According to media reports, Obama reiterated that Social Security would not be privatized while he was president. Hopefully, that will only mean another two and one half years. He suggested that the struggling federal entitlement program only needed some minor “adjustments” to make it solvent, which is blatantly inaccurate and he knows it.

A few months ago a friend told me about a persistant rumor in the Denver Public School District -- that Ritter appointed Senator Michael Bennet had an affair with one of his daughter's teachers.  This isn't just the normal "you know what I heard?" type of thing.  There have been several reports of it, but apparently the liberal media won't investigate.

This came to light when a fellow teacher walked in on then Superintendent Bennet and the teacher in (shall we say) and unusual position.  Apparently everyone quickly was told that superindendent Bennet was going places and it was best not to make an issue of it.

I can't prove this, except that the National Enquirer is looking into it (yes they think Aliens visit Earth, but they are the same people that uncovered John "$500 haircut" Edward's affair with a staffer).

PS- bringing up this story got me banned from Colorado Pols.  Apparently they will do whatever they need in order to protect our appointed Senator.

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 Rocky Mountain Right - )

ColoradoPols reports that the Michael Bennet campaign is in full-fledged damage control mode over a Rasmussen poll showing Bennet losing to all three major Republican candidates. Bennet's camapign has issued a release boldly asserting that Rasmussen Reports, which conducted the poll showing Bennet trailing Jane Norton by 12-points, has "long been identified as a partisan polling outfit whose survey results are consistently wrong, and always favor the Republican candidate."

The Bennet campaign's press release is accompanied by a poll conducted by their own partisan polling outfit showing Bennet trailing Norton by only 3-points.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

Around the state, those voters that have heard of Mayor John Hickenlooper know he’s the guy that helped folks out with the parking meters. He’s the guy that ingratiated himself to the downtown business community by pushing tax increases for FasTracks, the Justice Center, the local school district, Ref. C. and pledged to end homelessness in Colorado.

 (- promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

Castle Rock, CO

From the screenplay of The Untouchables starring Kevin Costner and Sean Connery:
Charles Martin Smith - l've found a financial disbursement pattern which shows some irregu... 
Sean Connery - You carry a badge? 
Charles Martin Smith - Yes.
Sean Connery - Carry a gun
Sean Connery -  Well, here we are. 
Kevin Costner - What are we doing here?  (seeing it's the Chicago Post Office)
Sean Connery - Liquor raid.
Kevin Costner - Here?!
Sean Connery - Everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn't finding it. The problem is who wants to cross Capone. Let's go.
Kevin Costner - You'd better be damn sure, Malone.
Sean Connery - If you walk through this door, you're walking into a world of trouble. There's no turning back. Do you understand?
Kevin Costner - Yes, l do.
Sean Connery - Good. Give me that axe. - Federal officers! - Get your hands in the air! - Nobody moves! - This is a raid!

The Douglas County Republicans are a necessary stop for any aspiring GOP candidate.  Candidates for Governor, Senator, Congressman and State Legislature come by for the breakfast meetings.  Last week’s meeting hosted U.S. Senate Candidate Ken Buck.   He was asked questions and eventually identity theft issues came up.

On October 17, 2008 Operation Number Games kicked off.  The raid was the brainchild of the District Attorney for Colorado's 19th Judicial District, one Kenneth R. Buck.  Ten Law Enforcement Officers raided Amalia's Translation and Tax Service ("Amalia's") in Greeley, Colorado.  They seized computers and boxes of paper records. After copying the records, Operation Number Games found 1,338 of Amalia's Clients were using forged social security and idenfication records of other Americans.  This was identity theft and felony criminal impersonation as only organized crime can do it.

