Update, 8/21: Lynn Bartels’ story in today’s edition of the Post fills out a little bit more detail and gives more attention to both the major party candidates… including a lede that identifies Perlmutter’s Bush-bashing blameshifting (which makes the headline above obsolete). Guess the blog focus on the Libertarian candidate was supposed to be the teaser for today’s story (?). I also was promised some video footage from the Frazier campaign, and will post that here when it arrives.
This morning featured the first showdown of Colorado 7th Congressional candidates at a chamber of commerce-sponsored debate. It was practically in my backyard, but who has $20 or more to swing for such luxuries?
The only coverage of the debate I’ve found is from the Denver Post‘s Lynn Bartels. With her former fave Lang Sias out of the 7th CD race, guess whom Bartels ended up showering the most attention on? Not rising Republican star Ryan Frazier. Not incumbent Pelosi Democrat Ed Perlmutter. Who then?
If you guessed Libertarian Buck Bailey (without reading the blog post), you win tonight’s star prize: a self-congratulatory pat on the back and a warm heaping helping of self-esteem. Taking nothing else into account, one is left to infer from the Post‘s coverage that the exchange between the two major party candidates was somewhat less than interesting. (I mean, I’m sure Mr. Bailey is a nice guy and everything….)
But the Ryan Frazier campaign had a different take. Full press release from his campaign below the fold:
Instead of taking responsibility for his job-killing votes in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Golden) used the same tired rhetoric of the Democratic Party by blaming former President George W. Bush for our prolonged economic recession at this morning’s Arvada Chamber of Commerce debate. Perlmutter’s Bush blame-game was met with jeers from the crowd.
“The Pelosi-Perlmutter agenda has done nothing to help get Americans back to work,” Ryan Frazier, Republican nominee for the 7th Congressional District, said. “Ed needs to stop making excuses and take responsibility for the failed policies of this Congress.”
Perlmutter also falsely claimed President Bush left a $1.3 trillion budget deficit when he left office. The budget deficit in 2008, Bush’s last year, was an unacceptable $438 billion. Despite criticizing Bush for his spending habits in 2007, Perlmutter has since voted to more than triple the budget deficit, to $1.4 trillion, in just two years.
“Since Ed took office in January of 2007, Colorado’s unemployment rate has doubled,” Frazier continued. “Americans want new solutions, not more of the same.”
In 2006, Perlmutter said he would NOT mandate businesses to provide healthcare to their employees. Yet, this year, Perlmutter flip-flopped and voted for the most intrusive and expansive healthcare mandate in history.
“Ed went to Washington to change it. Instead, Washington changed Ed.” Frazier concluded. “It’s time for a new way forward.”
It’s no coincidence that during my phoned-in appearance this morning on the local Jim Pfaff Show with guest host Kelly Maher, I explained the desperation behind Congressional Democrats’ escalating strategy to blame President Bush for the nation’s woes. If the theme is left out of any other coverage of today’s debate, maybe we can expect some attention next time around.
Which candidate is looking for and talking about solutions? Which candidate is stuck in the blame game of the past?
Drifting further Leftward during his time inside the Beltway, Ed Perlmutter shows why holding on to his seat will require a bitter fight to the finish this fall. The real untold political story is what impact this first debate will have on a race that has implications for which party will control the lower house of Congress in 2011.
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