What justifications will the NRSC offer for backing Jane Norton for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat over a series of Republican primary challengers (e.g. Ryan Frazier and Ken Buck? A major one will be an alleged fundraising prowess that her rivals supposedly lack.

Of course, Norton has never won election on her own. The only time she ran for statewide office was on the coattails of popular incumbent Bill Owens in 2002. But she did have her own committee “Friends of Jane Norton” (search the Secretary of State website, be sure to check the “Include Terminated?” box). She edged out the Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Bill Thiebault in total fundraising: $99,471 to $90,085.

But put her modest advantage in context. In a race that Owens ultimately won with more than 62 percent of the vote, the incumbent Republican governor outraised Democratic challenger Rollie Heath on the order of $5.6 million to $1.25 million — by more than 4 times. Meanwhile, Norton barely outraised her counterpart Thiebault. (more…)

Hold on to your shirt (and your wallet), as you read new Heritage Foundation research by Brian Riedl:

The Office of Management and Budget has released its annual mid-session review that updates the budget projections from this past May.[1] They show that this year, Washington will spend $30,958 per household, tax $17,576 per household, and borrow $13,392 per household. The federal government will increase spending 22 percent this year to a peacetime-record 26 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This spending is not just temporary: President Obama would permanently keep annual spending between $5,000 and $8,000 per household higher than it had been under President George W. Bush.[2]

Driven by this spending, America will run its first ever trillion-dollar budget deficit this year. Even worse, the President’s budget would borrow an additional $9 trillion over the next decade, more than doubling the national debt. By 2019, America will be spending nearly $800 billion on net interest to service this large debt.[3] [emphases added]

This isn’t CHANGE we can believe in — especially since the only spare change coming into my household likely will be taxed to pay off Obama’s mounting debt. This is much more of the SAME of George W. Bush’s fiscal policies (minus the across-the-board income tax cuts) … only on steroids.

Astounding numbers, when you let them sink in.

If you are a concerned citizen (Left, Right, or anywhere in between), and you only get the opportunity to read one article this week, I highly recommend David Goldhill’s new piece in The Atlantic titled “How American Health Care Killed My Father” (H/T We Stand FIRM).

It’s lengthy, but very insightful and thought-provoking. If you or any of your loved ones ever has had to make use of American medical services (or paid for them in many cases without thinking about it), then you are the intended audience.

Do I agree with every conclusion and proposal the author offers? No. Most of them? Yes. (more…)

I’ve been a member of the Stupid Party for most of my adult life. And when I say the Stupid Party, I mean the Republican Party. Has the Republican National Committee learned anything from the recent election disasters? If anything, the wrong lessons.

I’m talking about today’s Washington Post op-ed by RNC chairman Michael Steele that actually pits the GOP as the pandering “Party of the Entitlement Status Quo” (H/T Jon Henke).

The tide has turned against Obama Care’s government health care takeover, and what do we get? The Democrat-light “seniors’ health care bill of rights,” rather than a serious proposal that injects more freedom and portability into the debate. (more…)

Colorado Democratic State Party headquarters on 8th and Santa Fe in Denver was vandalized last night. Windows broken out, etc. Not good. Obviously the work of someone without respect for private property, and without respect for an honest, healthy debate. A criminal act that should be dealt with appropriately.

However, initial reports quoted the Democratic state party chair trying to frame the incident as the responsibility of opponents of the Obama Care government health care takeover:

“We ought to be having a serious, conscientious debate about what’s best for the country,” [state Democratic party chairwoman Pat] Waak said. “Clearly there’s been an effort on the other side to stir up hate. I think this is the consequence of it.”

The problem? (more…)

What does it say about a primary candidate that his two primary messages seem to be:

1. The incumbent is wrong; and
2. I’m ahead in the polls.

Well, those are the messages I’m getting from the Scott McInnis for governor campaign. The first message is obvious: no complaints there. The point to ponder is why #2 is one of the primary messages .

It isn’t surprising to any serious political observer that the former 3rd District Congressman has greater name recognition than his rivals. So why keep touting two polls — at least one of them commissioned by the McInnis campaign — that say exactly that? (more…)

Update II, 6:10 PM: Within the past hour Bob Beauprez has sent out and posted an official announcement:

Not every opportunity is the right one though, and having been presented with the potential to serve in the United States Senate, Claudia and I considered it very carefully. However after significant reflection, I will not be a candidate for the Senate in 2010.