Just as Kevin Costner made the decision to walk into a world of trouble in enforcing the law, Ken Buck got his share of trouble.  This time it wasn't Al Capone but the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado.  The ACLU retained six lawyers and filed a massive lawsuit against Ken Buck and Weld County Sheriff John Cooke.  Some highlights of the ACLU's allegations are:

• *Amalia's has assisted thousands of her customers with filing income tax returns.
• *Seizing the records of felony criminal activity violated Amalia's right of privacy.
• *Amalia's customers include persons who are not eligible to obtain social security numbers.
• *Three of the ACLU plaintiffs are "Doe Plaintiffs".  They have filed a motion seeking permission to participate without revealing their true identities.
• *Amalia's serves primarily a community of Spanish-speaking clients, a community that has seen tremendous growth in recent years in Weld County.
• *Amalia's is damaged because of fear that their spanish-speaking customer will not return.
• *Amalia is afraid because the District Attorney asserts that continuing the company's tax practice could constitute probable cause for additional future searches.

So how does a person who is not a CPA or licensed tax professional get so many tax customers?  Tax Service owner Amalia Cerrillo has filed thousands of tax returns for Mexican migrants since the Greeley meat packers began their recruiting of workers from Mexico.  A few years back the INS did a massive raid on the Swift meatpacking plant and carted off illegal immigrants by the dozens.  The other meatpackers were largely untouched.

So far, even with six attorneys, the court case hasn't gone as the ACLU has wanted it.  They have now appealed the case to the Colorado Supreme Court and the case goes on and on, with D.A. Buck and Sheriff Cooke still defending the right to enforce our laws.

Now Ken Buck has tossed his hat into the U.S. Senate race and is making the rounds. 

If selected as the GOP nominee, he will likely run against the foppish appointed senator, Michael Bennet.  Bennet, is "to the manor born", having inherited untold millions.  To hear him speak is to hear the old style upper class East Coast speech pattern we usually only hear in movies like Trading Places.

Let's look at these two guys.

• *Ken Buck has worked as a truck driver, high school football coach, ranch hand, school janitor, paper boy, furniture mover, adjunct law professor, prosecutor, and businessman.  He went to Princeton for undergrad and to the University of Wyoming for Law School.
• *Bennet has had a series of appointed jobs, as a Governor's Aide, in the Clinton Administration as Asst. Sec. of State for International Organization Affairs, director of the Anschutz Investment Company, Hickenlooper's Chief of Staff and four years ago got appointed Superintendent of the DPS.  Now he's appointed U.S. Senator.  Sound familiar?  Bennet got into Wesleyan University under the legacy rules because his dad was an alumni and past President of this elite, private school.   He later went to Yale Law School, presumably by the same legacy way.
• *Ken Buck's grandfather first started a shoe repair shop in Greeley in the 1930's.  He has long and deep roots in Colorado.
• *Bennett moved here a few years ago and has much greater knowledge of the foxhunting and country clubs of the East than Brighton, Greeley, Castle Rock, or Pueblo.
• *Buck is being sued by the ACLU.
• *Bennet is adored by the ACLU.  Their ACLU scoreboard gives Bennet a  Lifetime Score of 100%. 

Take your choice.  Elliott Ness or Louis Winthorpe III
 

After news of a possible terrorist cell in Colorado broke, an accidentally sent chain of emails from Michael Bennet's staff reveals that his office was plunged into chaos and preoccupied with looking like they were as "in the loop" as Sen. Udall. The Denver Post reports:

Bennet's staff suggested that he tell reporters he had been "in close contact" with the FBI since that morning, when he was apparently still waiting for an FBI briefing late in the afternoon.

Bennet's staff also openly fretted that he would be upstaged by his Democratic colleague, Sen. Mark Udall, who had been briefed by the FBI and had spoken to reporters.

"Bummed we missed this — I was under the impression we were being asked not to talk — looks like everyone else did and will lieky (sic) get the press. Lesson learned for next time," Sarah Hughes, Bennet's deputy chief of staff, wrote in one missive.

But his staff also suggested that Udall gave what was essentially a law enforcement script in telling reporters that there was no imminent danger and that the investigation was ongoing — a comment they noted was almost identical to one given to reporters on the East Coast by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

"I'm sure it's what the fbi/mueller (FBI Director Robert Mueller) is telling the members to say," commented Deirdre Murphy, Bennet's communications director.

