Lu Busse, Chair of the 9.12 Project Colorado Coalition, this evening dispatched an open letter to Tom Tancredo in response to the former Congressman’s serious threat to run as a 3rd party candidate for governor if Scott McInnis and Dan Maes don’t announce they will drop out of the race by tomorrow at noon. The letter is copied in full below the fold: (more…)

Update, 6/11: Final results are in. As expected, Walker Stapleton moves forward. Gubernatorial candidate Joe Gschwendtner and state senate candidate Mark Hurlbert both failed to make the ballot — the former by a mere 242 out of 10,500 votes. “They won’t have Joe G to kick around anymore.”

One day to go for the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to verify whether candidates who opted to petition onto the ballot collected a sufficient number of signatures to move ahead. The updated list is here (PDF).

As of 5 PM on Thursday, five candidates (including Jane Norton for U.S. Senate) have qualified for the ballot and one was disqualified. The fate of two Democrat and five Republican campaigns are up in the air, including:

• State treasurer hopeful Walker Stapleton, who likely has enough to qualify
• Gubernatorial contender Joe Gschwendtner, who looks like he’ll be cutting it very close
• State senate candidate Mark Hurlbert, whose chances don’t look too good

Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens.

If I were to pick candidates to support in this year’s primary based on the ill behavior of political allies, I wouldn’t be able to back Jane Norton or Ken Buck to be Colorado’s next U.S. Senator.

First, it was the over-the-top attacks from Norton lieutenant Josh Penry (whom I had enthusiastically decided to endorse during his brief, abortive run for governor) against Buck.

Then yesterday I nearly fell out of my chair when I read this bizarre hit piece by Red State’s Erick Erickson on Jane Norton. Until today, most of Buck-backer Erickson’s jabs at Norton have been at least somewhat reasonable. Then he highlighted this passage from an AP story: (more…)

On Thursday I updated the rankings of Colorado’s competitive state senate seats. After 15 weeks it’s also time to update the Colorado state house rankings.

A quick overview: There are 65 seats in the Colorado state house, and all of them are up for re-election every two years. State representatives are limited to four two-year terms of service. Currently, the Democratic majority holds 37 seats and Republicans 27, with one seat belonging to unaffiliated (and former Democrat) Kathleen Curry.

Fifty-two incumbents are running to retain their seats: 30 Democrats (including 2 vacancy appointments), 21 Republicans (including 2 vacancy appointments) and Curry. That leaves 7 open Democrat and 6 Republican seats.

Interestingly, Colorado Republicans are very close to running a 65-district strategy, as the GOP is fielding candidates everywhere except Boulder County’s House District 10. On the other hand, Democrats are competing in only 49 of 65 districts, conceding 16 races (including five with no incumbent) out of the gate by not fielding any candidates.

Given the dynamics shaping up through the end of April, I rate 30 of the 65 races as marginally competitive or better: 26 held by Democrats (21 incumbent, 5 open); 3 held by Republicans (2 incumbent, 1 open); and the unaffiliated seat. I have listed all 30 below in order that they are likely to switch party hands, but only include comment on the first 12.

As the spring finally dawns, it looks extremely narrowly like the GOP has just enough momentum to win a 33-31-1 majority heading into 2011. But plenty can happen between now and the time the final votes are cast in early November: (more…)

Update: For comparison, a video of Ellen Roberts’ SD 6 assembly speech also has been posted.

It’s been a few months since I provided an update of Colorado state senate races. I rated Senate District 6 — in southwest Colorado, on the other side of the state — as the number one Republican target, noting with current Rep. Ellen Roberts remaining on pace fundraising with Democrat incumbent Bruce Whitehead that, “This seat remains the closest to an automatic party switch in the fall.”

But the people of Senate District 6 will have something to say about the matter first. Last Saturday the late-entry campaign of San Miguel County’s conservative Dean Boehler took some state political observers by storm by capturing 66 percent of the delegate vote at the SD 6 Assembly. The Boehler campaign has put together an 8-minute video featuring the candidate’s Assembly speech: (more…)

How many truly bad ideas can come up in the course of one Colorado legislative session? More than you may think (or maybe not). The latest hasn’t even been formally introduced yet, but the backlash has grown strong. Fox31 News reports on a proposal that would open up Colorado’s election system to fraud and abuse:

The 68-page draft bill, likely to be sponsored by House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D- Denver, and introduced later this week, would allow Colorado voters to register just three days before the 2010 election.

Currently, Coloradans must register to vote up until 29 days before an election. Carroll says allowing a longer registration period will open the door to greater voter turnout. But Republicans see it as a blatant attempt to bolster Democratic voter ranks ahead of an important election.

“I think it’s 100 percent politically-motivated,” said state Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, the former Douglas County Clerk and Recorder. “I can’t understand how someone would present such dramatic change to election law just short of an upcoming election, unless they had some ulterior motives.”

(more…)

Update: Scanned copy of the March 5 Taxpayers for Liberty letter posted below.

