The Republican Party’s Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) program in Colorado is second to none. Having seen it function firsthand, I can honestly say that the quality and quantity of work being done here outstrips not only what was accomplished in the state in 2004 and 2002, it also is quantifiably doing the best job of any state in the country.
Who will benefit the most? Statewide candidates like Mark Hillman (Treasurer), Mike Coffman (Secretary of State), and Brian Davidson (CU Regent). Congressional candidates Marilyn Musgrave and Doug Lamborn are on to victory, while Rick O’Donnell finds new life in his bid to upset Ed Perlmutter and the pundits.
State house candidates like Affie Ellis (HD 29), Bill Crane (HD 27), & Ramey Johnson (HD 23) in Jeffco find a clearer path to victory. And don’t forget Matt Dunn (HD 38), Anne Yeldell (HD 53), & Bob Caskey (HD 55), to name a few more. Sitting state senators like Ed Jones and Lew Entz will sure appreciate the boost, as will challengers like Matt Knoedler, Dick Sargent, and Luis Alvarez. Maybe enough of them can win to keep the GOP’s minority status from shrinking further in the senate, while perhaps a governing majority in the state house is within reach.
Lynn Bartels’ story in today’s Rocky Mountain News is all the talk inside the GOP phone banks and precinct-walking headquarters around the state:
The goal: Call 12,000 supporters in Jefferson County in one day.
The reality: Republicans, working out of a grubby strip mall in Wheat Ridge, called 19,441 voters on Saturday.
And they knocked on 14,540 doors that same day.
“Oh, my goodness!” gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez said Sunday, high-fiving Rob O’Regan, field director for the Colorado Republican Party.
Steve Jensen, chairman of Beauprez’s Jefferson County campaign, told the candidate about a call he had placed Saturday.
“The woman said, ‘Hold on, there’s somebody at the door,’ ” Jensen said. “And it turned out to be our people out there knocking.”
High-five!
It’s crunch time.
Beauprez is behind in the polls and the national mood favors Democrats, but you’d never know it, judging by the GOP’s get-out-the-vote efforts throughout the state.
“We have yet to see a Democrat,” said Steve Truebner, who is helping direct the GOP voter turnout effort. “I think you’ll be surprised on Election Day.”
What exactly this means for election results remains to be seen. But it’s got to give folks like Pat Waak, Tim Gill, Pat Stryker, Michael Huttner, and The Dead Governors a little bit of extra sleeplessness.
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