( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

You should never annoy a cop. As a working lawyer in the suburbs with a criminal docket, it has been my sad experience over the years to have clients who insist on going to trial for a misdemeanor crime. At trial, it is my guy’s word against the cop’s. The jury hears the defendant’s pitch and then hears from the cop. The cop is simply doing his duty. He isn’t out to get anyone. The client wants to get off of the rap for the crime he has committed. The party’s motives come into play.   

My experience is that the Jury always believes the cop if its one word against the other. And it’s no surprise. For juries, cops are usually seen as the good guys.

If you are a cop, you can be in trouble every time you approach someone you pulled over. Even in small towns. Even in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. In 2006, the most recent year with public crime records for Glenwood, seven women were raped, 61burglaries occurred, 43 cars were stolen and one armed robbery occurred.

In little old Glenwood Springs. Fortunately no cops got killed.

Scott McInnis was a Glenwood Springs cop. As if that weren’t enough, he also volunteered with the fire department. He later went to law school and became a lawyer in the same town he patrolled as a police officer. He demonstrates to this day that he never forgot his oath of office.

McInnis ran and was elected as member of the Colorado State Assembly, our state version of congress. The other Assembly members eventually made him Majority Leader. He ran for U.S. Congress and became Colorado’s congressman for the Western Slope.

McInnis got us two national parks as a congressman and he always fought to shrink the size and scope of government as a simple point of principal. He went to Washington for 12 years and then came home.

He got work here as a private lawyer and watched the same events transpire in Colorado over the past four years that we all have. The Democrats became the majority in Colorado government and their new Governor named Ritter brought Labor Unions into the government work force. The Colorado State Government ran out of money but somehow couldn’t shrink its taxpayer-paid work force to match our smaller state revenue stream. We got into the hole and the dems tried to raise taxes instead of shrinking the government machinery.

The majority Democrats passed increased taxes on natural gas production and the oil and gas jobs somehow ended up in Pennsylvania of all places. Our only local airline got swallowed up by a Midwest concern and all those jobs moved to the Midwest because of tax decisions, including the ludicrous idea to tax software used in making an airline reservation. The dems have engineered a train wreck since they took over our state government. It’s enough to annoy a cop. It’s enough to annoy a jury. It’s enough to annoy anyone. Including Scott McInnis. So he has decided to do something about it.

Scott McInnis is running to be Governor for the State of Colorado. He knows this place. It is his home and the home of his family going back four generations. Right now, it appears that if anybody in Colorado is ready to get us out of the hole we are in, it’s McInnis.

Last week, Mr. McInnis spoke to the Parker, CO Republicans. He gave out the sobering statistic that each day 275 more Coloradans lose their job. He thinks the Dems in charge at the state Capital are "job cremators, not job creators". His empathy for these workers is real and profound.

Addressing jobs in the area of natural gas production, he talked eloquently about the blue collar jobs that have left the state. "Roughneck jobs are great jobs. These are some of the good jobs that have left our state. Grand Junction is now Number One in the Nation in job losses and energy is the reason. Gov. Ritter put in the toughest anti-drilling legislation in the U.S. Conoco-Phillips stopped all exploration when the new regulations became law."

Bill Ritter wisely chose not to seek reelection as our governor. The Dems have put up Denver Mayor and saloon keeper John Hickenlooper as his replacement after an emergency phone call from Dem President Barack Obama. I expect Hickenlooper, after his long tenure as a bartender, to carry the Lower Downtown of Denver by a healthy margin. That leaves the rest of Colorado for him to reach. McInnis’ opinion - "The Denver Mayor seems to think that Colorado begins and ends at the Denver City Limits." McInnis doesn’t think Hickenlooper gets it. At the Parker meeting he was most incensed by a recent Hickenlooper quote that "the recession is really caused by people’s mental state". Spoken like a true bartender.

McInnis told the Parker crowd that he will dedicate himself to restoring jobs. He used the issue of Fort Carson as an example of what to do and what not to do. According to McInnis, both Ritter and Hickenlooper are against Fr. Carson’s expansion. After they made their views public, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchins visited with the Secretary of the Army and got a commitment for the new Cyber Command to move to San Antonio. This ought to have helped out our "mental state" a lot.

McInnis’ first promise, if elected, is to sign an executive order rolling back the unionization of state agencies. So long Andy Stern and the SEIU. Then to rewrite the job-killing oil and gas regulations and get oil companies to come back to Colorado.