Yesterday I received a strange mailing from a group called Taxpayers for Liberty. (Many of my fellow conservative, politically-active Colorado friends likely received the same.) It’s a self-described 501c4 organization with a Denver P.O. Box and an executive director named Andrew O’Neill — I’m almost positive it’s not this Andrew O’Neill.

I will take time later today to scan and post the four-page letter, along with the attached questionnaire and reply form, so you can see the mailing for yourself. It looks a lot like your standard political fundraising letter, with short paragraphs and heavy on underlined text and bullet points. Suffice it to say, the group Taxpayers for Liberty is very fond of Ken Buck, while railing on Jane Norton for not returning the questionnaire and Tom Wiens for filling out the questionnaire identically but having a voting record, or something like that. (more…)

Sick of the Winter Olympics? Looking for something to do? Here’s a show you should tune into tonight (and not just because two of my liberty-loving friends are on it):

Studio 12 “Tea Party Movement”

Wednesday, February 17 at 8:00 pm on Channel 12 / 12.1 (more…)

It really stinks to be the Appointed One these days. As if trailing all potential Republican rivals in the polls (including Jane Norton by double digits) wasn’t bad enough for junior U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.

Then Bennet sticks out his neck, kowtows to Barack Obama to cast a losing vote for Craig Becker and back-door union card-check, only to get this news shortly thereafter: (more…)

An interesting development in Colorado’s Republican U.S. Senate primary: Ken Buck has won the full-spirited backing of influential Red State master blogger Erick Erickson — who among other accomplishments has helped fuel Florida’s Marco Rubio rise from upstart to frontrunner over Charlie Crist.

Can Erick help do the same for Ken Buck here in Colorado? Perhaps. The Weld County DA has a lot of catching up to do on the fundraising front.

Is Buck (or someone else) the grassroots candidate? You help decide by casting your vote before tomorrow (Friday) at 5:00 PM on the latest survey of Colorado’s political temperature.

That’s got to be how the Democratic trio of Governor Bill Ritter, Speaker Terrance Carroll, and House Finance Committee Chairman Joel Judd have to be feeling after knowing they accidentally turned one of their tax hike bills into a tax cut and therefore had to kill it. The majority party under the Golden Dome couldn’t let a pesky problem like that make it into the light of day.

You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Yet somehow it escaped even the watchful eye of the Denver Post‘s “The Spot” blog. Oh, well….

Thanks to Americans for Limited Government, brings our attention to something you may have missed, namely a key vote in the U.S. Senate last Thursday:

It was also on this day that the Senate voted 60-39 to increase the national debt ceiling by another $1.9 trillion to $14.294 trillion.

It is the largest debt ceiling increase in U.S. history — in human history, in fact — totaling even more than the projected federal budget deficit for 2010, which CBO states will be an eye-popping $1.35 trillion….

The vote was straight down party lines, with Senate Democrats enabling the Barack Obama administration to continue the federal spending spree, putting my children and grandchildren deeper in debt. Yes, that means the Appointed One Michael Bennet on his 2010 U.S. Senate Farewell Tour, and Mark Udall — he of the “dirty politician filter.”

Another reminder for Colorado’s fiscal conservatives, limited government supporters and liberty lovers to get involved and support the GOP candidate who you believe best fulfills your values and can unseat Bennet. Let’s keep the momentum going.

A quick follow-up to my recent posting on the campaign reports from candidates in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. Most notably, Republican frontrunner Ryan Frazier outraised incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter, despite the fact that Perlmutter gained nearly half his money from various special interest PACs.

For this distinction, The Hill rates Perlmutter as one of Congress’s fundraising losers, noting that Frazier’s “$219,000-to-$215,000 advantage in the fourth quarter was slight, but it serves as notice that a district that began as an afterthought could see a race.”

Meanwhile, Lang Sias has filed his report: He raised $30,914. To be fair, Sias wasn’t in the race for the entire October-December reporting period (his first contribution was received on November 2). Nearly half his contributions come from the Washington DC area — including $5,000 from John McCain’s Country First PAC and $1,000 from Joe (brother of John) McCain.

Update, 2/2: Americans for Tax Reform links back here. They have taken a real interest in “educating all those voting in the districts represented by the aforementioned lawmakers as to how they voted on this tax package during the 2010 campaign season.” ATR’s help is much appreciated.

Saturday I highlighted the Democratic House seats in the Colorado state legislature most vulnerable in the upcoming election. Today the House voted (with a 37-27-1 Democratic majority) to approve eight of the “dirty dozen” tax hike bills on: Direct mail (1189); Candy and soft drinks (1191); Software downloads (1192); Online sales (1193); “Non-essential” food containers (1194); Insecticides, pesticides and bull semen (1195); Alternative fuel vehicles (1196); Corporate net operating losses (1199).