Recently, we started a new family business, raising buffalo on a ranch in Colorado’s mountains. I’m enjoying working with our son, Jim, who is managing the ranch, much as I worked side-by-side with my own father in the dairy business. And most personally, Claudia and I love being grandparents as well as spending more time than we’ve ever had with our grown children….

Guest-hosting for Dan Caplis, Beauprez also made the same announcement on air on 630 KHOW. Reading between the lines, I’d guess with a fair degree of certainty that he plans to endorse Jane Norton when she rolls out her campaign in the next few weeks.

Update, 3:15 PM: Caplis and Silverman said an announcement from Bob Beauprez is coming before today’s show ends at 6 PM. Looks like the KHOW co-hosts will be second to break this story.

As of this afternoon I have it on very good word that former U.S. Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez will NOT be running for the U.S. Senate seat against the appointed incumbent Michael Bennet.

There may or may not be a direct connection with the news I broke on Saturday that former lieutenant governor Jane Norton is in the race (an official September announcement is pending).

No word at this point on whether Beauprez plans to endorse anyone in the unfolding U.S. Senate primary, or if so, whom. But I can safely assume he will rally his support around the eventual Republican nominee. There’s a lot of time left in the process for grassroots Colorado Republicans to have their say who the nominee will be.

Today’s breaking news comes following last week’s poll results showing Beauprez as the most favored and well-known potential candidate and most likely among those tested to beat Bennet.

First there was Caplis & Silverman. Then there was Colorado’s Morning News. Now we have a couple of strange Scott McInnis gems in writing (no transcripts, no audio) from his recent “InnerView” with the Colorado Statesman.

First, in regards to closing the budget gap:

You need to say, “Okay, here’s what we have.” The state Senator up there, Dan Marostica. He’s got some ideas, and he’s a numbers guy. That’s what you need. Frankly, the governor should have hired that guy the first day he was in office.

Those are the kind of people that I’m going to put in place.

No doubt gubernatorial candidate McInnis meant Representative (until recently) Don Marostica. Hey, mistakes on details like title and first name happen. But why bring Marostica up in the first place? (more…)

Yes, it appears that Colorado’s former lieutenant governor won’t need the full 30 days to make up her mind. I have received word from a reliable source or two that Jane Norton is definitely going to announce her candidacy for U.S. Senate. My guess is this will mean Bob Beauprez opts to stay out of a crowded phone booth field.

Initial reactions? Norton doesn’t bring Beauprez’s baggage of the disastrous 2006 campaign or firsthand experience with the fiscally profligate Republican Congress of the early-to-mid 2000s. She brings administrative experience in state government, whereas the current two frontrunners in the race Ryan Frazier and Ken Buck have experience in municipal or other local government. (more…)

After I posted earlier this week about Scott McInnis’ bizarre interview with Caplis and Silverman, an anonymous source dropped me an email that read in part:

FYI, a week or so earlier McInnis had a similarly goofy, albeit not quite so bizarre, encounter with Stephen [sic] Tubbs on Colorado’s Morning News. I haven’t been able to chase down the audio, but thought you might be interested.

Special thanks to 850 KOA for providing this audio from a recent episode of Colorado’s Morning News as co-host Steffan Tubbs interviews Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis. Click the play button to hear the two-minute clip:

“Goofy, albeit not quite so bizarre.” I believe that’s a fair characterization.

Every time he goes off a bit like this, McInnis lends more credence to the narrative being built by the Left that his leadership style is Nixonian and temperamental. My preference for his primary rival Josh Penry is known. But others will have to listen to the two radio interview clips, do their research, and come to their own conclusions.

Earlier this week I was privileged to sit down in a one-on-one meeting with state senate minority leader and Republican gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry. I have to admit it’s a bit surreal to be in close contact with someone running for governor who is in my age bracket — Josh is less than a year older than I am. But the political times, they are a-changin’ … and many signs suggest the pro-liberty youth movement promises to better serve the GOP and its fiscally conservative wing in 2010.

