Early primary results are in ... Congratulations to Mike Coffman, the next Representative from Colorado's 6th Congressional District. He wasn't my first choice, but he will do a fine job in Congress. Wil Armstrong had a big deficit to overcome, but despite his late surge couldn't make up the difference. Congratulations also to fellow blogger Joshua Sharf, whose hard work and consistent conservative Republican message has paid off in a primary victory. As predicted, incumbent Doug Lamborn has held on in the 5th Congressional. Wish it were Jeff Crank, but there's no use looking back. On the Democrat side, upstart liberal millionaire Jared Polis holds a lead over party favorite and career pol Joan Fitz-Gerald. But this one is still … [Read more...]
Colorado Primary Election Predictions
Today is Colorado's primary election. There aren't too many contested races going on, but the ones that are have rightly been described as "extraordinary" for their competitiveness. Anyway, here are my predictions for the few farthings they're worth (note that they're not all necessarily whom I'm cheering for to win): Congressional District 5, GOP: Incumbent Doug Lamborn wins narrowly, as Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn split the protest vote Congressional District 6, GOP: Businessman and political newcomer Wil Armstrong pulls off a surprising late comeback victory over favorite Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who goes on to mend fences with the state party leadership and prepares to run for U.S. Senate in 2010 Congressional District … [Read more...]
It’s Official: Colorado Government 100% Unionized, Thanks to Bill Ritter
It's not often I break news on this site, but just remember it was reported here first: As of today, the entirety of Colorado state government is officially unionized. Previously, the "Colorado WINS" union coalition won the right to represent six of eight occupational groups in state government - despite being outvoted by the "don't give a crap" coalition. While political junkies in Colorado await the results of candidate primary campaigns, results from mail-in ballot elections for the final two occupational groups of Colorado state government were counted and tabulated today. Via an email from the state labor department, here are the results (which should be posted here shortly):Financial Services Group: Colorado WINS was successful in … [Read more...]
Endorsements Likely Key Factor in Lifting Wil Armstrong into Close Race
I've written very little about the 6th Congressional District primary since my endorsement of Wil Armstrong nearly four months ago. Since then, many prominent Republicans have followed suit with their public endorsements, including Senator Wayne Allard, former Governor Bill Owens, Attorney General John Suthers, former state senate leader Mark Hillman, former Secretary of State Gigi Dennis, and even former Massachusetts governor and possible vice-presidential candidate Mitt Romney. For the longest time, Secretary of State Mike Coffman has been viewed as the prohibitive frontrunner in this four-way race, which also features state senators Ted Harvey and Steve Ward. But then today comes interesting news from the campaign - also reported at … [Read more...]
Time for Ted Stevens To Go
News came yesterday that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is indicted. If Republicans should have learned anything from the 2006 election, it's to purge the pork and corruption from their ranks. This story reminds us that neither major party has anything approaching a monopoly on sleazy politicians, but also gives the GOP an opportunity to distinguish itself by valuing integrity over seniority. Speaking of seniority, no Republican has served longer. It's time for that tenure to come to an end. At The Next Right, Patrick Ruffini wisely calls for Ted Stevens to step down, but points out he can't do so until after Alaska's August 26 primary. Of course, actual guilt or innocence has yet to be determined in the Stevens case. But politically … [Read more...]