In 2006, this writer had the opportunity to see Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez at a joint appearance late in the campaign. It appeared that Bill Ritter was ready and prepared to be governor and that Beaurprez wasn’t. The 2006 election reflected this readiness. What we didn’t know at the time was that apparently Ritter had made his "deal with the devil" with the SEIU and other labor unions that culminated in a late-night executive order unionizing Colorado State workers shortly after his election.

McInnis has promised to reverse that. He appears ready to lead and is prepared to be a strong governor. He promises to fix many of the problems we face in our state and his promise appears real.

Who are you going to trust with your life, liberty and property, a bartender or a cop?

Mike Robinson is Sr. Partner at Robinson & Henry P.C., a Castle Rock Law Firm.

 As of today, there are still no major party challengers to Rep. Diana DeGette or Rep. Doug Lamborn. While these races are obviously lost causes for the party out of power, both parties should realize that failing to make any sort of showing in rival strongholds will erode their statewide candidates. Federal candidates will be at the top of the ballot and it could be fatal to McInnis or Hickenlooper in a close race if their party has no one running for these congressional offices. Republicans can't afford further erosion in Denver County and the Democrats should realize that holding down Republican numbers as much as possible outside of Denver is key to their victory.

More troubling, voters deserve the chance to have a choice in these races. Even if there is no chance of defeating Diana DeGette, Republican voters in the district should be able to cast a ballot to make their voices heard and, yes, Democrats living in Colorado Springs should be afforded the opportunity.

Step forward, folks. There are three Republican candidates lined up to run against Jared Polis and there was a brief but spirited debate over the Democratic nomination in CD-6. Someone can run in CD-1 and CD-5.

Q4 2009 Fundraising Totals (Incumbent in Bold)

Michael Bennet - 1,149,091
Tom Wiens - 725,000
Jane Norton - 550,605
Ken Buck - 39,850

John Salazar - 187,160
Scott Tipton - 109,981
Bob McConnell - 12,471

Betsy Markey - 227,442
Cory Gardner - 197,553
Diggs Brown - 61,174
Tom Lucero - 25,824

Ryan Frazier - 218,824
Ed Perlmutter - 215,201
Lang Sias - 30,931

U.S. Senate

Michael Bennet's fundraising continues at a monumental pace and it is starting to look as if he will have a massive advantage no matter who the Republican nominee may be. Jane Norton once again posted strong numbers, though many observers found it troublesome she did not improve much over the last quarter's take.

Though the Wiens campaign is declining to say how much of the $725,000 they are claiming to have brought in came from the candidate himself, it appears safe to assume that Wiens followed through on his previous statement that he would be investing $500,000 of his money into his campaign. Regardless of where the money came from, this means Wiens now has a very well-financed primary campaign.

Ken Buck had an extremely disappointing quarter. The sole consolation here is the massive ad buy by the Campaign for Liberty that can free up some money that may have been allocated by the Buck campaign for media and divert it into organizational costs.

CD-3

Scott Tipton had a strong showing for his first month in the race. If he is able to keep up the pace he should be able to place the seat into play.

CD-4

Cory Gardner had another strong fundraising quarter. Despite being outraised by Makey, CD-4's Republican voter registration advantage means that Makey would have to be raising even more than she is to make it up. Gardner is strongly positioning himself as the leading candidate in both the primary and general elections.

At $61,174, Diggs Brown has enough money to mount a primary challenge, even if it is a long-shot. He will at least be able to afford a working campaign organization, which is more than what most other underdog candidates in these Republican primaries can say.

Tom Lucero again had a lackluster quarter, but even more damaging to his prospects than his low fundraising haul is his astounding 200% burn rate. When a campaign spends twice what they raised in a given quarter, it is a sure sign it is on it's last legs.

CD-7

Ryan Frazier had a strong fundraising quarter and stands as the only Colorado Republican challenger for federal office to outraise the Democratic incumbent. While a narrow victory, Frazier's take places what was expected to be a safe Democratic seat into play.

Ex-Democrat and Mark Udall supporter Lang Sias, despite starting fundraising at the beginning of November and having most of the quarter to fundraise, came in with a dismal $30,931. Nearly half of his money came from Washington DC, as opposed to Frazier who blew him out of the water and raised funds mostly from in-state, and $5,000 of that came from John McCain's PAC. While Sias gave the illusion of being a strong candidate with his McCain backing and much-touted Washington connections, after raising only $30,391 it is hard to see how he is even remotely serious. Sias' funding problems will become even more severe as he is rumored to be planning to bypass the grassroots by running a costly petition campaign in the coming months.