Atop more than a dozen e-mails was an official statement meant for public consumption: "We have been monitoring this situation closely and I have been in touch with the U.S. Deputy Attorney General. I will continue to keep close contact with law enforcement and work to ensure they have the resources they need."

Late Tuesday, Bennet reiterated that sentiment and said that he would not be commenting on the e-mails.

It's not surprising that Bennet doesn't want to comment on the e-mails. He never seems to want to comment on anything.

Following up on the Washington Post's recent article predicting doom for Colorado Democrats, Rasmussen Reports follows up with polls on the Governor and Senate races showing bad news for Michael Bennet and Bill Ritter.

Colorado Governor's Race

Scott McInnis: 44%
Bill Ritter: 39%

Bill Ritter: 41%
Josh Penry: 40%

Colorado Senate Race

Ryan Frazier: 40%
Michael Bennet: 39%

Michael Bennet: 43%
Ken Buck: 37%

Of course, the NRSC is poised to piss away any gains in the Senate race by forcing through a divisive candidate as their annointed candidate and fracturing the party in the process. But, hey, us dumb hicks out here in flyover country can't be trusted to pick our own representation.

On another note, this is RMR's 1000th post so pop out the champagne and have a toast to the conservative  blogosphere. Or not.

The Washington Post has taken note of Obama's unusually low approval rating in the state and the Romanoff/Ritter civil war:

Bennet is preparing for a difficult general-election campaign, but his most immediate problem is a likely primary challenge from Andrew Romanoff, a former speaker of the Colorado House.

Romanoff was a leading candidate for the Salazar vacancy before Ritter tapped Bennet, and other Democrats see his challenge to Bennet as motivated more by personal pique than by principled differences with him. Whatever his motivation, Romanoff creates one more obstacle in Bennet's path as he tries to win his Senate seat outright.

Ritter also has problems. Foremost is the challenge facing every governor this year and next: how to run a state in the middle of a recession that has created a sizable budget deficit.

The Denver Post reports that Andrew Romanoff will challenge Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary:

Wally Stealey, a longtime lobbyist and political mover in Pueblo, said Romanoff called him Friday morning to tell him he had decided to run.

"If I'd have had my choice, I'd have him running against Ritter," Stealey said. "But I didn't get my choice. That doesn't matter. You don't always get your choice in politics."

Democratic strategists say the 43-year-old Romanoff faces significant hurdles in mounting a run against a sitting U.S. senator, even one appointed less than eight months ago and who still has relatively limited name recognition.

As we observed shortly after Bennet's appointment, you would be hard pressed to find anyone in either party willing to claim that Michael Bennet would make a better Senator than Romanoff. Why Romanoff decided to wait until September, giving Bennet a nearly three quarter head-start, is anyone's guess.

( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )

Remember that political ad from last year, I believe. The visual included a wind mill of sorts followed by an announcer asking about a candidate’s position on various issues. After each question, the wind would kick up and the image would spin frantically.

Dana Milbank reports on The Washington Post blog that Michael Bennet was ready to vote against the recent bill that would have allowed individuals to carry guns across state lines. Bennet only voted in favor of it after getting permission from Chuck Schumer and being reassured that his vote would not result in passage of the bill:

The slim margin was no accident: Other Democrats, such as Pennsylvania's Bob Casey and Colorado's Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, were said to have been willing to vote "no" if necessary. Twenty minutes after the voting began, Bennet and Udall left the cloakroom together and walked into the chamber. Bennet went to the well to consult with Schumer, who indicated that it was safe for Bennet -- a product of D.C.'s St. Albans School -- to vote with the NRA. Bennet looked to Udall, who gave an approving nod, and cast his "aye" vote.