At our 40-minute enclave Penry and I discussed policy issues, most specifically education, while he afforded me the opportunity to assess his strengths and weaknesses, and offer my 2.5 cents (inflation) worth of advice. As I told Josh directly, I was about 98 percent inclined to support his candidacy before we met. The one-on-one meeting — combined with recent revelations of rival Scott McInnis‘ temperament — cinched the deal for me. (more…)

Competent pro-free market voices like the Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon and the editors of the Wall Street Journal (via Patient Power) have raised red flags about the so-called “co-op” idea that’s moving through the Senate and being floated by the administration as a fallback from the “public option”.

The Journal cleverly calls the co-op idea “Fannie Med”. Cannon writes:

The president’s approach to health care reform hasn’t changed at all. All he has done is tried to distract attention from how dangerous and unpopular his approach really is.

But that doesn’t mean President Obama could use the “co-op” rhetoric to smoothly shift political gears and pull government health care over the finish line in Congress any easier than before. In fact, it might make it even harder — if you can believe the poll numbers released today by Rasmussen: (more…)

Rossputin makes a great observation about the not-so-great surprise (I’m shocked!) that the Obama porkulus money is being spent at such a slow pace:

The “stimulus” bill was NEVER about stimulating the economy or fixing the infrastructure that needs fixing. That’s why it’s not being spent quickly and why many infrastructure projects are being undertaken where the bridge or road is not in very bad shape but happens to be in an important Democratic district.

Instead the “stimulus” bill is about stimulating the Democrats’ chances in the next election. The plan all along has been to save as much money as possible until mid-2010 and then spend like crazy, trying to buy as many votes as possible going into a mid-term election when the party in power tends to lose seats – and which is already looking worse than usual for the Democrats.

This type of taxpayer-funded patronage is hardly new. If you’ve read the magnificent book The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, you would know that Franklin D. Roosevelt similarly manufactured a lot of New Deal spending to his political advantage in the 1936 election — which proved to be landslide Democrat victory.

Obama and today’s Democrats have learned at least one lesson of history. But this time they aren’t working to produce a landslide as much as to stave one off on the other side.

Some Blog Guy over at Rocky Mountain Right writes about an apparent surge of the Birther movement in Colorado:

We get it. You don’t like Obama. We don’t either. But please focus on stuff he’s actually done instead of fantasies.

Just wanted to take a moment and state that I second the motion. Anyone else with me? James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal offered a more in-depth analysis of this non-issue a few weeks ago — I commend that to you, too.

Glad to see that Mr. Bob also agrees.

Love how the Denver Post lends a hand to Barack Obama and appointed Senator Michael Bennet in the health care debate:

He acknowledged that the ire in town halls — in Colorado, and across the country — was mostly about fear of changing a system that hasn’t worked for years. [emphasis added]

Not “changing a system that he said hasn’t worked for years,” mind you. A stated opinion given cover with a straight news declaration of fact. Sigh. I’ll even give them the benefit of the doubt and suspect that the phrasing was an unintentional slip that reflects the newsroom’s own uninformed bias rather than some malicious attempt at partisan hackery.

I know of many personal friends and acquaintances who could tell stories — some of them rather compelling — that would cast doubt on the suggestion that the system “hasn’t worked for years.” But the plural of anecdote isn’t data. Time perhaps to check and see why 54 percent of Americans say no healthcare reform beats Obama Care and increased government intervention in the healthcare system (the public opposes the plan by a 53-42 margin).

Of course, the system is better than commonly portrayed — and the American people aren’t buying the lie. Are some changes needed? Yes, but not to the extent, and not in the direction, proposed.

So many good pieces are being produced during the course of the ongoing health reform debate, here are a few of the latest I recommend for your enlightenment:

• At the American Thinker, Paul Miller eloquently explains why the debate is so impassioned: because it’s personal
• As usual, the People’s Press Collective has some of the best coverage of the impassioned protest of the President’s Grand Junction visit and the Obama Care astroturfers this past weekend
• Ari Armstrong explains in a guest piece for the Gazette why rationing is inevitable under Obama Care

As Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey reports, Democrats are backtracking on the “public option”. Even the media can’t roll the leaden monstrosity of Obama Care uphill anymore. Still, the next Democrat gambit may be to push a more subtle advance toward government health care or, as Morrissey suggests, slip it back in quietly during a conference committee.

His advice and mine? “This is no time to get complacent.”