This morning a post appeared on Rocky Mountain Right about the first announced Republican candidate in Colorado's U.S. Senate race:Reports are trickling out that [Ken] Buck has split with Phase Line Strategies, a Republican consulting firm made up of GOP veterans who would have probably been fulfilling most of Buck's fundraising and communications needs, and that his campaign manager may have departed as well. Details are sketchy at this point, but the reports are coming from enough directions that it appears very likely to be true. Earlier this afternoon I called Ken Buck and recorded our conversation, to get a clearer picture of the story directly from the source. … [Read more...]
He Wasn’t Their First Choice, But Wadhams and Hillman Both Pleased with Michael Steele as RNC Chair
Not exactly breaking news: former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele is the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Polipundit has a blow-by-blow account of the six rounds (and five hours) of yesterday's balloting to achieve a majority of support from the 168 delegates. Five candidates started the day. At the end it came down to Steele and South Carolina's Katon Dawson. Steele prevailed by a count of 91-77. I followed up with two of Colorado's three voting RNC members afterward to get their thoughts, and received very similar reactions to the results. "Michael Steele will be a great spokesperson for our party," said state GOP chairman Dick Wadhams. "Michael Steele is one of the Republican Party's most articulate … [Read more...]
“Consider Yourself” Ready to Refute Inflated Colorado Child Poverty Claim
Oftentimes big, misleading headlines can circumnavigate the globe many times over before the much more nuanced truth gets a chance to catch up. Well, here's a terrific case in point that figures to pop up in Colorado policy debates. Last June the Colorado Children's Campaign released its annual Kids Count report. Latching on to that report, newspapers from the Denver Post to the New York Times climbed on board the claim that Colorado leads the nation with a 73 percent rise in child poverty from 2000 to 2006. In case you were confused, and wondered why you weren't seeing scenes like this one in and around our great state, the Independence Institute's Linda Gorman cleared up the picture a bit for you in last Friday's Denver Daily … [Read more...]
What I’m Thankful for #11: Loyal Friends Over Long Distances
This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive. Don't worry. The purpose of this post is not to attempt to seek a definition of "Friendship" or to categorize the different varieties and permutations of friends I have, as Joseph Epstein sought to do. Instead, I just wanted to briefly and publicly state my gratitude for the friends I have gained … [Read more...]
The Mantra: Rebuilding the GOP
When this morning I wrote "Any effort to rebuild Colorado’s Republican Party that’s done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure", I hadn't yet seen Patrick Ruffini's post "Change Won't Come from the Top Down". Great minds think alike? Remotely possible. Anyway, if you share this point of view, and are a conservative interested in doing your part to help rebuild the GOP, may I recommend you sign up to join this site and get involved in the conversation. … [Read more...]