( - Promoted by Hestons Ghost - )

The other day a friend of mine was joking that come March, she was going to struggle with only a three-day weekend, instead of the monthly four-day weekends she’s been enjoying thus far. She’s a Colorado state employee whose mandated furlough days have been falling once a month coupled with holidays. For instance, she had the Friday before the MLK Day holiday off and will have the Friday before the President’s Day weekend off.

Most Americans will understand if parks are closed for a day, if the IRS doesn’t answer phone calls for a day, if Congressional staffers don’t send news releases for a day or if the federal courts are closed for a day. It’s called sacrifice and it’s sorely needed. Could you imagine the savings created by dropping the 2% pay increase and furloughing the more than 2.7 million civilian workers? Colorado’s furloughs save the state tens of millions of dollars. Imagine what the federal government could save?

Aw, shucks, I'm destined for failure, thinks Hick. From The Denver Post:

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said he hasn't ruled out running for a third term should he lose his Democratic gubernatorial bid but said he is confident about his prospects statewide this fall.

"Oh, I plan on winning," he said when pressed on the issue.

Really? Because it doesn't sound like he does. He and his hipster friends must have seen recent polls, which uniformly suggest he needs to do a lot more than plug parking meters and ride scooters if he is to have any hope of moving to the Governor's Mansion.

He said others have brought the subject up about what he will do politically should he lose, and he's told them that he'd make a final decision later, adding, "It's likely that I, you know, voters willing, will want to run for a third term as mayor."

In the interim, he said he intends to remain in office and is confident the city won't stumble while he hits the statewide campaign trail.

Sean Duffy, the spokesman for the leading Republican contender for governor, Scott McInnis, said the mayor's decision to remain in office "is clearly a conversation he has to have between himself and the taxpayers of Denver on whether the citizens of Denver want to have a part-time mayor with all the problems going on in the city."

One can almost hear David Kenney cackling in the background as he daydreams of Hickenlooper crawling back for suggestions for next year's mayoral ads. And those ads will need to be really good, considering Hick will all but abandon Denver while he sacrifices his statewide and national political future in a losing gubernatorial bid. And speaking of sacrifices, Hick doesn't want to be the only one making them.

Hickenlooper said he talked to nearly all of his appointees, more than 60 people, to make sure they supported a run for governor.

"I said, 'If I'm going to do this, we can't have you guys all abandoning ship and leaving the city in the lurch so you guys have to be committed toward delivering a successful conclusion to this four-year term,' " the mayor said. "There was unanimous support from everyone. Everyone understood that. There was a sense of sacrifice."

Yeah, you guys can't leave the city in the lurch while the Hick does. And neither can your peons.

Roxane White, the mayor's chief of staff, said she also followed up and talked individually to senior staffers who work under the appointees and received similar commitments.

"The mayor is still mayor," she said. "He's still doing his job. The biggest shift is there was the thought that he would be here past 2011. It just increases the urgency for making certain things get done."

Wow. Because, given what you've just said, it kind of seems like he won't still be doing his mayoral job. Not that that's anything new for this mayor.

As it is, White said, the mayor's team is used to reaching him on his BlackBerry or hosting a phone conference when he is away on official business, such as pressing transportation issues in Washington. She added that the mayor will do much of his campaigning on weekends or during furlough days, when city business is at a lull.

Oh, that's genius: Give the campaign half a candidate and the city half a mayor. The voters are sure to love that.

Some of those who support Hickenlooper's decision to remain as mayor think that he should plan on leaving the city after the election, whether he becomes governor or not.

"If he thinks he can run for governor and lose and go back to Denver voters and say I love you, that's bull," said Susan Barnes-Gelt, a former City Council member who supports the mayor's run for governor and isn't actively supporting a competing mayoral bid.

Of course it's bull. But he's John f-ing Hickenlooper. No matter how ridiculous, he does what he wants, including claiming to be saving the city money by being an absentee mayor.

The mayor defended his decision to remain in office while campaigning for governor.

Hickenlooper said that if he resigned now, it would force a special election at a cost of about $750,000, which he said would burden the cash-strapped city. There would be no runoff, and the candidate with the majority of votes — even someone with perhaps only a quarter of the vote — would become mayor. The winner would have to stand for re-election during the city election in 2011. If Hickenlooper remains mayor until next January, no special election would be needed.