ANTI-SOCIALIZED MEDICINE GROUP TO TARGET MICHAEL BENNET: "As a 501(c)4 organization, Patients First is able to target individual lawmakers by name in advertisements, encouraging constituents to put pressure on their senators and congressmen to oppose Obama’s health plan. Patients First will launch its new ad next week in 11 states, including Colorado, aimed at Sen. Michael Bennet, Louisiana, aimed at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Nevada at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. " (Human Events)

Read more about the group at JoinPatientsFirst.com.

It's approaching the end of the fundraising quarter for campaigns and they're starting to send out their last-minute pitches for donations. Bill Ritter's pitch oddly goes out of it's way to mention former Sen. Ken Salazar, Sen. Mark Udall, and Barack Obama:

We've reshaped the electoral map, sending forward-thinking leaders like Barack Obama, Ken Salazar, Mark Udall, and many others to represent our voice in Washington. And we've changed the dynamic here in the state capitol, too.

But as The Hill reported last week, "Party of Nope" leaders believe their resurrection begins with taking back the Mountain West in 2010. In fact, they have already recruited a challenger to my re-election effort, who quietly filed his candidate papers late last month.

How odd that Bill Ritter would mention Salazar but not the man who replaced him. Does Bill have some internal polling showing that people are upset with him over Michael Bennet's appointment?

This is getting a little ridiculous. Congress has now taken to wasting taxpayer money on publicly funding car trade-in deals that you usually see in cheesey used car dealership commercials. The Associated Press reports:

Under the proposal, car owners could get a voucher worth $3,500 if they traded in a vehicle getting 18 miles per gallon or less for one getting at least 22 mpg. The value of the voucher would grow to $4,500 if the mileage of the new car was 10 mpg higher than the old vehicle. The miles per gallon figures are listed on the car window's sticker.

Owners of sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks or minivans that get 18 mpg or less could receive a voucher for $3,500 if their new truck or SUV got at least 2 mpg higher than their old vehicle. The voucher would increase to $4,500 if the mileage of the new truck or SUV was at least 5 mpg higher than the older vehicle.

Michael Bennet is reportedly one of the Senators who was on the fence over this bill but caved to pressure from the Obama administration.

The Denver Post has picked up on the story of Michael Bennet's out-of-state donors, which was first broken on this site last week, and has come up with a few extra details on his fundraising such as this gem:

His Colorado donor base was heavily Denver-oriented. More than 60 percent came from the state's capital. He got no contributions from Pueblo, Greeley or Grand Junction and only one from Fort Collins.

That doesn't exactly speak well to his ability to reach out to Ken Salazar's base.

Michael Bennet's hefty fundraising in the first quarter of the year may have been intimidating at first glance, but a closer examination reveals that the bulk of the money came from out-of-state. Potential primary opponents to Bennet should especially take notice, as his fundraising among traditional Democratic in-state donors is weak and the rest of his in-state fundraising (primarily from the business community) may soon evaporate thanks to his waffling on EFCA.

New York, Washington D.C., and California provided Bennet nearly as many contributions as Colorado did. The graph below shows the source of Bennet's first quarter haul:

PAC contributions to Bennet topped a quarter of a million dollars, which along with the massive out-of-state funding leads one to wonder just who exactly want Michael Bennet to be Colorado's U.S. Senator.

Top sources of funding to Michael Bennet
Colorado - $509,810
PACs and other committees - $261,125
New York - $188,000
Washington DC - $136,958
California - $100,367
Maryland - $36,550
Massachusetts - $30,200

One thing is clear, Bennet's Republican opponent will have to have a strong backing from in-state donors. Those donors aren't going to just come out of no where, they are people like you reading this right now. The Democrats have figured out that in order to win elections they have to man up and give a few dollars, so please donate to Ryan Frazier or Ken Buck. Even if it is just $5 or $10 you can help send Michael Bennet a message that the people of Colorado do not want him in office.

Ben DeGrow wonders what would make a better nickname for Michael Bennet in light of his waffling on EFCA: "Back N Forth Bennet" as the NRSC seems to be trying to introduce or "Both Ways Bennet." Go ahead and vote below, the NRSC's "Back N Forth Bennet" is below the poll if you want to take a look.