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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 3:38 AM
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So, Ritter is apparently dropping out of the governors race, which popular politician will take his place, Salazar, Perlmutter, or Hickenlooper?

I think Hickenlooper is going to take the plunge.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 3:45 AM
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 4:11 AM
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Originally Posted by wong21fr View Post
So, Ritter is apparently dropping out of the governors race, which popular politician will take his place, Salazar, Perlmutter, or Hickenlooper?

I think Hickenlooper is going to take the plunge.
From my politcal source in the Springs I hear it coule be Salazar and acording to him the reason for Ritter's issues are his pro gay rights stance but I have a feeling that the economy plays a larger role.
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  #4  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 4:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Eeyore View Post
From my politcal source in the Springs I hear it coule be Salazar and acording to him the reason for Ritter's issues are his pro gay rights stance but I have a feeling that the economy plays a larger role.
I don't buy that, since all three prospective candidates support gay rights and supported Referendum I, as did Ritter the year he was elected.
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Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 5:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Eeyore View Post
From my politcal source in the Springs I hear it coule be Salazar and acording to him the reason for Ritter's issues are his pro gay rights stance but I have a feeling that the economy plays a larger role.
Someone from COS says Ritter is failing because he is pro gay rights.. that's shocking. It's also shocking that you have a political source in COS when everyone knows the political epicenter of Colorado is Pueblo. In fact is Bill Ritter not from Pueblo?.. because that would be the REAL reason he has problems.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2010, 10:14 AM
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Gah - dems CANNOT lose the governorship of Colorado. That would be a huge step back for public transportation and other key issues that play a role in urban development.

CO is very polarized - the Democrats are pretty liberal, and the Republicans are pretty conservative. A moderate from either party may be fine, but that's unlikely to happen. Bob Shaffer and Bob Beauprez are waaay to the Right and their anti-tax positions would be a major stumbling block for what we want to accomplish.

Governor Hickenlooper would be awesome, and with so few years left in his term it seems like it wouldn't be too much of a loss for Denver. But I think that Andrew Romanoff might abandon the Senate primary and throw his hat in for governor if Hickenlooper doesn't, since defeating an incumbent in a primary is hard and Romanoff might not want to venture in to that.

There is NO WAY that Ken Salazar will be in the race for governor. If he would resign from a U.S. Senate job for Secretary of the Interior, which he did, he wouldn't drop that to run for the much lessor office of governor. The Senate is considered a more prestigious job than governor in nearly every state, except for Texas and California. So if Interior Sec'y is a better job than Senate it cannot be a better job than governor.

Add to that the fact that his job as Interior Secretary is certain, and winning an election is uncertain, and you really don't see any possibility that Ken Salazar would be in that race.

I hope Hickenlooper runs, because he has the cred to actually win and might help turn out a lot of voters, too, which would help Bennet and other downticket Dems.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 5:33 PM
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It seems that the Republicans are pretty energized right now. This coupled with the President's and congress' low approval ratings translates to sweeping victories for slightly right leaning states like Colorado. I will be very surprised if Ritter and Bennett don't lose by significant margins.
Sorry to disappoint all you girl-friendless, socially inept, constantly blogging, have no life, liberals out there but that is how it's going down this fall.
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Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 5:36 PM
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It seems that the Republicans are pretty energized right now. This coupled with the President's and congress' low approval ratings translates to sweeping victories for slightly right leaning states like Colorado. I will be very surprised if Ritter and Bennett don't lose by significant margins.
Sorry to disappoint all you girl-friendless, socially inept, constantly blogging, have no life, liberals out there but that is how it's going down this fall.
That all depends on the economy. If the economy rebounds then it won't be as bad. But history does show that the party in charge does lose seats in a midterm election so that part is almost a guarantee.