Is this guy for real? Before he's raised a cent or made a tour of the state, he's already preparing to lose. Not that we care. So long as he loses, it doesn't matter to us whether he throws in the towel before the fight or waits for the decision.

J.J. Ament's camapign is locking up more support.  His campaign released an impressive list of supporters in Arapahoe County.  The names inlcude:

- Former First Lady Frances Owens
- State Senator Nancy Spence
- Former State Senate President John Andrews
- Arapahoe County Commissioner Jim Dyer
- Arapahoe County Commissioner Rod Bockenfeld
- Centennial Treasurer Susan Bockenfeld
- Former Arapahoe County Commissioner Polly Page
- Former Arapahoe County Republican Chairman Nathan Chambers
- South Suburban Parks & Recreation District Chairman Jerry Call
- CU Regent Emeritus Paul Schauer
- CU Regent Emeritus Norwood Robb
- Wil & Kristy Armstrong
- Keith & Kathie Finger
- Buz & Sherri Koelbel
- Pat & Carla Grant
- Ret. Major General Andy & Virginia Love
- Walter Imhoff
- Jeff Leeper

Names and a large support base will come in handy in the caucuses and the state assembly. 

Ken Buck, Ali Hasan, and Tom Lucero are an unlikely trio of underdog candidates that have the distinction of being among the first candidates for office to feature in campaign commercials.

"Campaign for Liberty" Spending $350,000 On Buck

An ad run on behalf of Senate candidate Ken Buck is the most important of the three developments. A group calling itself the "Campaign for Liberty" (this is not necessarily Ron Paul's group, C4L is a 501c4 and is barred from running candidate ads) has purchased $350,000 of ad time focusing on Ken Buck's candidacy. These ads reportedly began running during local news programs earlier this evening and we are seeking a copy of the commercial to upload as soon as we can.

While Buck's fundraising has faltered in the last quarter and Jane Norton (who was not without fundraising issues of her own) has a modest lead after Q4 2009, Buck is poised to have a great deal of cash spent on his behalf by outside groups. In addition to national groups such as the Senate Conservatives Fund eyeing the race, certain interests based in Northern Colorado are preparing their own outside efforts on Buck's behalf.

Hasan Goes On Radio

Treasurer candidate Ali Hasan began running radio ads today. Denver-metro area listeners can hear them on 850 KOA.

Lucero's Gambit

CD-4 candidate Tom Lucero has invested what is left of his campaign funds on a TV ad buy in which he looks very surprised by the camera.

 From The Phoenix New Times:

Former Arizona congressman turned AM radio, conservative squawk box, J.D. Hayworth, has quit his radio gig at KFYI-AM in order to begin a campaign to un-seat Senator John McCain as the Republican candidate for Senate.

No shocker here, Hayworth has been hinting at a coup for months.

Hayworth confirmed the move to the Associated Press on Friday but did not officially announce his candidacy.

( - Promoted by Hestons Ghost - )

If it wasn’t exciting enough watching Ken Buck, Jane Norton and Tom Weins duke it out for the U.S. Senate nomination, or watching Dan Maes and Scott McInnis work for our support, we now have a three way race for the State Treasurers office.  Which I assume is an important office considering I was mailed a three quarters of inch thick packet from the Hasan for Treasurer campaign.

Looking past the grammatical errors and, while correct, bizarre statements reminding us that taxpayers do pay for loans made by the government, I must say I am impressed.  Not by any groundbreaking statement made in this textbook size document, but instead by Hasan going from one quixotic campaign to another.

While I admit I don’t know a lot about Walker Stapleton or J.J. Ament, I know neither of them has ever had a multi-page story in the Westword filled with expletives, squabbling or mid-afternoon bathroom encounters with their staff.  This might be why Hasan goes to such lengths attacking them in this booklet.

Hasan’s attacks even brought out a former, long time Deputy Treasurer to chime in on the incorrect nature of what he was alleging.  Looking at his support list all I can ask myself is “What is Mike May doing?” 

Much like how I feel about the laundry list of tier two U.S. Senate candidates, I am wondering what made Hasan wake up one morning and decide he should be the Treasurer of this state.  I look forward to the candidate round up at the end of the month to hear this explanation.

( - Promoted by Hestons Ghost - )

Yesterday, I became aware of a blog entry on Morgan Carroll's (D, SD-29) website critical of Attorney General John Suthers position against retention of three Colorado Supreme Court justices.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

Scott Brown's victory on Tuesday will go down in history as one of the most bizarre and amazing elections in a lifetime.  How a state with 12% Republicans elected a fairly conservative Republican by 5% is mind boggling.  Had the Democrat had a personal scandal, it would be easier to understand; but this was straight up defeat at the hands of an angry mob of voters.  Massachusetts voters.

