Slapstick Politics has the lowdown on the ineffectual results of the recent state special legislative session. Republicans have a steep climb to face if they are going to turn immigration and/or judicial activism into winning issues. How about another issue to latch onto: maybe, private property rights vs. eminent domain? Or one of my perpetual favorites ... education reform. … [Read more...]

Last fall Colorado Democrats supporting Referendum C poo-poohed the notion that they were attempting to grow the size of state government, just restore some pre-recession cuts. Yet as April Washington reports in today's Rocky Mountain News, with Democrats in charge in both houses at the State Capitol, state government payroll has added more than 1,000 jobs since the beginning of 2006. Both Republican candidates for governor have the right idea: hold Ref C supporters to their word and refund any additional revenue raised above the amount forecasted to be raised by the voter-approved mandate. For Marc Holtzman, it's the $3.1 billion figure originally released by the Legislative Council in 2005. For Bob Beauprez, it's the revised $3.7 … [Read more...]

My observations on the CEA contribution to Kiki Traylor have stirred some attention through the grapevine. As a result, I fielded a phone call this afternoon from Senator Traylor with a very clear message: she does indeed support vouchers for low-income students, like the Opportunity Contract Scholarship Program that Senator Spence sponsored, Governor Owens signed, and the Supreme Court narrowly ruled unconstitutional. Furthermore, Senator Traylor said she made that fact clear in her interview with CEA. Even though she said they don't like her position on the issue, Senator Traylor surmised that CEA may have contributed to her campaign because of her hard work, her integrity, her independent intellect, or because they just figure she … [Read more...]

The Denver Post's Dan Haley is coming around to my view on the importance of the race in Colorado's House District 29. Go, Affie! … [Read more...]

This year, Colorado Republicans' best chance at success will come at retaking the State House. Despite all the money of liberal 527s and rich guys being poured into the campaign, the off-presidential election year, Republican voter demographics, all 65 seats up for grabs, a strategy motivated by 2004's humiliating defeat, and a reasonably good slate of candidates all add up to a good chance for the GOP to retake the State House. Today the editors of the Rocky Mountain News endorsed their slate of State House candidates from the metro Denver area, including the following Republicans in currently held Democrat seats: Aimee Rathburn (HD 1) Ramey Johnson (HD 23) Affie Ellis (HD 29) Rex Pierce (HD 31) Even counting the mistaken … [Read more...]

As the Denver Post highlights this morning, tomorrow is the big "showdown" in Colorado Springs, also known as the State GOP Assembly. I along with several other center-right Colorado bloggers will be on hand for various official duties and will give you updates as possible. There are a couple salient points I wanted to bring forward about the Assembly, as raised in the article. First, both Republican gubernatorial candidates have focused an extraordinary amount of effort in seeking to persuade delegates from across the state to give their support. Neither candidate has been shortchanged in opportunities to control and direct their messages to this important audience, to make their best case for why their respective candidate should be … [Read more...]

Some of you may have noticed a prominent change on the sidebar, in the way of candidate support. Here's the story... Bob Beauprez and his campaign made a statement today, and Colorado's Republican delegates responded in force. As reported by the Denver Post's Dan Haley, Beauprez won the delegate vote 72.2 percent to 27.8 percent. Haley also has reported that the Holtzman campaign has refused to sign off on the results. I'm not sure what the Holtzman team's specific complaint is, since as one who attended today's Assembly, I saw it as apparent that the State Party bent over backwards to accommodate their requests. It was also apparent from the reactions of the crowd that Holtzman would have a hard time reaching the crucial 30 … [Read more...]