Colorado Pols

2022 Primary Election Day Open Thread #1

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 15:08:07 +0200

“I’ll be glad to reply to or dodge your questions, depending on what I think will help our election most.”

–George H. W. Bush

Poll: Who Will Be the Republican Nominee in CO-08? (6/27)

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 23:19:31 +0200

Last chance to weigh in on the red side of what will be one of the country’s hottest congressional races. Who do you think will be the Republican nominee for Congress in CO-08? The consensus view is the race has become a two-way showdown between Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine, but Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann and some dude named Tyler Allcorn say it’s not over until it’s over.

Click below to cast your vote!

*Remember, as always with our totally non-scientific polls, we want to know what you legitimately THINK will happen — not what you …

Read More

Tina Peters Pulls Lauren Boebert Under The Bus

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 20:31:19 +0200

The New York Times has a feature-length profile up today on Colorado Republican Secretary of State candidate Tina Peters, who is by all metrics the frontrunner in tomorrow’s primary for the GOP nomination despite facing multiple criminal charges related to a breach of election system security on her watch in Mesa County in a failed attempt to supply evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Peters’ campaign for Secretary of State has been aided significantly by a lackluster challenge from GOP ex-Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson, as well as Peters’ status as a …
Read More

Whoa! Heidi Ganahl Won’t Host Election Night Party

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:41:54 +0200

Republican gubernatorial candidate Hiedi Heidi Ganahl is not exactly projecting confidence ahead of Tuesday’s Primary Election showdown with Greg Lopez:

New: Heidi Ganahl won’t host a public watch party tomorrow. She’ll watch with “family and supporters at a home in Cherry Hills.”

It’s closed to press, but campaign says she’ll still do interviews.

Greg Lopez’s party will be at Deep Space in Parker. Cash bar & light snacks.

— Andrew Kenney (@AndyKnny) June 27, 2022

This is a pretty amazing declaration by ANY campaign, let alone one that was supposed to be the frontrunner …
Read More

Colorado Republicans Can’t Help But Bearhug Roe’s Repeal

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:16:13 +0200

Last Friday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent and end the constitutional guarantee of abortion rights in America is, for many religious conservatives including the chair of the Colorado Republican Party Kristi Burton Brown, the fulfillment of a principal lifelong political objective. As Denver7’s Meghan Lopez reported this weekend, the long-term political ramifications of this decision in this ardently pro-choice state cannot so much as even put a dent in Brown’s unbridled glee:

For Kristi Burton Brown, the chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, this is a big step forward …
Read More

What Does Voter Turnout Tell Us About November? Not Much

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:06:58 +0200

Political pundits often attempt to connect voter turnout numbers in a Primary Election as some sort of harbinger of things to come in a General Election. Most of the time there is little correlation between the two elections, and that is particularly true in 2022.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office released ballot return numbers on Friday indicating that Republican ballots are being returned in larger numbers than Democratic ballots. Should this trend continue through Tuesday evening, we’d expect some in the GOP to attempt to spin a narrative that Colorado Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting in 2022 …
Read More

Monday Open Thread

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 07:45:53 +0200

“It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.”

–Benjamin Disraeli

Colorado Week in Review for June 26, 2022

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 18:49:57 +0200

awesome + uniting

Colorado taxpayers could see $750 refund checks this summer, new forecast estimates

Still haven’t cast your ballot in Colorado’s primaries? We’re here to help.

In the face of intimidation, Denver PrideFest presses forward

awesome + controversy

Colorado moves one step closer to a government-designed health insurance plan

High court upholds family leave law

Poll shows Polis, Bennet leading Republican challengers, but voters trust GOP on more top issues

awful + uniting

Pack it up. It’s heading back to Florida. Game 6 …
Read More

Weekend Open Thread

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 07:36:57 +0200

“Today’s tactical victory does not guarantee tomorrow’s strategic success.”

–Gen. Peter Pace

Ganahl Says She ‘Never Met’ Eastman, But in Their Email Exchange, She Wrote, ‘I’ve Heard Wonderful Things About You’

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 21:19:55 +0200

But, in fact, as first reported by 9News’ Kyle Clark June 17, the pair did meet via email; they exchanged at least 10 messages, as they tried to set up a lunch appointment late last year.

“I have heard wonderful things about you and would love to get together if you are available,” wrote Ganahl to Eastman on Oct. 6, 2020, in the initial email in the thread, obtained from a source.

