Michael at Best Destiny highlights yesterday's huge U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of individual workers' free speech rights (Davenport v Washington Education Association). More information available at the Independence Institute website. The big takeaway from the case? The First Amendment free speech rights of individual workers trump the First Amendment free speech rights of unions. If you want to use a worker's money for politics, just Ask First! Michael writes: The REAL question for us here in Colorado, is how to make use of this ruling. We can be fairly certain that this state legislature will NEVER pass a law saying that unions have to get permission to use dues for politics--Big Education would have a cow! So it is … [Read more...]

It sure seems early, but the campaign for the most competitive 2008 U.S. Senate race in the country is underway. Republican Bob Schaffer has started rallying the party faithful and commonsense independents and Democrats to his cause with his new campaign website. Check it out, donate, sign up to volunteer, whatever you're able to do: and be sure to spread the word! The race against Boulder liberal Mark Udall is on. Cross posted at Schaffer v Udall … [Read more...]

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog still ranks Colorado as the most competitive race in the upcoming round of U.S. Senate campaigns, but has noticed the recent encouraging news for Republicans: Republicans (finally) have their man. Former Rep. Bob Schaffer quietly announced his candidacy last week and all indications are that he will have the Republican primary field to himself. Democrats quickly sought to portray Schaffer as a conservative extremist, citing as evidence some of the positions he advocated during his three terms in Congress in the late 1990s. There's no question that Schaffer is more conservative than the average Colorado voter, but he also built up a grassroots following based on the "straight-shooter" … [Read more...]

Update: Yes, he's in.  Key graf: "Republicans have lost elections because our leaders have not been bold enough in proposing innovative solutions in Washington and have drifted from our long-held claim to the mantle of fiscal responsibility," Schaffer said. "Republicans have not fought hard enough for children and public education reform, especially in the inner city where the need has reached crisis status." The race is on. It looks like some of us - me included - jumped the gun on the Bob Schaffer announcement that he would be joining the U.S. Senate race for Colorado's open seat in 2008. For reasons I explained in my previous post (as well as others), I've had a good sense that this announcement was inevitable. It's just … [Read more...]

Former U.S. Congressman Bob Schaffer, overwhelming winner of last month's Mount Virtus Republican straw poll, dropped the news at last week's Teller County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner: he will be running against Mark Udall for Wayne Allard's open U.S. Senate seat. Schaffer's decision shows me at least a couple things: 1) He has cleared the primary field of any potential opponents and received assurances of support from most or all of the Republican players. 2) Internal polling gives him a respectable chance to defeat Udall next November. Expect a formal announcement soon. … [Read more...]

The results are in from the unofficial Mount Virtus grassroots "Who Should Replace Wayne Allard?" straw poll. I kept the polls open a couple days longer than originally planned, but it did very little to change the final tally. So who was your first choice to be the Republican nominee for Colorado's open U.S. Senate seat in 2008? No surprises. While he lost some of his early commanding lead, former Congressman Bob Schaffer never trailed from start to finish - earning 54 of 120 votes cast (45%). While it's still early to have to announce his candidacy, at the moment it looks like the field is clear for Schaffer to enter. A crowd fought for the next four slots with about 10 percent of the vote each. Scott McInnis (who is officially OUT … [Read more...]