A couple days ago I told you about my friend Libby Szabo running for House District 27. Well, you also ought to know a bit more about the incumbent Democrat who she is trying to unseat: Rep. Sara Gagliardi.
“We need to do something in this country, and I am in favor of single-payer national health care reform—so I would not support this initiative at all,” said Rep. Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, who is vice chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
Yes, that’s right. My state representative thinks the current Obama Care proposals rejected by a majority of Americans — and most recently, Massachusetts voters — don’t add enough government controls to medicine. At least my fellow Arvadans and I have a clear choice come November. Go Libby go!
Voters who elected Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Edward Kennedy for 47 years sent a clear message that they expect Washington to listen to their concerns, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said.
“Last night, the voters of Massachusetts didn’t just elect a senator; they sent a message to Washington that I have heard all across Colorado — they want their leaders to listen to them and not the special interests,” Bennet said. “They want us to focus on jobs, on lowering the cost of health care, and holding Wall Street accountable. They expect results, and it’s up to me and the rest of Washington to deliver.”
Senator Bennet should have added, “And after a year of being in the Senate, I’ll finally start paying attention to you and making up my mind on important issues to Colorado, rather than kowtowing to liberal party leaders and hiding under a rock to avoid sharing an opinion on the Big Labor card-check bill. (more…)
Thanks to the Democrats in the state legislature, a new tire-waste disposal fee isn’t good enough: You’re also getting taxed on the fee! Yes, that’s right. Check out the new report created by my Independence Institute colleague Todd Shepherd:
Imagine paying for your new car tags, and the person behind the counter also assesses a sales tax on your total tag price. Or imagine paying a government toll on a highway, and sales tax is assessed to the toll as well.
It may sound far-fetched, but when you purchase new tires, it’s happening. (more…)
I’m excited to be able to share the news that conservative Republican Libby Szabo — one of my favorite people — has announced she is running to be my next state representative. She will be a formidable challenger to incumbent Democrat and Ritter disciple Sara Gagliardi in a very winnable race.
Below the fold is a copy of Libby’s press release announcing her campaign: (more…)
(H/T Complete Colorado) The new Colorado News Agency gets the scoop and breaks down the details on a series of bills and debates that will make one of the hottest stories out of the legislative session this year: the proposed repeals of late fees in Governor Bill Ritter and the Democrats’ 2009 FASTER legislation. Pardon the pun, but the state’s fiscally conservative bloggers definitely need to get up to speed on this issue… and fast.
So the Democrats’ Research 2000/Daily Kos crew has released a poll today showing incumbent appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet one point ahead of leading Republican challenger Jane Norton. But, you say, wasn’t it just Friday — three days ago — that Rasmussen had Norton up 12 points on Bennet?
Rasmussen’s margin of error (MOE) is 4.5 points, which means at the bottom end Norton is ahead of Bennet by 7.5. Research 2000′s MOE is 4 points, which means at the top end Norton is ahead of Bennet by 3. Since the two polls were conducted at virtually the same time, the obvious conclusion is that one (or both) of them simply is wrong. So whom do we trust?
I don’t have access to any of Rasmussen’s internals, but Research 2000/Daily Kos shows that 239 Democrats were sampled, compared to 224 Republicans. We can make even further inferences from their internal numbers — which show Bennet winning among Democrats 74 to 5, Norton winning Republicans 79 to 6 and independents somehow splitting for Bennet 37 to 34.
If you apply the actual percentages of active registered voters from the Colorado Secretary of State (35.2% Republicans, 33.7% Democrats, 31.1% Unaffiliated/Minor Party), then the outcome looks a little different than Research 2000 says: Instead, Norton beats Bennet by 2 points (41-39). (more…)
Introducing the detailed release of results from our January edition of the Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature (click “Fullscreen” for best view):
Thanks again to everyone who participated. And congratulations to our candidate winners this time around: Dan Maes, Ken Buck, Cory Gardner, Ryan Frazier and J.J. Ament.
Our plan is to work on some limited cross-tab analysis of these results. If you have any interest in any particular cross-tab (e.g., how did people vote in a particular race by age group?), please email me or leave the suggestions in the comment box by Tuesday night.
Update, 1/19:(H/T Business Word) According to Denver Post political editor Curtis Hubbard, Maes’ 4th quarter campaign take is actually lower than the previous quarter. And his campaign treasurer “seems to be missing in action” to turn in the report. It almost goes without saying that this adds up to seriously bad news for the upstart candidate.
