By next Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, there could be a new Republican candidate for governor to replace current nominee Dan Maes, The Colorado Statesman reports. Names again are circulating as possible replacements, including the 2006 Republican candidate for governor, Bob Beauprez, and Jane Norton, the former lieutenant governor who recently lost the GOP Senate primary to Ken Buck.
Although Maes said Wednesday he is no longer talking to the press, Republicans statewide could hardly contain their speculation that the rookie candidate might be replaced on the ballot by early next week.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck held a unity rally of sorts yesterday with his former opponent, Jane Norton.
Norton joined Buck at a meeting at the Arapahoe County Men’s Club yesterday, marking the first joint appearance by the former rivals since the contentious Republican primary. Norton said the Republican Party in Colorado needs to rally behind Buck to defeat Democratic incumbent opponent Michael Bennet.
She said Buck would reign in government spending if elected.
“This is a really important election and we have an opportunity to take the Senate back,” said Norton. “He is going to go to Washington, he is going to vote to take our country back and to get us on sound financial footing.”
The Republican U.S. Senate primary became a battle of attacks between Norton and Buck. The battle came to a climax in July when Buck made a controversial statement about Norton wearing “high heels.”
When asked by a voter, “Why should we vote for you?” Buck responded, “Because I do not wear high heels. I have cowboy boots. They have real bulls–t. That’s Weld County bulls–t.”
Norton’s campaign immediately fired back with an ad suggesting that Buck’s comment would be par for the course in Washington.
“Now Ken Buck wants to go to Washington,” the ad stated. “He’d fit right in.”
Norton had also attacked her former Republican primary opponent for calling a fringe part of the Tea Party movement a bunch of “dumbasses.” Buck was secretly caught on tape slamming “birthers,” a fringe part of the Tea Party movement that questions whether President Barack Obama has a valid birth certificate and is a U.S. citizen.
“Ken Buck’s childish insults about Tea Partiers once more raise the question: exactly who is Ken Buck and can we really trust him?,” Norton said back in July. “And just as pointedly, does Ken Buck have the temperament and character to be a United States Senator?”
But all the primary controversy seemed to be behind Norton and Buck yesterday. Buck thanked Norton for her support.
“I said on primary night that we had a little dust up in the family, and the family is coming together, and I really appreciate what Jane has done for us and what all of you have done,” he said.
Republican 7th Congressional District candidate Ryan Frazier and his opponent, incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter, see support for small business through different lenses.
Perlmutter, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, believes Republicans in the U.S. Senate should stop stalling on a $30 billion plan to make credit more easily available for small businesses.
Frazier, however, said yesterday that Americans are tired of bailing out banks and other financial institutions, and would rather see government craft policy that encourages banks to increase their lending.
Frazier points out that Perlmutter voted for the 2008 $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Frazier says with the Wall Street bailout, the Federal Reserve was authorized to pay banks higher interest rates to keep their funds parked at the Federal Reserve instead of lending the money to the American people.
“When Ed voted to bail out Wall Street, he also authorized the Federal Reserve to pay banks not to loan Ń which hurt the ability of small businesses to obtain credit,” Frazier said in a statement e-mailed to the Denver Daily News. “The American people don’t need more taxpayer bailouts, they need the government to let banks loan again.”
Critics believe that the daily average of more than $700 billion that was parked at the Fed last year included government bailout money that could have been used for lending to the American people.
“Banks don’t want to loan because they have the ability to sit on their reserves, and make more money off of the higher Fed interest rates than from a small business or private borrower,” said Frazier’s spokesman, Tyler Q. Houlton. “No risk, higher reward.”
But Perlmutter’s campaign yesterday focused its attention on a plan to make credit more easily available for small businesses that has been stalled by Republicans in the Senate.
A similar package of tax cuts and hiring incentives for small businesses made its way through the House with a Perlmutter amendment that aims at increasing loans for small businesses by allowing small banks to temporarily amortize their losses on commercial real estate.
Banks with less than $10 billion in assets would be allowed to amortize their losses on commercial real estate over a seven-year period. The goal is to provide small community banks with more liquid capital to make loans.
“Small businesses are the engines of our economy,” Perlmutter said in a statement. “Through tax cuts and credits and small business loans, we have to make sure to bolster the entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity that makes this district the best place in America to live, work and raise a family.”
Source: YouTube
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has two gubernatorial ads, “Shower,” above, and “Cheap,” below.
By Andrea Rael, STATE BILL COLORADO
DENVER—By promising to air only positive ads, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper has earned early campaign kudos from here to D.C. So far, the quirky ads have even pushed him to the top of Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post’s list for best positive ads of the midterm campaign—but can the positive feelings last?
Hickenlooper has to stick to his word now that he’s given it, but that doesn’t mean the Democratic Party is bound to it too, independent political analyst Eric Sonderman says.
“I think Hick is a natural at building and maintaining a political brand. The shower ad, the parking meter ad from his first mayoral race and the motor scooter from the same race. … He’s done some very out of political box spots with political advertising,” Sonderman said.