When push comes to shove, I can give a pass on HB 1196. As for the other seven, it’s interesting to see which Democrats exhibited momentary symptoms of common sense and voted No … and which Democrats did not. Among those who voted Yes on every one of the tax increases: (more…)

Update, 2/2: It seems that HB 1198 in particular was too good — so good, Colorado’s legislative Democrats had to kill it. As Government Underground skillfully reports, the Democrats accidentally had a bill drafted that would repeal not only the AMT credit but the AMT itself, and thus are “not even competent enough to raise our taxes as they would like.” If it weren’t our tax dollars at stake, it would be downright hilarious.

I have tried to make the point before — if inartfully — that some of the “dirty dozen” tax hikes are worse policy than others. The fact they are being rammed through so quickly with so little deference to the concerns of large numbers of citizens showing up in protest has earned them all the “dirty” appellation.

But now, at last, we have a thoughtful analysis from the Tax Foundation’s Mark Robyn that carefully distinguishes nine of the bills: Bottom line? Seven are bad, two are good. (more…)

Last night on my guest co-hosting gig for Backbone Radio, we discussed not only the growing trend of government workers beginning to dominate the union movement.

But the subject also came up about the Obama administration’s efforts to backdoor the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (aka card check) through the appointment of SEIU lackey Craig Becker.

One advantage of this approach? Fellow Democrats in Congress like the indecisive appointed junior U.S. Senator Michael Bennet wouldn’t have to take an obvious position that either offends the Obama administration or the overwhelming number of Coloradans (and a majority of Colorado union members) opposed to this destructive proposal to re-write labor laws.

It would just add to the growing “backroom” Obama M.O. Michael Bennet then might want to consider writing the President a thank-you note — and while he’s at it, urge him not to make any more campaign visits after February. Then again, Bennet would have to vote on Craig Becker’s confirmation — so with the clear message of what Becker stands for, Bennet won’t be completely off the hook.

As fellow RMAer Don Johnson has noted, Republican 7th Congressional contender Ryan Frazier won a small but noteworthy victory by raising more money ($218,824) in the 4th quarter than incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter ($215,201).

More notable is that Frazier very nearly raised as much money just from individual contributors ($215,074) as Perlmutter did altogether. The incumbent Democrat brought in nearly half his take from PACs and political committees — including PACs belonging to corporations, trade groups, trial lawyers, labor unions and various liberal interest groups ($103,100 vs. $112,101 from individuals). Even with all the special interest heft that often comes with incumbency, Ed Perlmutter was narrowly outraised by Ryan Frazier.

Of course, GOP frontrunner Frazier still has plenty of ground to make up. Perlmutter has $1,045,319 on hand, compared to Frazier’s $280,355. It’s an uphill battle for the challenger, but the momentum is slowly starting to move in the right direction.

Demonstrating individual fundraising prowess, combined with a strong showing through the Republican primary process, should eventually open up more outside group donations to Frazier’s campaign. Meanwhile, though, people who live in Colorado are speaking more loudly with their pocketbooks to support Ryan Frazier than Ed Perlmutter.

The only other active Republican candidate to file a fourth quarter FEC report was Michael Deming, who raised $229 and has $341 on hand. According to the FEC website, Lang Sias, Jimmy Lakey and Mike Sheely had no reports to file.

This Sunday evening from 5 PM to 8 PM I will be guest co-hosting Backbone Radio on AM 710 KNUS with fellow bloggers Joshua Sharf and the Peoples Press Collective‘s Tom James (not only local bloggers, but Leadership Program of the Rockies Class of 2006 takes over).

With very few guests, it should be a good three hours of enlightening discussion and entertaining political banter. Go here to listen live.

I hope you enjoy one or more of the following:

• David Freddoso at the Washington Examiner points out that Senate Democrats very quickly have killed President Obama’s very modest “spending freeze” proposal before it barely had a chance to get going.
• Speaking of Obama, my PPC friends are licking their chops at the prospect of The One coming to Denver to stump for our appointed junior U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.
• Speaking of arrogance, guest writer Don Rodgers at Reclaim the Blue calls out Democrats in our state legislature for their hubris, after shoving through four of the Dirty Dozen tax bills on Wednesday (and are scheduled to hear the rest starting this morning) as a prelude to their dying political majority.
• Speaking of death, the New Ledger‘s Benjamin Kerstein gives Howard Zinn, the very recently deceased Marxist historian of A People’s History infamy, a harsh critique more grounded in reality than the one Zinn gave to the United States to manufacture his own career.
• Speaking of harshness — yes, as Lynn Bartels blogs for the Denver Post‘s The Spot, the Independence Institute is having its own “Biggest Loser” weight-loss competition — no, I’m participating in the “Biggest Gainer” competition instead.

Have a great Friday!

Update, 9:00 PM: They fixed it. That’s responsive, same-day government service for you!

First of all, I have to commend to you the Secretary of State’s work in creating the new TRACER campaign finance website, which is a more user-friendly, valuable tool than its predecessor. On the lighter side, while it’s imperative for candidates and committees filling out important disclosures to cross their t’s and dot their i’s, someone should have checked on TRACER’s main page to ensure the same level of accuracy: (more…)