Perhaps the biggest knock against the upstart Republican gubernatorial campaign of Evergreen businessman Dan Maes has been his weak fundraising. He only pulled in $12,194 during the third quarter, from a total of 37 contributors.
No one realistically expects Maes to achieve fundraising parity with frontrunner Scott McInnis (who brought in $544,779 and $479,575 in the two recent reporting periods, respectively). But it would help Maes’ cause greatly to be in the same league.
Today’s editorial from the liberal- leaning Denver Post urges Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet to vote against the “bad medicine” of Obama Care. If that doesn’t tell you how blindly out of touch the national Democratic Party has become, and the political dangers awaiting them on the near horizon, I’m not sure what will: Maybe a “Massachusetts Miracle” by Republican Scott Brown?
Update, 1/22:Two other Republican candidates — U.S. Senate hopeful Ken Buck and 7th CD contender Ryan Frazier — also have signed the “Repeal It” pledge.
The Club for Growth has created a “Repeal It” pledge for candidates running for Congress in 2010. It reads:
I hereby pledge to the people of my district/state upon my election to the U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate, to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.
There’s a cause the majority of Coloradans (and indeed, Americans) can rally around. Kudos to Republican 7th CD candidate Lang Sias for being the first non-incumbent from our state to sign (GOP 5th District Congressman Doug Lamborn also has signed).
Just because Sias is the first Colorado candidate to sign and have his name appear on the “Repeal It” site, I would be greatly shocked if others in the 7th CD race — not to mention candidates for the U.S. Senate and other Congressional districts — did not join him shortly.
Sen. Mark Udall is wading into a hotly contested special election on behalf of a fellow Democrat, and it’s his use of the word “tea-baggers” that has upset some conservatives.
The fundraising e-mail is on behalf of Martha Coakley, a Democrat, who is facing Republican Scott Brown in a tight race to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts.
Udall’s e-mail reads, in part, “Martha’s opponent is receiving millions of dollars in support from far-right tea-baggers across the country, claiming him as one of their own.”…
A campaign representative for Udall, who is not up for re-election until 2014, issued a statement in response to an inquiry by 9NEWS.
“Over the past year, multiple media outlets have used the term as a short-hand reference to tea party activists,” the statement read. “That is what was intended by the campaign and nothing more.”
Apparently, the extent of Colorado’s senior U.S. Senator’s experience with “media outlets” is MSNBC and Lefty blogs like the Daily Kos. As 9News notes, even NPR has added the term to its “dirty word filter.” Maybe taxpaying Coloradans should add Udall to their “dirty politician filter.”
Thanks to everyone who participated. With 714 participants, this is the most popular edition yet. Come back and make your voice heard again in February … Onward and upward for 2010!
Update:Incumbent Democratic state treasurer Cary Kennedy raised $70,000 in the last quarter and has $173,674 on hand — which puts her squarely between Stapleton and Ament.
With state campaign finance reports due today, GOP state treasurer candidate Walker Stapleton boasts another strong fundraising quarter:
DENVER—Republican businessman Walker Stapleton announced today that he has now raised more than $310,000 for his 2010 campaign to unseat Democrat incumbent State Treasurer Cary Kennedy. That figure includes over $65,000 raised in the last quarter of 2009.
Stapleton’s efforts leave him with more than $270,000 cash on hand….
As of 5:25 PM, incumbent Democrat Cary Kennedy had yet to file a report. I’ll post an update for comparison when I see that it’s come in.
By comparison, Republican treasurer candidate Mark Hillman — running uncontested in the primary — at this point four years ago had $125,415 in the bank.
If you have been reluctant to describe fellow Republican Jane Norton as the frontrunner … well, “facts are stubborn things,” John Adams once said. Norton has pushed her lead over incumbent appointee Michael Bennet from 9 points to 12 and is nearly at 50 percent (49-37). Buck’s lead over Bennet ticked up one point to five (43-38), while the recent invisible campaign of Tom Wiens has grown a similar lead of 44-38. (more…)
I don’t agree with attorney general John Suthers on everything, but kudos to him for taking some bold stands recently. Of course, there is his active role in participating and speaking out against the Obama Care Nebraska bribe in the U.S. Senate. Then this week came Suthers’ three-fourths endorsement of the Clear the Bench Colorado cause, another bold move.
Lesser known, but also important today for those procrastinators out there, is the Attorney General’s Twitter endorsement of the Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature. While the endorsement came with the original survey in July, the January edition is closing up at 5 PM today, so… Time to Take the Survey!
