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Holy cow.  Just when Ken Buck thought that everything was going his way (what with the dirty Washington, D.C. money pouring in to Colorado on his behalf and all), he got a little too comfortable and let this one slip at a recent event:

Yes.  He did say that.  He did say that the reason Colorado voters should support him is because he "...doesn't wear high heels." 

Good luck defending that one, big boy.

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Democrat candidate for Attorney General and Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett’s hand must be hurting after banging it on the podium so much lately. In his latest press screed, he says that “states should have the right to decide important states’ rights issues…” and that Suthers “appears to support states’ rights on a selectively partisan basis.” Here, Garnett is referencing a Massachusetts court overturning the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.

As a side note, The Durango Herald interview also quotes Garnett as saying “Boulder is not nearly as liberal as people think. When it comes to education, public safety, quality of life, Boulder’s very conservative.” I though Udall’s victory showed that the Boulder-Liberal label no longer works? Maybe we need a new Boulder-Conservative label. Stan, do you really believe the weed-friendly Boulder-ites have a conservative public safety bent? Put the pipe down!

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Hickenlooper for Guv

The news in the Guv’s race is Hick raised $370,000 in a month, which is pretty awesome. But the big news is he already did an $850,000 media buy, $120,000 in mail and a $26,000 poll leaving him with $130,000 in the bank. Clearly, Hick was waiting to pay folks until now too.

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Apparently, fundraising isn’t going well for the Boulder Obamacare apologist Stan Garnett. After trying to solicit funds for over the past month, the PAC money appears to be going elsewhere. What do candidates do? They make a late announcement that they won’t accept PAC donations, which means that they can’t get PAC money.

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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.

The Democrats have finally gotten around to finding an opponent for attorney general John Suthers: Vice-Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Dan Slater. Slater made a "pre-announcement" at his blog:

If you’ve been following DemNotes for the past month — or especially if you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook lately — you’ve seen all sorts of cryptic messages about my plans for the future. If you attended some of the events where I’ve spoken or been introduced in the last couple of weeks, you’ve heard about what I’ve been considering doing.

But if you haven’t, I want you on DemNotes to be among the first to know: On October 1, I will be announcing my candidacy to be Colorado’s next Attorney General.

So save that date (if you’re on the Western Slope, save October 2 instead).

Let me be clear: I’m not a candidate today. I can’t accept any contributions until October 1 — that’s when I will be a candidate.

The fact that a state party official is jumping into the race would seem to indicate that any top-tier candidates have decided not to run. This isn't exactly surprising as most statewide campaigns have started long before now. This can probably go in the "sacrificial lamb" category.

This press release was sent out by John Suthers' office in January of 2007, but seems fairly relevant today:

(DENVER) - Following the passage of Senate Bill 46 in the state senate, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today urged the General Assembly and Governor Bill Ritter to keep Colorado out of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact:

"There are many reasons to oppose this ill-conceived legislation, not the least of which are its significant legal implications. If Senate Bill 46 were to become law, the state of Colorado could become complicit in a litigious nightmare. In a close national election, every precinct in Colorado could become the scene of an electoral dispute of the nature of Florida in 2000.

"Instead of confining electoral disputes to certain, specific districts, the Interstate Compact would disperse election litigation among all 175,000 precincts across America. Our court system and our electoral process could be crippled as a result."

Suthers also expressed concern that the legislation would have the effect of disenfranchising Coloradans and causing the state to lose political influence.

"This legislation is an affront to the framework designed by the Founding Fathers to give all states political relevance in presidential elections. It has serious constitutional implications, and at the very least, the issue should be put to a vote of the people."

TROY EID WITHDRAWS FROM AG RACE IN LIGHT OF SUTHERS DECISION: Troy Eid is definitely out of the attorney general race now that Suthers has decided to seek re-election. There hasn't been any public word yet from Ken Buck, the other potential Republican replacement for Suthers, but it's safe to bet he will be looking at CD-4 instead.

SCOTT MCINNIS FLOATS NAME FOR GOVERNOR... AGAIN...: Hardly surprising, but former Rep. Scott McInnis is continuing his streak of floating his name for every office in every single election cycle. As much I like Scott, this is starting to get old. Immediately after mentioning his own name for governor, he floated Josh Penry's name for the office as well. Penry says he's not thinking about running for anything now, and probably isn't. Unfortunately, Penry seems to be picking up his political mentor's bad habit of agonizing over every open office that comes along.

In a surprising move, John Suthers has reversed course and decided not to stand as a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010. Chris Rizo at LegalNewsline reports:

As for a possible Senate bid, Suthers said while it is a "marvelous opportunity" and that he would be able to be a viable candidate against Salazar's successor, Democrat and former Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet.

Suthers said the fundraising demands would be too onerous.

This is a very sudden reversal for Suthers. His U.S. Senate candidacy had been considered by most insiders a "sure thing" earlier this month. Only in the last few days did rumors begin to spread that Suthers was getting cold feet.

His run for U.S. Senate was considered so likely that Weld County D.A. Ken Buck and U.S. attorney Troy Eid were already gathering support to run for attorney general, Suthers' current job. Buck has previously hinted at an interest in running for CD-4 while Troy Eid has hinted at an interest in running for, well, anything...

