Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

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Mount Virtus?

Every day is seeking to rise to the challenge, 'neath the shadow of the mighty Rockies.

Colorado Ballot Reviews

Sometimes the choices are daunting or confusing, sometimes they're as clear as a Mile High view.

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Huckabee Camp’s Washington Complaints: Nothing There

One of Saturday's three Republican presidential caucuses stirred up some controversy, an unfortunate occurrence that needlessly poured fuel onto the Huckabee campaign's conspiratorial fire, with his chairman reviving memories of Al Gore in Florida 2000:Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is crying foul after John McCain's apparent victory in the Washington caucuses on Saturday. Huckabee's campaign released a statement Sunday saying it will be exploring all available legal options regarding the ''dubious final results.'' Arizona Sen. McCain was announced as the victor in the caucuses with 26 percent of the vote to Huckabee's 24 percent. But Huckabee's campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, said Luke Esser, Washington's Republican … [Read more...]

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Romney Out: Let the Unifying Begin

Well, Mitt Romney's candidacy is over (but his political future may not be done). Not much more I can say that hasn't been repeated across the blogosphere in the past 20 hours or so. I have to say it's quite jarring to witness an overwhelming Romney win at my local caucus, and in the state of Colorado as a whole, and less than 48 hours later to see his campaign come to an end. But the former Massachusetts governor's withdrawal speech at CPAC only confirmed my confidence in him. The speech was full of class and grace and poise, but also resounded on the pre-eminent theme of victory in the GWOT. Though initially disappointed to see the result of Romney's Super Tuesday performance, hopefully we will look back in months to come and probably … [Read more...]

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Meet the CAGEUG

My creative (and apparently not-too-busy) colleagues at the Independence Institute put together this fun little (less than 2-minute) YouTube video to highlight some recent revelations following Gov. Ritter's executive order: How accurate is this parody? You can find the original story here. … [Read more...]

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Second Chance for McCain?

Yesterday, immediately following his successful Super Tuesday showing, I wrote that McCain needs to woo conservatives. A few hours later, we got this:Republican John McCain, buoyed by Super Tuesday wins that pushed him closer to the nomination, told his conservative critics Wednesday to dial back the animosity and focus on issues where they agree. ''I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there's areas we can agree on,'' McCain said at a news conference in a Phoenix airport hangar. [emphasis added] Not exactly a great start. In fact, it sounds a lot like the same old patronizing bit conservatives are used to hearing from Sen. McCain. … [Read more...]

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Mount Virtus Turns Four

I launched Mount Virtus four years ago today. On February 6, 2004, I was a complete neophyte in the world of blogging. Today, I am practically a blogging grandfather, but far from the bigtime. A lot has changed in four years. My how heady those early days were - ready to change the world, waiting for the 1,000th visitor, thrilled to receive a link or comment from anyone. (Someone noticed what I wrote?) Over the years, I've taken occasional breaks (never too long) from putting up posts here, and once or twice even contemplated letting it go. But here we are, two election cycles later, still hovered over my laptop, wearing my pajamas, typing away, trying to share a serious thought here and there. Okay, time to ditch the sentimentality … [Read more...]

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McCain Needs to Woo Conservatives

Since last night's results make it increasingly apparent that Sen. John McCain is not only the Republican front-runner but its putative nominee-to-be, here are some thoughts. Exit polls confirm the obvious - that McCain has a lot of work to do to woo conservatives. Mary Matalin (via KJ Lopez at the Corner) has some concrete ideas for what the McCain campaign can do to make it happen: … [Read more...]

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Arvada West Republican Caucus: Romney Territory

From my own little corner of the Colorado caucus: I've just returned from a gathering of six Republican precincts held at Arvada West High School. The turnout of 141 shattered all records from recent memory, though probably was outdone by the Democrats who met on the other half of campus. If our six precincts are anywhere near representative of the state of Colorado, it's a lock for Romney. I confirmed this unofficial vote tally with the district captain: Mitt Romney - 94 (67%) Mike Huckabee - 20 (14%) John McCain - 12 (9%) Ron Paul - 10 (7%) Uncommitted - 5 (4%) In a night across the country that looks to be less than decisive for any candidate in either major party, Colorado should go into the Romney column. We'll wait for … [Read more...]

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Caucus Confusion

Given the timing and popularity of this year's Presidential race, combined with the almost arcane political caucus process in this state, news like this is hardly surprising:State GOP chair Dick Wadhams reported this afternoon that the party had been beseiged with phone calls today, most from people trying to determine where they can caucus. One last time, the story provides helpful reminders for those looking to get involved this evening:Wadams [sic] said the party was expecting "very big attendance," at its caucuses which, as a reminder dear reader, begin at 7 p.m. Caucuses are run by political parties, not counties, but the good news is voters still have time to get to the right place. All Colorado caucuses are tonight. Those … [Read more...]

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Super Tuesday Post

Today is Super Tuesday and Caucus Day in Colorado. And that's why I find it surprising that my local blogging colleague Steven appears to be planning to sit out the Presidential vote:Politics as usual does not cut it for me. I need a candidate with true compassion, true conscience, true understanding, and the ability to reason. No candidate for President has demonstrated all these things that I can see. Not that these characteristics comprise anywhere near a complete resume for our nation's highest office. And trying to compare Hugh's show last night to push-polling? Not only absurd - I wouldn't say the MSM is push-polling for McCain - but sounds desperate, too, a lot like Huckabee's rhetoric of late. He's run as good a race as anyone … [Read more...]