Finally if Salazar is the candidate, IMO he has a great chance.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 12:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Denver_Native View Post
It seems that the Republicans are pretty energized right now. This coupled with the President's and congress' low approval ratings translates to sweeping victories for slightly right leaning states like Colorado. I will be very surprised if Ritter and Bennett don't lose by significant margins.
Sorry to disappoint all you girl-friendless, socially inept, constantly blogging, have no life, liberals out there but that is how it's going down this fall.
I don't have a girlfriend .. but I'm thinking a majority of the posters on this thread wouldn't have one even if they had a line of girls waiting for them - which incidentally several of us do. I don't have a life either but that stems more from 3 board certifications and the work that flows from that than anything else and others here have huge job responsibilities which make their work their lives - which also keeps any of us from blogging much. Liberal though.. yeah I'm that. Your post is much more illustrative of why rupublicans are out of power now than anything else. As a liberal I'm tempted to hope that more and more of you continue with this attitude but in the long run it just polarizes everyone and makes it too easy to discount opposing views that may actually have merit.
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 3:46 AM
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I don't have a girlfriend .. but I'm thinking a majority of the posters on this thread wouldn't have one even if they had a line of girls waiting for them - which incidentally several of us do. I don't have a life either but that stems more from 3 board certifications and the work that flows from that than anything else and others here have huge job responsibilities which make their work their lives - which also keeps any of us from blogging much. Liberal though.. yeah I'm that. Your post is much more illustrative of why rupublicans are out of power now than anything else. As a liberal I'm tempted to hope that more and more of you continue with this attitude but in the long run it just polarizes everyone and makes it too easy to discount opposing views that may actually have merit.
DAM, I need to go out and get a gf.... Oh wait....... I forgot....... I'm gay......... nevermind.......

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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2010, 10:51 PM
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I moved the posts from the Denver thread concerning politics into this thread.

If it degenerates further into personal attacks I'll just close it.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 5:47 AM
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According to Ken's numbers, Boulder would be by FAR the second most important Democratic city outside of Denver. Pueblo would be #3.
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  #13  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 3:51 PM
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^Eeyore doesn't consider Boulder to be outside of Denver.

However, I was curious to see how Larimer County fared:

Larimer County 2008 Election Results:

Obama: 84,461

McCain: 68,932

I believe that Fort Collins increasing population growth, positive migration rates, education levels, and high tech industry are going to result in Larimer becoming a Dem leaning county for the forseeable future. Which would end up making it the most important Democratic city outside of the Denver MSA and it would serve a good role in canceling out Douglas County.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:14 PM
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Wong is right, I consider Boulder part of the Denver metro area.

However, this is one reason why I want Pueblo to start growing again, even if its not a utopian city you guys want. If Pueblo stays the same while northern Colorado grows then we will become less relevant in Colorado politics. We don't have to surpass northern Colorado, that will never happen, but if we can at least keep up now that we are growing again then we will keep our power base since we are the largest city and economic hub in southern Colorado.

For example if Pueblo can grow to a modest 250,000 people that combined with our status as the economic center of 16 counties will keep politicians coming to Pueblo for the next 50 years. If we happen to grow more then that is even better.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:25 PM
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I'm a little confused by all the talk about counties leaning one way or another. Maybe I am wrong, maybe there is something I don't know, but counties aren't winner-take-all propositions in Colorado. I can understand breaking down congressional districts for obvious reasons. But when you are talking about state-wide elections, isn't it overall popular vote?

The reason I make this distinction is for the sake of strategy. I'm a registered Green, but I caucus with Democrats and have worked a democratic campaign the last four elections (only the 2008 was in Colorado). And if we want the Democratic candidate to win, we can't be ignoring voters in Douglas and El Paso counties just because their percentages trend strongly for the GOP.

These are populous counties that still have a lot of democratic votes that can boost the percentage and, possibility, tip it to the majority in a state-wide race. I bring all this up just to emphasize how important all votes are across the entire state. I appreciate the comfort taken in the demographic shifts in Larimer County and some of Denver's suburbs. But I can't caution enough against the importance of getting democrats to the polls in Colorado Springs.

2008 was a big year for the dems. But 2010 is going to be tough even if they are able to get youth and minorities to the polls like they did in an election that had a lot of historic drama to it. 2010 doesn't have that. It is crazy to think that the GOP, fractured as it seemed after the 2008 election, is actually in amazing shape to gain ground. All of its problems are on the national level. Politics, as we know, is local.