So what does this mean for Colorado?  It's largely going to depend on what happens over the next nine months.  Democrats are in chaos right now, but they only have a couple of options.  Obama and the Democrat leadership indicated before the vote that they wanted to double down on the socialist policies of the administration.  They seem to think that people will understand and forgive them once their policies are implemented.  But the Democratic strategists are not stupid either, and they must be doing some soul searching after Tuesday. 

If the Democratic leadership continues to turn a deaf ear to the voters, we can expect to see nationwide anger come November.  That will certainly ripple into Colorado which is rapidly becoming a bellwether state.  If we experience anywhere near the level of anger that Massachusetts has, all bets are off.  Fundraising numbers, campaign mechanics, you name it, it may not matter.  The "throw the bums out" mentality could be the theme of the election and overshadow all else.  Statewide, this could mean a Republican sweep of all state offices, a US Senate seat, one or two congressional seats, and potentially both the state house and state senate. 

Of course, there is still time for the extreme left who is controlling the Democratic party to run to the center, but their pride and belief in socialist ideology will likely prevent this.  If this mood keeps up, we may see an election that makes 1994 look moderate.  It's going to be an interesting year.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

New DCGOP Chair Mark Baisley and Vice Chair

Pat Nohavec

The Douglas County, CO Republican Party held a special election on January 19^th at the Douglas County Events Center to replace outgoing Chairman John Ransom on a joyous night that was made special by the voters of Massachusetts. Before formal activities began, it was announced that Scott Brown had decisively won the U.S. Senate Seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.

Douglas and El Paso counties have very special roles when it comes to statewide elections. Both counties are predominately Republican and the local outcomes are not always that dramatic. However, each of these counties is a net exporter of Republican votes that help statewide GOP candidates overcome the net exports of Denver and Boulder counties. In 2002, Douglas County cranked out a net plus of 44,337 votes for Bill Owens who became Colorado Governor. In 2006, Douglas County only generated a net plus of 6,129 for the GOP governor candidate Bob Beauprez. Democrat Bill Ritter won that 2006 election and went on to unionize Colorado Government, try to raise any tax or fee available, put Michael Bennet in the U.S. Senate, and serve as Barack Obama’s host and cheerleader, delivering Colorado to Obama’s 2008 win.

Obviously, turnout matters in Douglas County. It can affect the outcomes of races both near and far. In the only contested 2009 race, for school board, the DCGOP scored a clean sweep. Now they are looking forward to 2010 with a number of statewide races, including open races for both Governor and U.S. Senate.

Mark Baisley deservedly moved up to Chairman by acclamation after coming off his successes in 2009. The DC Republicans picked Pat Nohavec-Fink as their new Vice Chair and this was a smart choice. The new Vice Chair has been a bright light in social functions that are so important for fund-raising, social networking and getting out the vote on election day. When she got a chance to speak to the assembly, Ms. Nohavec gave a surprisingly powerful and moving speech, encapsulating the opportunities and challenges the Republicans have in the age of Obama. She will be a force to be reckoned with.

One of the voting delegates present was Major Aaron R. McAdow, USANG. Major McAdow has made 4 different deployments overseas since 9/11. He has crawled through darkest Africa and the Moslem world in defense of our nation dealing with our terrorist enemies. He is a Republican and he voted that evening for the Chair and Vice Chair. The Massachusetts loser this election night, Martha Coakley, believes there are no terrorists in Afghanistan. She is a Democrat and she lost handily that night. Poetic justice.

Some days are better than others. This election night was one to remember for the Douglas County Republicans and one to forget for the Dems.

Mike Robinson is Sr. Partner at Robinson & Henry P.C., a Castle Rock Law Firm.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

Rumors are starting to circulate that Bentley Rayburn is poised to again run for CD-5. Now at this point, they are still rumors; but I have little doubt that Rayburn is capable of such a move. 

 Gary Harmon of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports that Dan Maes is planning to force Scott McInnis to petition onto the primary ballot:

Maes said he hopes to gain 71 percent support from delegates to the GOP’s state convention this spring, forcing McInnis to make a “hard choice” whether to petition onto the ballot and force a primary election or withdraw.

Maes, 49, said he’ll rely on his business background to persuade voters he has the executive experience needed in the governor’s mansion, and he’ll avoid a destructive primary fight by stressing his strengths and conservative beliefs.