The no-negativity direction is being steered by the candidate, Hickenlooper spokesman George Merritt says.
“It’s something he started since he first ran for mayor, so he’s being consistent,” Merritt said.
Currently the conservative feud between GOP candidate Dan Maes and American Constitutionalist Tom Tancredo is harboring Hickenlooper more in the eye of the storm, allowing him to keep his good humor thus far.
“If this was a race between Hick and Scott McInnis and it ran the way you would expect it to run, trust me John Hickenlooper wouldn’t be standing in the shower making a pledge not to go negative. But right now he has the luxury of doing that,” Sonderman said. “I don’t see anyone forcing him to do anything different.”
Negative ads in the right situations can be effective, Sonderman says. If the person being targeted in the ad isn’t well known to the public, leaves charges unanswered, or is unable to respond because of a lack of funds, the negative charge has a better chance of appearing credible.
“If someone got out of the race and it became more complicated, Hickenlooper would (still) have to keep that promise, but the Democratic 527 groups could do his dirty work for him,” Sonderman said.
Hickenlooper’s ads are produced by Murphy Putnam Media, the same Virginia company that produced then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s 30-minute ad spot. The agency has supplied ads and consultation services to more than 60 Democratic candidates.
Coloradans in November will get to vote on whether some criminal defendants should be released from jail without bail, The Denver Post reports.
Secretary of State Bernie Buescher’s office said today that it had certified that backers of an initiative petition that would rework the bail process had collected enough signatures to get the measure on the November ballot. Supporters needed the valid signatures of 76,047 registered voters.
By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Democrat Senate candidate Michael Bennet yesterday slammed his Republican rival, Ken Buck, for endorsing Dan Maes, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who has received criticism for likening Denver’s bike share program to a “U.N. bicycle takeover conspiracy.”
Meanwhile, Buck’s campaign sent out a press release blasting Bennet for approving pay raises and fighting against pay freezes for “federal bureaucrats.” The trading of attacks came as a new Reuters poll showed Buck with a nine-point lead over Bennet in the Senate race.
A press release sent by Bennet’s campaign argued that Buck’s judgment and character have been called into question by his endorsement of Maes. Buck said that Coloradans should “be there” for Maes during a campaign stop in Colorado Springs.
“Does Ken also think Denver’s bike sharing program is part of a nefarious U.N. conspiracy to subvert personal freedoms– Or does he simply back Maes because of their shared support for a radical personhood amendment that would ban common forms of birth control–”, said a statement from Bennet campaign spokesman Trevor Kincaid.
Buck spokesman Owen Loftus said they weren’t concerned about the Bennet campaign’s effort to link Buck to Maes and some of his controversial stances. He added that “Bennet doesn’t get what Coloradans are concerned about,” and that the Democrat also has “some interesting people on his side,” such as President Barack Obama.
Buck’s campaign yesterday attacked Bennet for voting against two measures that would have frozen federal pay for federal employees. The average federal employee makes $66,010 while the average American employed in the private sector makes $42,290 in salary, according to Buck’s campaign.
“Giving pay raises to federal employees is a perfect example of why Americans are fed-up with Washington,” said a statement from Buck. “Federal workers make 30-40 percent more than private sector workers for performing identical jobs. We just can’t afford this type of spending.”
But Kincaid pointed out that Bennet introduced a bill to freeze Congressional office budgets while the economy struggles, voted for legislation to eliminate the automatic pay raise for members of Congress, personally refused a pay raise and does not accept federal health benefits.
“Ken Buck on the other hand took 113 days off to campaign and still collected a salary at the taxpayer’s expense, he also ballooned his office budget by over 30 percent Ń that isn’t fiscal responsibility,” said Kincaid.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday showed Buck with a 49-to-40-percent lead over Bennet in the Senate race. The poll interviewed 601 registered Colorado voters from Aug. 20-22.
Other notable poll results are:
Ą Democrat John Hickenlooper is enjoying an eight-point lead over Maes, who is likely losing some possible votes to conservative third-party candidate Tom Tancredo. The same poll said that if the race were just between Maes and Hickenlooper, they would be tied at 45 percent apiece;
* Seventy-six percent of Republicans said they were “certain to vote” compared to 59 percent of Democrats;
* Half of registered voters think that things in Colorado are on the wrong track, 42 percent think the state is heading in the right direction;
* Ten percent of registered voters name illegal immigration as one of the state’s biggest problems.
In a half-hour conversation with a reporter, Ferrugia insisted that State Bill’s conclusion — the story likely originated from a tipster — overreached.
“It’s a mystery,” State Bill said Aug. 2 of how The Denver Post and 7News discovered material copied from a 26-year-old water article. “But [the source] probably wasn’t a reporter.”
State Bill arrived at that conclusion because neither media outlet had claimed credit for the discovery. The Post and 7News also did not disclose who did discover the similarities.