I have my reservations about Hickenlooper. But I don't see anyone else the Democrats could possibly offer. His name-recognition will certainly help, but Denver politicians have a way of galvanizing opposition in rural areas of the state.

To be honest, I think the governor's seat is the GOP's to lose.

Now: I have to do this after almost every post here: Please note that I didn't call anybody any names, was polite and respectful. While you are all free to disagree with me, please do so in a manner that doesn't involve mud-slinging. Cheers.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:35 PM
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You are right and I have friends in Colorado Springs who are some of the political leaders for the democrats there and gay pride. Their goal is not to win El Paso county but to minimize the loss so places like Denver and Pueblo can easily make up the difference. That is another reason for Pueblo to grow, if we can balance out the Springs then Denver can balance out the right leaning suburbs and give democrats a better chance of winning in the future.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:39 PM
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You are right and I have friends in Colorado Springs who are some of the political leaders for the democrats there and gay pride. Their goal is not to win El Paso county but to minimize the loss so places like Denver and Pueblo can easily make up the difference. That is another reason for Pueblo to grow, if we can balance out the Springs then Denver can balance out the right leaning suburbs and give democrats a better chance of winning in the future.
Yeah but if Pueblo grows the way you want it to it will become another republican stronghold. A huge office park/suburb to your north will destroy your democratic majority and make Pueblo as a whole allied with COS and not something that cancels it out. You would just be another Douglas County, another place for Denver to have to outvote for any sort of progressive projects to be approved.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:56 PM
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Ilsaz, I agree with your comments. Our "county vs. county" discussion should not be interpreted to represent a GOTV strategy or anything like that. It's just a way of breaking down big numbers into smaller components and, through the cancelling-out method for counties that usually vote in a predictable manner, identify the counties where the "swing" often occurs. But you're right, it is a statewide total and the Dem votes in El Paso are still important to pursue.

Gio, you're right on with your comment about Pueblo. If we want Pueblo to stay blue, we should hope that the 150,000 people that Eeyore wants to move there moves into condos and lofts and infill projects in the existing footprint of the city. Pueblo Springs will simply be a big chunk of COS that will cancel out Pueblo's bluer half.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 4:37 PM
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Ilsaz: I see your point about Denver mayors, but Hickenlooper has been a consensus builder in a way that no other Denver mayor that I've known or heard of in recent history has been. He has worked extremely hard to make sure all the cities of the metro area are included in any long range projects in the city. He really has been doing for years what Obama has been trying (with very little success) at the national level, and this is in a state where republicans can be QUITE radical. His approval ratings have been nearly unbelievable to me through most of his tenure as mayor. Of course all my observations (on every subject on this board actually lol) are from just observations and not professional experience in politics so maybe someone like Pizzuti or other political people that care about the state as a whole (because I can't say that I do with any intellectual honesty) could say if my impressions are likely true.

I think with the huge amount of support he would have in the metro area he is actually one person who COULD afford to ignore other cities in the state and still win (and with some of the attitudes from the smaller cities don’t' think I wouldn't feel a little smugly happy if certain cities were completely ignored). The irony that he absolutely won't do this kind of thing is what has made him so popular in the Denver area.

I'm excited about what he might achieve as governor. I'm particularly curious to see how he would deal with the rabid anti-government crowd in central Colorado which from my sense seems to be turning into a contagion spreading north through Douglas county at the moment.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2010, 5:08 PM
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My first reaction was great a Denver major as governor of the state, then I asked my political insiders in Pueblo and they liked him and said he would be good for Pueblo so that got me thinking. I still need to see him come to Pueblo and speak but as of now I have a open mind.

About Pueblo growing, you make a good point. However, I don't think we could ever be like the Springs, unless Pueblo tried to grow by attracting mega churches and if that happens I would riot. Even if we get the tech park I want combined with the energy park that would still make Pueblo more industrial. I am sure the kind of companies the tech park would attract would work with the ones in the energy park. I do not think Pueblo will attract the kind of high tech companies Denver and northern Colorado does, that would be a complete change in Pueblo's make up and even with the growth of CSU Pueblo I don't see that happening. Even the proposed R&D parks would be more for industries that seem to like Pueblo.

So I think our postion as the states democratic center is safe for the forceable future.
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