Rocky Mountain Right has posted a great straw poll that's just begging your participation. You have until noon on Wednesday, February 11, to vote for your favorite potential GOP candidate to challenge the newly-selected Michael Bennet for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat in 2010. As of this posting, Mark Hillman and Ryan Frazier are deadlocked at 42 percent each. Bob Beauprez lags the pack at 12 percent, while Bentley Rayburn barely registers at 4 percent. … [Read more...]
Etch Yesterday in Stone as Rare Proud Moment for Congressional GOP
It's not often that I can say Congressional Republicans make me proud by their actions. So let's etch January 28, 2009, in stone as one of those momentous occasions. Hats off to the House GOP yesterday for standing 100 percent united against the Obama-Democrat trillion dollar pork bill that promises to mount piles of debt on my generation and future generations. Of course, this is small consolation as there aren't enough Republicans - with or without backbone - to stop the socialist steamroller "stimulus" from gliding through. But at least if the GOP hangs tough and united, rather than set us up for disappointment, the Democrats will own this economic disaster. (Will Senate Republicans follow their House brethren?) … [Read more...]
More GOP Candidates Enter the Arena
It's January 2009. 'Tis the season for candidates to throw their hat into the ring. Face The State breaks the news that conservative Denver election attorney Scott Gessler has filed the paperwork to run as a Republican candidate for Secretary of State in 2010. Keep up with all Colorado's announced Republican candidates for public office in 2010 at Rocky Mountain Right's official listing. In local Republican Party news, blogger and recent state legislative candidate Joshua Sharf has announced he's running on a ticket to serve on the Denver County Republican executive committee. Even better, he has a plan. Are there more people in counties across the state working along the same lines to improve the Republican Party? I certainly hope so. … [Read more...]
Would Ed Perlmutter Vote our Taxpayer Dollars to Bail Out the Big Three?
From The Hill (via Rocky Mountain Right):Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) sat on an exercise bicycle at the Wheat Ridge Recreation center this weekend, hearing unvarnished advice from constituents about the auto bailout. “It was one after another,†Perlmutter recounted. “One guy would come up and say, ‘You can’t let them fail.’ The next guy would say, ‘Let them go bankrupt.’ †Perlmutter said he was leaning in favor of the bailout, but couldn’t say for certain until he sees final language. As a constituent of Ed Perlmutter who is paying very close attention to these developments, count me among the latter: Let them go bankrupt. It's the bitter medicine needed, certainly not a vast government takeover at the … [Read more...]
Questions Linger as Colorado Supremes Sit on Ritter Tax Hike Decision
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and Governor Bill Ritter are defendants in a case filed by the Independence Institute (disclosure: where I work) and numerous aggrieved taxpayers over a 2007 law that raised property taxes without a proper vote of the people, as required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Denver District Court Judge Christine Habas came down on the side of the people nearly seven months ago, but the Colorado Supreme Court has been silent since - despite reasonable expectations that critical tax revenue issues be addressed in a timely manner. As Face The State reports, CDE needs the Supreme Court to "hurry up":In June, Ritter, a defendant alongside CDE, appealed the decision to the state's highest court. Oral … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Colorado’s GOP: The Good Advice Keeps Pouring In
It bears repeating: Any effort to rebuild Colorado's Republican Party that's done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure. In that spirit, Joshua Sharf makes an excellent case (echoed at Rocky Mountain Right) for pursuing a 65-district statehouse strategy going into 2010. I can't add anything more at this point than a simple and hearty, "Let's do it." Other must-reads: John Andrews has some sobering reflections, and Night Twister offers some hard advice. While there are many tasks before us, I believe all of them must be imbued with the mission of reclaiming the mantel of fiscal conservatism - or as Mark Hillman puts it, to once again become "the party of freedom". … [Read more...]
Exit Poll Demographics Shed Light on GOP’s Way Forward from Here
Two weird, somewhat interesting, observations about voting patterns in the recent Presidential election that you may not have seen. First, from Rocky Mountain Right:It's not all doom and gloom in Colorado. Exit polling from the presidential race indicates that Colorado may be in for a generational swing back towards the Republicans over the next few years going against national trends. Nationally, exit polls show that John McCain carried only 32% of the 18-29 age bracket. In Colorado, McCain won that age bracket with 53% of the vote.... Second, from Gay Patriot:According to the CNN exit polls, 4% of the American electorate self-identified as gay or lesbian. That means about 4.8 million gays and lesbians voted on Tuesday. That seems … [Read more...]
And a Few More Bright Spots for Colorado and U.S. Conservatives
It's the morning after... El Presidente has some amusing video reactions to last night's election results. Meanwhile, both Joshua Sharf (who ran a valiant race in an overwhelmingly Democratic district) and Rocky Mountain Right highlight the bright spots for Colorado conservatives. I concur with their lists, but let me add one more small bright spot in Colorado. The State Board of Education lost GOP chairman Pam Suckla - a Bill Ritter apologist - and gained common-sense conservative Marcia Neal, giving an effective Board majority that the Colorado Education Association can't be terribly happy with. Especially if Bob Schaffer is selected as the next chairman. At the national level, the good news is that Republicans may have … [Read more...]
A Few Things to Look for in Election Results in Colorado and Nationwide
Are you interested in tracking the election results as they come in tomorrow evening? Rocky Mountain Right has the essential guide for tracking the performance of Barack Obama and John McCain here in Colorado, with the four key counties to watch. Nationally, for the Presidential race, all eyes should be on Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes - so astutely says Erick Erickson at Red State and Jim Geraghty's pseudonymous mentor Obi-Wan (who also has loads of other great information). After Pennsylvania, Colorado & Nevada here in the West will be bellwethers. If Pennsylvania is where it's at, the McCain-Palin team had better continue hounding this theme: … [Read more...]
Last Chance to Give
Rocky Mountain Right has the right idea. Give as you are able while it can still make a difference. Unless you really want Colorado turned liberal blue. … [Read more...]