Ferrugia also challenged a sentence in the State Bill story that read, “The person or people who tipped off The Post and 7News have so far managed to stay in the shadows.”
“You made that up,” Ferrugia said over the phone. “Real journalists” go out and find information, he said.
Anyone could have found out whether McInnis had plagiarized if they had only looked on Google, Ferrugia said. State Bill’s story came to the same conclusion, speculating that besides Republican and Democratic strategists, academics and lawyers could have made the link. But as the story noted, no one has come forward to claim credit.
For that matter, Ferrugia still isn’t talking. Asked again this week how 7News learned of the plagiarism, he declined to say.
An Alexandria, Va.-based GOP organization claims Republican candidates are besting incumbent Democratic rivals in a number of races, but there’s not yet enough movement in the Senate or House to gain control.
The Republican State Leadership Committee says Republicans are ahead in four Colorado House races and three Colorado Senate races. The GOP needs to gain six seats in the House and four in the Senate to gain a majority. None of the races was identified.
The committee revealed the results of internal polling through its REDMAP, or “REDistricting MAJority Project.” New political boundaries will be drawn during the next legislative session, making statehouse control a priority.
The report, dated July 2010, said in part:
The REDistricting MAjority Project (REDMAP) is a program of the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) dedicated to winning Republican control of state legislature that will have the most impact on Congressional redistricting in 2011. This inaugural REDMAP report is intended to more fully explain how the RSLC views a path to success in the 2010 state legislative races, how that will impact policy on a state level and examine what it means for long-term Congressional redistricting. This report, and its outlook, assumes that REDMAP fully funded, an assumption that is consistent with the current state of fundraising.
Democrats have controlled both houses of Colorado’s legislature and the governor’s office since the election of Gov. Bill Ritter in November 2006. Ritter announced in January that he wouldn’t run for a second term, but his proposed Democratic successor, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, is well ahead in the polls.
By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
A high voter turnout on both sides of the aisle propelled Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican Ken Buck into becoming the candidates for U.S. Senate.
Meanwhile, the Republican governor primary between Evergreen businessman Dan Maes and former state representative Scott McInnis remained too close to call late last night. The candidates were locked in a virtual tie at 10:30 p.m. [Since this story was published, Maes has declared victory.]
Bennet and Buck overcame tough primary opponents to earn their parties’ nomination. Buck was originally considered a long shot in the Republican Senate primary against Jane Norton. But the Weld County District Attorney overcame a recorded comments in which he insulted Tea Party “birthers” and said voters should choose him because he wears boots — not high heels — to claim victory.
On the other side of the aisle, Bennet is heading to the general election after defeating a tenacious Andrew Romanoff in the Senate Democrat primary. Bennet was considered the party favorite and had the backing of President Barack Obama. However, recent polls showed Romanoff and Bennet in a tie for the race.
During his speech to supporters at the Mile High Station last night, Bennet both dug into some of the ads Romanoff’s campaign aired against him and praised his Democrat rival as someone who has “spent his career committed to this state and to our party.”
“The issues that have divided us in this campaign are so much smaller than the hopes and values that we share,” he said of Romanoff.
Bennet then turned his focus to the general election. He positioned himself as a Washington outsider who would bring real results back to Colorado.
“In this campaign we will work hard to earn the votes of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans by offering real world solutions based on real life experiences for creating jobs, improving our schools and cutting the deficits that threat to drown our children in debt,” he said.
Republicans also wasted no time last night looking forward to the Senate general election. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) blasted out an e-mail throwing their support behind Buck and painting Bennet as someone who championed his party’s “out-of-control spending agenda.”
“Despite trying to cast himself as a political ‘outsider,’ Senator Bennet eagerly toed the party line and embraced the policies that helped drive our national debt past a record $13 trillion during his brief appointment to the U.S. Senate,” said a statement from NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex. “He voted to raise the national debt ceiling to $14.29 trillion, helped ram the Democrats’ massive $787 billion stimulus debacle into law, and declared that he would sacrifice his job in order to pass ObamaCare, which 62 percent of Coloradans want repealed.”
Maes and McInnis
The fact that Maes was virtually tied with McInnis in the Republican governor race late last night would have been unbelievable two months ago. McInnis was originally thought to be a lock on the Republican nomination. But a plagiarism scandal and the resulting fallout caused Maes, who was charged with a campaign finance violation, to catch up with him in the polls.
The winner of the Republican governor race will take on Democrat John Hickenlooper and Tom Tancredo, who is running as a American Constitution Party candidate. The general election is Nov. 2.
Voters in four states will go to the polls Tuesday and pick their party’s fall candidates, but perhaps no races are being watched more closely than the primary contests for governor and the U.S. Senate in Colorado. There, the expected has taken a back seat to the astonishing, NPR reports.
Plagiarism? Check. Gender politics? Check. Charges of Wall Street coziness? Check. Competing presidential endorsements? Check. Bicycle-sharing as a United Nations plot? Check. Selling house for campaign cash? Check.