This is a lofty goal to be sure. The question that remains is that if Dan Maes finds himself falling short of gaining ballot access, as Marc Holtzman did in 2006, will he be willing to step aside in order to "avoid a destructive primary fight"? This sort of thing cuts both ways.

Who says the liberal media are concerned with only the liberal blogs? From The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels:

A Republican blog is reporting that Attorney General John Suthers won't support three of the four Colorado Supreme Court justices on the ballot in November.

The Republican attorney general isn't talking, except to say that he wishes he had kept quiet.

"I should not have gotten into any of that," Suthers said Monday. "I regret the conversation."

But Republicans who want to oust Supreme Court members up for retention this year are thrilled to have the law-and-order heavyweight on their side.

"When the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the state says he thinks the highest justices in our state are not worthy of continuing in office, that's big news," said Matthew Arnold, director of Clear the Bench Colorado.

The organization is trying to rid the high court of most of its members — including all four on the ballot this year. Clear the Bench maintains that the court is making unconstitutional decisions that favor Democrats.

Quite simply, we are flabbergasted, not because this is being cast as a partisan fight -- which it is not -- but because Suthers was not so shy when he -- repeatedly, and in no uncertain terms -- publicly and privately told conservatives that he believed several Supremes should not be retained this fall. Suthers' sudden scurry makes us wonder, since his views are likely not news to the justices; Suthers has clashed with the largely liberal court for years, and he has little in common with most of its members, so why should he care if his stance is publicly stated? What concerns us most, though, is how Suthers' unwillingness to actively, openly oppose the Supremes demonstrates the fundamental flaw in the so-called Missouri Plan, the system used to appoint and retain/elect judges in Colorado. The plan provides for little to no public input or criticism in the appointment of judges, yet, come retention/election time, despite the fact that the purpose of the retention/election is to allow public input and criticism of the judges, public input and criticism are frowned upon even more, even by the state's highest officials:

"The idea of sweeping four judges out at once is radical and very disruptive," said state Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.

Not nearly as radical as the idea of not taking the retention/election seriously, Senator, which is what you -- and, now, Suthers -- seem to prefer. But that is hardly the only thing about this situation that strikes us as strange:

Suthers last week spoke to the Arapahoe County Republican Men's Club. The blog The Business Word reported that Suthers told the group that he would vote for Justice Nancy Rice.

"Suthers will vote against retaining Chief Judge Mary Mullarkey and Judges Alex Martinez and Michael Bender," the blog reported.

Suthers said court critics at the breakfast were "lumping all these justices together, and I felt I needed to say something in defense of Justice Rice."

We see no reason why Suthers would support Rice, but oppose Mullarkey, Martinez, and Bender. As far as we can tell, the only difference between the latter three and Rice is that Suthers, like Rice, is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, which is hardly a reason to support Rice. But that makes about as much sense as Suthers is making today, so maybe it is his reason.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

As fundraising numbers keep trickling out, it's time to start thinking about what they mean.  About a month ago, I made the prediction that the US Senate race could effectively end this month if fundraising was strong for Norton and weak for Wiens and Buck.  Now that some numbers are being released, let's have another look.

In the Senate, Jane Norton had what can only be described as a bad quarter.  After raising over $500k in the first 20 days, she had trouble matching it over a 90 day period.  Also of note, her burn rate seems to be running at around 40%.  She is burning around $3600/day which is mind numbing considering that advertising has not started yet.  However, Tom Wiens and his campaign seem to be MIA; and Ken Buck is still unexciting.  So unless we have a surprise, Norton is clearly heading toward an easy primary.

In the governor's race, McInnis must have also been disappointed with his take.  However, Maes has shown that he is utterly incompetent as a candidate, raising less than 2% of McInnis.  What began as what many perceived as a quest to gain name ID is now turning into a massive embarrassment.  Time for Maes to quit and try to salvage what last bit of dignity he has.

The other interesting primary to watch is CD-7.  Ryan Frazier built up a lot of good will by exiting the Senate race, and had a very healthy fundraising quarter.  However, I think if Sias can post at least 50% of Frazier's take from Q4, we have a primary race.

Finally, some people are disappointed with the overall deficit that Republican candidates are raising relative to their Democrat opponents.  But I don't think this will be a problem next fall.  Republicans nationwide are showing a willingness to donate across state lines (Scott Brown), and I think that national money will flow into all of our serious races.  I think we will have plenty of money in the key races to win in November.

 ( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )