that’s all separate and apart from the NRSC.”

So the official organs of the NRSC are not connected to these fundraisers, but NRSC chairman John Cornyn is. You can decide how important the technical distinction is. I regret the error and again have updated the headline and text to reflect the greatest possible accuracy. The bottom line to me is clear: Jane Norton is the D.C. Republican establishment candidate.

Update: NRSC responds: “What’s frustrating though is when falsehoods are spread – and your item below – from the headline on down — is not true. Neither Magda El-Tobgui and Robyn Swift are NRSC employees or are on the NRSC payroll. So to state that they are “NRSC Fundraisers” is false. Magda El-Tobgui has her own independent business and counts Senator Cornyn’s personal leadership PAC, along with other Senators and candidates, among her clients. This is no different than any of the other dozens of DC-based fundraisers that are employed by incumbents and candidates. She is not employed by the NRSC though and your item stating otherwise is not accurate.”

Also, I regret that the comments are turned off for this post. It’s a glitch I haven’t been able to remedy yet, and hope to have it fixed soon.

In the Denver Post‘s red-carpet column for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton, the main reason we are told why her rivals aren’t credible candidates is:

When she jumps in — scheduled for this week — Norton will clear from the field a few of the contenders who have had trouble raising money. [emphasis added]

Well, I’ve heard from several different sources (who understandably don’t want to disclose their identity) that the National Republican Senatorial Committee and other GOP bigwigs have been trying to blacklist non-Norton Republican Senate candidates with national donors. Hard to prove? Yes. But it helps to explain why Ken Buck nearly bowed out of the contest before a slew of support urged him not to bow to the “shenanigans” of “Washington, D.C., insiders”.

Today enter a new piece of evidence: the invitation (PDF) for the main Washington D.C. September fundraiser for Jane Norton. What’s so interesting about it? The fundraisers for Jane Norton for Colorado are Magda El-Tobgui and Robyn Swift. Both of them are NRSC fundraisers, and El-Tobgui is also a fundraiser fundraisers for NRSC chairman John Cornyn‘s and his Alamo PAC (see below):

• Invite to June 2008 NRSC fundraiser for John Cornyn’s re-election hosted by the NRSC (PDF)
• Invite to July 2009 Alamo PAC fundraiser (PDF)
• Invite to Alamo PAC fundraiser this coming weekend (PDF)

(more…)

Five weeks ago the Sunday Denver Post editorial page featured a piece by columnist Vince Carroll that made short shrift of the U.S. Senate candidacies of Ryan Frazier and Ken Buck, while making the pitch for Bob Beauprez. The Post‘s management clearly was using its editorial heft to tout Beauprez as the GOP’s great hope to defeat Ritter-appointed incumbent Michael Bennet.

Well, two weeks later Bob Beauprez officially announced he was NOT tossing his hat in the ring. So now the Post is rolling out the red carpet for Jane Norton. Witness today’s column by editorial page editor Dan Haley straining the bounds of credibility to tout Norton’s virtues and dismiss her opponents. (more…)

Update: Michael at Best Destiny and Rossputin share their separate recollections of 9/11/01 and where our nation is eight years later.

Eight years ago today, with no substitute teaching job awaiting me, I slept in. My dad woke me. The TV was already on with scenes from the World Trade Center. The horror unfolded before my eyes. Minutes after I started watching the second plane hit the South Tower. Everything changed in a moment. It was a long day that grew into a long week.

Looking back, I can only think: Never forget. Stand strong. Never falter. Never surrender.

In that spirit the Colorado State University College Republicans are making a special commemoration today: (more…)

On the eve of Jane Norton’s official entry into Colorado’s U.S. Senate fray comes from Rasmussen Reports what figures to be the last poll of the race without her for awhile. In this survey, the top two early Republican contenders were paired up separately against Bill Ritter’s incumbent appointee Michael Bennet.

The biggest clear takeaway from Rasmussen? Whether attributable to an unfriendly climate for Democrats, to his own lackluster performance, or to both — the indecisive Bennet is vulnerable.

Other insights? The ascendant but still little-known Ryan Frazier fares better than Ken Buck, standing even with the Democrat:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Bennet ahead of Buck 43% to 37%. With Frazier as the opponent, Bennet is essentially even. The numbers are 40% for Frazier and 39% for the incumbent. [emphases added]

To be fair, there is a limited amount that polling more than a year out from a general election can indicate — even more limited than polling done a month before the election.

But this is encouraging news for a Frazier campaign that has been working hard to get off the ground. At one of his latest stops touring the state, the 32-year-old Aurora councilman drew a crowd of 100 near Durango to listen to citizens’ concerns and share his ideas on energy, education, and fiscal responsibility.

The Sam Adams Alliance presents a lighter look at the rough life of a government health czar and the new Moolah for Medicine program. I think you’ll find it four minutes well spent — I can tell you the cute and feisty Baby Virtus sure got a kick out of watching this video: (more…)

Last week I pointed out that financial concerns might end up pushing the Colorado Springs Gazette to abandon its longstanding position as a beacon of limited government, personal liberty, and fiscal sanity. Well, buckle up, because it’s started happening really quickly.

Witness today’s Gazette editorial co-signed by publisher Steven Pope and John Weiss, publisher of the Lefty Colorado Springs Independent, pulling out the big scare to support a tax hike on the city’s ballot.

However, it’s not clear the new Gazette management has considered all of the implications of the property tax increase (H/T Sean Paige).

If the Gazette losing its independent, libertarian voice concerns you in the least, now is the time to speak up.

Update, 9/11: About 24 hours later, the Denver Post catches up — but does offer some more detail about Norton’s first day of scheduled appearances. Let the campaign good times roll….

Not that this news will shatter any earth, but you can say you read it here first: Jane Norton is making her candidacy official next Tuesday morning, September 15, with a 9 AM appearance in the Denver Tech Center followed by an 11 AM appearance in Colorado Springs.

To little surprise, the “exploratory” phase of the campaign appears to be a brief formality.

A cynic might conclude that Norton wanted to publicize her announcement while the September 2009 Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature was still open (as of 2:30 this afternoon, there have been 232 responses). But I judge it to be a simple coincidence.

Over at Free Colorado, Ari Armstrong highlights the prominent role played by members of a local Liberty on the Rocks chapter in today’s NPR Morning Edition story (complete with audio).

Three LOTR members in particular responded to Obama’s speech last night on health care reform to a joint session of Congress. Quotes below… (more…)

Yesterday the official news finally rolled out that Jane Norton is getting into the U.S. Senate race. Today one case of deja vu follows another. Norton of course is most well-known for running on the 2002 Bill Owens statewide ticket and serving as lieutenant governor during his second term.

So (thanks to an astute reader who brought it to my attention) I guess this similarity is more than just a mere coincidence: (more…)

Last Friday, the Dump Reid PAC out of Nevada sent out an email update that included the following note about Colorado’s Republican Party chairman and a leading Republican contender to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010:

Sources confirm that Dick Wadhams was in Las Vegas recently to meet with [Sue] Lowden and is prepared to join the campaign if/when it becomes official.

Awakening from the long Labor Day weekend, the Dead Governors opined on Tuesday morning: “Dick Wadhams is reportedly considering a move to Nevada.”

Some time later that same day, fellow Right-leaning Colorado blogger Joshua Sharf reported on a memo from Wadhams that all but definitively indicated he had no plans to head to the Silver State. The Associated Press made it more definitive: (more…)

Eighteen days ago I told you Jane Norton was in the U.S. Senate race. Today it flies back at me like a bad case of deja vu. So goes the world.

Politico’s Josh Kraushaar notes:

She announced her candidacy on her newly-launched campaign website, and said that she will formally kick off the campaign next week after talking to supporters across the state.

I look forward to hearing about the events in which she talks to supporters across the state, who and where her supporters are, and how she addresses Republicans’ questions and concerns.

Because as Westword blogger Michael Roberts points out, her Web bio is long on former lieutenant governor resume (much longer than her Wikipedia entry) but largely short on details that concern forward-looking Coloradans — in contrast to Ryan Frazier (here and here), for example.

I hope to get an opportunity to flesh out Norton’s vision and message in an interview similar — albeit not necessarily as long — to the one I gave of new candidate Tom Wiens.

And don’t forget… You can vote for Norton, Frazier, Wiens, Ken Buck, or others in our September 2009 Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature.

Tonight is President Obama’s latest in a long line of big speech about why he’s finally clear on just what exactly he intends to do about how government health care will magically improve lives through competition (and other assorted sweet-talking nonsense)….

The address to Congress is scheduled to start at 8 PM Eastern, or 6 PM local time. If you’re in a serious mood and want to follow along with the speech online, I suggest you head over to Cato at Liberty for live-blogging analysis by two of the nation’s foremost experts on health care policy. If you’re in a lighter mood, you can play Obama health care bingo — compliments of Americans for Tax Reform. (more…)

We’re back at it again. After the results and analysis from the July 2009 survey in which we are grateful that more than 600 of you participated, we’re at it again.

Yes, El Presidente and I have commissioned and fashioned another survey that we hope you will take 10 minutes or so to complete — especially if you’re from Colorado.

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill quick-hit polls. Once again we’ve gone a little more in-depth. Some of the questions are the same. Some are new. One interesting added follow-up is asking what the most important factor is for you in choosing to support a Republican primary candidate for governor and U.S. Senate.

Click here to take the September 2009 Colorado online political survey

Your opinion counts. Take a few moments to make it happen. Not only show your support for candidates, but also let us know where you stand on key issues and give us some honest prognostication about the 2010 elections. The survey won’t be there forever, only until next Thursday, September 17, 5 PM local Mountain time … Thanks for participating! We’ll get back to you with the results soon. Stay tuned.

Below the fold is the “official” release announcing the survey: (more…)

Is the Republican Party these days just the “Party of No”? While many of us wish the erstwhile GOP majorities in Congress had lived by the equivalent of a fiscal and regulatory chastity pledge and just said NO in its spending heyday, that’s not quite what I’m getting at.

I’m referring to the knee-jerk retort one gets these days from certain quarters whenever justly denouncing the radical, government-expanding proposals coming from the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress. It goes something like:

Well, yeah? Where’s your solution? You just want things the way they are. The Republicans are just the party of NO.

Next time you encounter that knee-jerk response, I have an article for you to bookmark to throw back in their face…. (more…)