“So nice to make you’re virtual acquaintance,” responded Eastman, who was then a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for the Study of Western …
Read More

Tina Peters Campaign Paid $50k to Militia-Affiliated Business

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 19:09:36 +0200

In late May, Republican Secretary of State candidate Tina Peters’ campaign made a $50,000 payment to PIN Business Network, a marketing company with ties to election conspiracist and podcast host Joe Oltmann. The payment was marked in the state’s campaign finance database as being for “internet advertising,” and amounts to nearly one-third of Peters’ total campaign expenditures to date.

The Peters campaign’s $50,000 payment is the latest, and largest, in a string of payments made to the company by far-right political campaigns. While the payments are notable on account of the company being owned by a …
Read More

Abortion’s Day of Reckoning Arrives Too Early For Joe O’Dea

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 18:16:07 +0200

The announcement this morning by the U.S. Supreme Court of their decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case striking down the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing abortion rights, though expected after a draft of the decision was leaked in early May, has thrust this social wedge issue irrevocably to the forefront of American politics. In states like Colorado where abortion rights have been stoutly defended by voters and proven politically toxic to anti-abortion Republicans in the general election, this long-sought “victory” for conservatives could prove disastrous if Colorado’s battle-hardened pro-abortion majority turns out in …
Read More

BREAKING: Roe v. Wade Overturned

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:47:16 +0200

It’s the morning we’ve been dreading; watch this space for updates and local reactions.

Friday Open Thread

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 15:09:27 +0200

“Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.”

–Pearl S. Buck

Pinballing: Inside Heidi Ganahl’s Most Mixed of Messages

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 21:39:14 +0200

We’ve spent some time during this primary election season discussing the work product of a particular local political reporter, Shaun Boyd of CBS4, not due to the quality of her journalism but the revealing manner in which Boyd has maneuvered to openly assist the institutionally favored Republican candidates running for the party’s nomination in the U.S. Senate and governor’s races. In Boyd’s latest helpful act on behalf of favored Republican candidates, a profile aired last night of gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl that allowed Ganahl to uncritically re-invent herself once again on the bedeviling subject of the 2020 …
Read More

Poll: Who Will Be the Republican Nominee in CO-03? (6/23)

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 18:19:02 +0200

We’re tracking the change over time. Who do you think will be the Republican nominee for Congress in CO-03?

Can Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert hold off State Sen. Don Coram, or will unaffiliated voters and disaffected Republicans send “Q*bert” packing back to Rifle?

Click below to cast your vote!

*Remember, as always with our totally non-scientific polls, we want to know what you legitimately THINK will happen — not what you hope will happen or which candidate you support personally. If you had to bet the deed to your house that your prediction would be correct, how would you …
Read More

Last Call For Lauren Boebert’s Tainted Pork Sliders?

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 17:44:04 +0200

The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger reports on the latest threat to freshman GOP wrecking ball of crazy Rep. Lauren Boebert’s infamous Shooter’s Grill in Rifle–and this time it’s not back taxes, COVID-19 restrictions, or even food poisoning threatening to close the doors, but rather a landlord looking for a better quality tenant:

Shooters Grill, the gun-themed Hooters parody restaurant that put Rifle, Colorado, on the map and elevated Boebert to local celebrity status, has run into some trouble with its new landlord—a marijuana retailer. [Pols emphasis]

But her landlord isn’t all that new. And the story, …
Read More

Someone’s ‘Smoking Too Much Weed’ at Kirkmeyer’s Office?

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 17:19:24 +0200

We know many in Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational pot, love their ganja, so some might say it’s risky for one Republican to pay for an ad accusing “someone” at her GOP opponent’s “headquarters” of smoking too much marijuana — as voters may be drawn to the pot-smoking candidate’s campaign.
Saine
But congressional candidate Lori Saine was willing to take the risk this week.

“Someone must be smoking too much weed at Kirkmeyer headquarters,” states a light-hearted online ad released by Saine, referring to her opponent, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer …
Read More

SCOTUS Strikes Down New York Gun Law

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 16:32:22 +0200

CNN reports while the nation comes to grips with a major decision by the new 6-3 conservative U.S. Supreme Court that could drastically alter the debate over gun control policy in the United States for generations:

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a New York gun law enacted more than a century ago that places restrictions on carrying a concealed gun outside the home.

“Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for …
Read More

Thursday Open Thread

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 09:58:16 +0200

“The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.”

–Robert Louis Stevenson