As for the Senate race, the departure of Suthers could create an opening for someone like Mark Hillman or Ryan Frazier to tie up a considerable amount of early support now freed up.

Michael Bennet received his worst reception of his entire statewide tour in solidly-Democratic Pueblo. The Rocky Mountain News reports:

It was undoubtedly the toughest crowd of the five-day state tour led by Gov. Bill Ritter to introduce Bennet to parts of Colorado where his is less than a familiar name.

"I've never heard of him," said Ken Griffin, a retired electrician who didn't get a chance to ask for Bennet's views on organized labor.

"On a personal level, I had a real hard time with the fact the young man is not from Colorado," said Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor. "The second issue I have is the politicians within the state, up until the Salazars, have tended to be Denver-centric."

Meanwhile, hispanics in Denver are starting to sound like they're on the verge of going to war with Bennet. The Denver Post reports:

"These appointments have been made without the consultation, without the consideration or without any commitment to the Hispanic community," she said.

"If the governor was concerned about Denver's public schools, he should have kept Michael Bennet where he belongs and not appointed somebody to the Senate who did not have the credentials and has only been in the state a decade," Bordas said at the news conference, to applause.

Bennet might have some pull in the Denver suburbs, but if Denver and Pueblo fail to turn out in force it could spell serious trouble for him. The ideal Republican opponent will be someone with credibility in Southern Colorado to cut the margins in Pueblo and who can be competitive in the Denver suburbs. Who that candidate is, I'm not sure. At the very least it shouldn't be someone who responds to sincere attempts to court hispanic voters by putting out crude photoshops of Ron Paul and Fred Thompson at a Mexican cockfight.

Ben DeGrow has similar thoughts.

JOHN SUTHERS: "The governor said his No. 1 criteria was to find someone who represented all of Colorado, I don't think Bennet fits the bill at all. He's very Denver."

DICK WADHAMS (AUDIO VIA COMPLETE COLORADO): The 2010 senate race is going to be wide open, we're going to field a strong candidate, and we're going to win this seat.

BEN DEGROW: Michael Bennet in U.S. Senate Creates GOP Chance - Not to Be Taken Lightly

SUSAN BARNES-GELT: "Here's yet another example of Bill Ritter making a strange choice that reflects nothing but the fact that he has not been listening to an overwhelming number of Coloradans."

FLOYD CIRULI: "9NEWS Political consultant Floyd Ciruli said Bennet is a risky choice for Democrats, who will have to spend millions of dollars defending that seat in two years."

SETH MASKET, POLI SCI PROF AT DU: Michael Bennet? Seriously?

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RIGHT: He has no name identification outside of the city of Denver, and even there it might be iffy. He has no fundraising base and will have to contend with a national party that wants him to step aside.

It's official: Ken Salazar is going to be Secretary of the Interior. This obviously makes his seat one of the hottest in the country going into 2010. Bill Ritter will appoint a replacement for Salazar, but they will have next to no time in office making this basically an open seat. This also has the effect of causing some major upheaval in the Republican primary fields for the statewide races in 2010. Everyone had been seemingly lining up to challenge Bill Ritter because he looked more vulnerable than Salazar. Now, with Salazar gone, many candidates who were previously considering gubernatorial campaigns will go over to the Senate race.

Josh Penry, who has been rumored to have been looking at both CD-3 and the Governor's race, would be a more logical candidate for Salazar's Senate seat at this point. Penry's relatively young age could be a problem running against an incumbent for an executive office. A run for the open Senate seat would play to Penry's strengths on the other hand. His experience as a State Representative, Senate Minority Leader, and staffer for Scott McInnis make him just as qualified as anyone the Democrats could put forward for the seat.

John Suthers considered running for Wayne Allard's seat this year. He is very likely to consider running again now that the field is wide open.

Mark Hillman narrowly lost a statewide race in 2006. He has statewide name ID from that race and from his long record as a state legislator. Hillman would be running in a more favorable environment for Republicans than 2006 and could escape the circular firing squad that the CD-4 primary is likely to be.

Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo have both floated their names in the Governor's race. As Congressmen, a Senate contest would make more sense for them. It's hard to see Beauprez gaining traction in a statewide campaign though, and Tancredo's high negatives make winning a Senate race just as impossible as winning against Ritter.

Former Gov. Bill Owens, who has been seemingly disinterested in running against Ken Salazar, may reconsider joining the 2010 race now that the seat is open.

Two-time CD-5 candidate Bentley Rayburn is likely to make noise about running for Senate, just as he inexplicably did last time.

The fields for the Governor and Senate races are going to take shape quickly over the coming months. This is a positive devlopment for Colorado Republicans not only because Salazar's seat is even more vulnerable, but also because some of the deadlock in the Governor's race will be alleviated.

In an online poll of a hypothetical U.S. Senate primary, RMR readers give a slight edge to former Gov. Bill Owens over several other candidates. Former Rep. Scott McInnis came in a close second with Attorney General John Suthers just behind in third place. Any one of these three would be a formidable opponent to Ken Salazar and it appears that the Republican grassroots, or at least those that peruse the blogosphere, are fairly evenly split between them.

A previous online poll on the gubernatorial race found 2006 gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman and Senate minority leader Josh Penry leading for that nomination.

(Poll closed)