August 14, 2008 10:41 AM
Rocky political reporters on the primary results
Mark_Wolf For everyone: did Jared Polis buy the election?
Lynn_Bartels That depends on who you talk to, but $5.3 million is a lot of money and Jared was able to have his face on TV for months and target voters with fancy, full-color mailings.
berny_morson He spent a lot of money, but you can't necessarily conclude he bought the election. Maybe people really liked him and he would have won spending half that money.
Mark_Wolf Lynn and Ed: Any big surprises in the legislative races?
Lynn_Bartels A lot of people thought Douglas Bruce might hang on in Colorado Springs. That turned out to be wrong.
Ed_Sealover The biggest may have been a non-surprise: The ousting of Douglas Bruce. Though El Paso County GOP leaders said they believed he was going down, I'm not sure any were confident in their predictions until the votes rolled in.
Lynn_Bartels And in District 8 in Denver, attorney Beth McCann beat Matt Bergles, who has endorsed Rep. Rosemary Marshall, who is giving up the seat because of term limits.
mike_littwin For old Dougie, that's a real kick in the pants.
berny_morson I thought Fitz-gerald would do better given her long history in Jeffco. I also thought Shaf would take votes from Polis since they both live in Boulder and that Fitz-gerald would have a cusion among women voters.
Lynn_Bartels There's good news for the GOP on the gender front: Carole Murray won her statehouse race. The number of Republican women in the legislature is positively pathetic.
Ed_Sealover I think the other one that surprised some people was Costilla County Commissioner Ed Vigil's defeat of Rocky White for the Democratic House nomination in the San Luis Valley. White had basically knocked the incumbent, Rep. Rafael Gallegos, out of the race at the assembly but went down surprisingly easily.
berny_morson Bruce may finally have gone too far in his behavior at the legislature. He was curmudgeonly before, building support among the conservative voters in El Paso County. But his voting record was beyond eccentric (not to mention some of his behavior).
Ed_Sealover Waller essentially campaigned on the idea that he was as conservative as Bruce but actually could get along with people. Once voters heard that, they seemed soothed and ready to get rid of a troublemaker.
Ed_Sealover The House Republicans sure won't miss Doug Bruce. I talked to House Minority Leader Mike May this morning, and he seemed as giddy about Waller's win as if he had just taken back a Democratic seat.
Lynn_Bartels I don't think we've seen the last of Douglas Bruce. But I know many, many Republicans are relieved that he is gone.
Ed_Sealover I agree, Lynn. I suspect that while the loss has to be a blow to Bruce, serving in the Leg this year has to embolden him - as if he needed that - to speak out more on statewide rather than just El Paso County issues.
Lynn_Bartels Bruce was pretty ineffective. He couldn't get people to vote with him even when he was right, because of his personality.
berny_morson Bruce may have gone so far in his behavior at the capitol that he will have a hard time finding support among very many people for any future crusade as an outside voice. I think that's the message of the primary vote.
Mark_Wolf Berny Morson, why did Mike Coffman roll so easily in the sixth district?
berny_morson Coffrman has 20 years of name recognition -- and it was good name recognition. He fought in the first Gulf War and again in the current Iraq War, getting good press coverage each time. He was also pretty effective at jobs he undertook, such as spearheading the effort to rewrite Colorado's welfare laws in 1996 or '97. When I interviewed him, he seemed to genuinely understand the very complicated federal rules under which Colorado's welfare system operates.
Lynn_Bartels I think a lot of people felt Mike Coffman deserved this congressional seat. He was expected to run when the new 7th CD seat was created this decade, but then the boundaries were drawn differently than most people supposed. He challenged Gov. Bill Owens as treasurer, at considerable personal expense to his political career, but he did it because he felt he owed it to the taxpayer.
mike_littwin Coffman has been looking desperately for someplace to land politically. Now he's got a job for life -- and interestingly, it's the job once held by his close friend Tom Tancredo, whom I'm already starting to miss.
Mark_Wolf Daniel: When does Denver's new vehicle impoundment law take effect and what's likely to be the impact?
Daniel_J_Chacon Good question. Right now, it's up in the air. The Committee to Defeat 100, which includes Denver City Councilmen Paul Lopez and Rick Garcia, released a statement this morning saying that the new law will probably be challenged in the courts.
Daniel_J_Chacon "I expect the City Attorney's Office to evaluate next best steps to determine how the ordinance can legally be implemented," Councilman Rick Garcia said.
Mark_Wolf Daniel: Don't the cops hate this because it takes away their discretion?
Daniel_J_Chacon Exactly. Right now, police have the discretion to tow the vehicle of an unlicensed driver. Initiative 100 requires them to do it. Before the election, Mayor John Hickenlooper expressed his opposition to the measure, saying it would be a drain on city resources.
Mark_Wolf Lynn: If I'm Andrew Romanoff and Ken Gordon I've been spending my nights driving around putting up Coffman signs. Who's the early leader in the clubhouse to become Secretary of State?
Mark_Wolf Berny, were the Republicans not as miffed at Coffman for giving away the Secretary of State's office as we'd been led to believe?
berny_morson Obviously not. Some Republicans are probably upset that Ritter will choose the secretary of state. But I'm not sure the average voter thinks that way. That's an issue for insiders.
Mark_Wolf Denver officers now have 20 reasons to impound a car. Wonder if they'll try to use them all and create a bottleneck at the impound facility.
Daniel_J_Chacon That would be an interesting strategy. The Sheriff's Department has told me that the towing lot is very busy as it is, so I'm not sure how they're going to handle the towing of more vehicles. The city thinks it's going to have to buy more property to expand the lot.
Daniel_J_Chacon By the way, one of my co-workers express worry this morning because he forgot his driver's license!
Daniel_J_Chacon The city thinks it's going to have to hire more sheriff's deputies to handle the new load of vehicles that will be towed under this initiative.
Ed_Sealover As much as people are focused on where Doug Bruce lands, I'm curious about what the next job for Joan Fitz-Gerald is. What do you all think that will be? Lynn_Bartels I wouldn't be surprised if Joan decides to take it easy for a while.
berny_morson As I understand the new law, cops won't have a choice but to create a bottleneck at the impound facility.
Lynn_Bartels This woman ran for the legislature in 2000 and won. She became the minority leader in 2002 and the Senate president in 2004. She has worked around the clock for much of this decade. Like her or love her, Joan gets things done. Ref C, pension reform, energy issues, a lot of that had Joan's stamp all over it.
Lynn_Bartels I haven't talked to Joan yet today. I think the day after losing an election many thought you would win is not the day to speculate on what's next.
Mark_Wolf Backers of the new Denver law seem to think it will make a dent in illegal immigration. Thoughts?
Daniel_J_Chacon We're seeing laws across the country that are aimed at illegal immigrants, and there was a news report recently that said the number of undocumented immigrants had dropped, and one of the reasons cited in the report was the type of anti-illegal immigrants laws that cities have been passing.
Mark_Wolf Berny, do you think any of the candidates in the Sixth District envision a political future? Thinking expressly about Wil Armstrong.
Lynn_Bartels In the 6th, I think there's a lot of sadness about Wil Armstrong losing. He was seen as a very strong candidate with a great future.
berny_morson Not sure about Wil. If he wants a political future, his best bet would be to run for the legislature, as his father did, then run for higher office. I don't think voters go for people who want to start at the top, although it does happen occasionally. Tim Wirth's first elected office was Congress.
Mark_Wolf Was there much impact of early/absentee voting?
Ed_Sealover I don't think the impact of early voting is as great as in past years. In 2006, Doug Lamborn supporters timed some bombshell mailings with the arrival of early ballots, and the early voting numbers were the difference in the race.
Lynn_Bartels CD 2 had a record turnout. Everywhere else was wretched. The great turnout in CD helped Polis as Fitz-Gerald was the established candidate. Likewise, the wretched turnout in CD 6 helped Coffman and hurt Armstrong.
berny_morson The Armstrong people feel the votes came in TOO early. They timed their TV ads for a somewhat later return of ballots than actually occured. Coffman got the jump on Armstrong by beginning his ads in June (Armstrong started July 8). Coffman's timing turned out to be right.
Lynn_Bartels Speaking of timing of ads, same thing for Jared. He was up much earlier than Joan. The old ways of doing politics are gone. June is the new July.
Mark_Wolf Berny, you live in Boulder. Did the results up there surprise you at all?
Mark_Wolf Did Will Shafroth's presence in the race hurt Fitz-Gerald? Would she have run stronger in a head-to-head race against Polis?
berny_morson Yes. I expected Fitz-gerald to do better with a stronger showing in Jeffco and with a gender gap in her favor everywhere. I figured Shafroth and Polis would split the Boulder vote and the male vote..
berny_morson I'm not sure how she would have done one-on-one against Polis. My expectation was that Shafroth was taking Boulder votes and male votes from Polis. So without Shaf, Polis wold have done better. But since I failed to predict the outcome of this race, I wouldn't put too much faith in my assumptions.
Mark_Wolf Mike, if it does rain on Obama's nomination acceptance speech does Focus on the Family get the blame/credit?
Lynn_Bartels I don't think Focus on the family controls the weather. If it rains, it rains.
mike_littwin If that works for Focus, I'm going to ask them to start praying for it to rain new subscribers on the Rocky.
Mark_Wolf Is Doug Lamborn now Congressman-for-Life in Colorado Springs?
mike_littwin He is -- and all I can say is that Colorado Springs knew what it was getting.
Ed_Sealover The other interesting future might be that of Bentley Rayburn. Party leaders offered him all kinds of opportunities to get him out of the congressional race. I wonder if those opportunities will still be there.
Mark_Wolf Office pool time: Who's the next Secretary of State?
Mark_Wolf I'm going with Ken Gordon.
Mark_Wolf Although he's very anti-voting machine.
mike_littwin It's Romanoff's if he wants it. I doubt he wants it, which probably brings it to Gordon vs. Fitz-Gerald, and I'm thinking Fitz-Gerald may not want it. The one person who definitely does want it is Ken Gordon.
Mark_Wolf Isnt the Secretary of State a springboard to the governor's race?
berny_morson Ritter might want to pick someone from outside the metro area. Not sure wh that would be.
Ed_Sealover Yeah, but is Ken Gordon really from the same wing of the Democratic Party as Bill Ritter, or would Ritter be looking for someone a little more moderate to fill the job?
berny_morson I can't think of anyone who went from secretary of state to governor. It's kind of a dead-end job, although there's no intrinsic reason that should be so.
Mark_Wolf I know somebody who just went from Secretary of State to Congress.
berny_morson Good point
Ed_Sealover Actually, the treasurer's office is more of a springboard for the governor's job than the SOS is.
Mark_Wolf Mike mentioned his old buddy Tom Tancredo, who will officially be out of a job at the end of the year. What does the future hold for him?
mike_littwin I told Tancredo he could bid on remodeling my basement.
berny_morson I suspect Tom will return to the wold of conservtive think tanks. There are many of them. He headed Independence Institute before running for Congress. He draws well on two issues -- immigration and education. That's basically what these think tanks do, try to draw an audience for their issues.
mike_littwin Here's something to consider: If Obama is the next president, does he pick anyone from Colorado (say, Ken Salazar) for his cabinet. And if Salazar were to be, say, the AG, who would go for Salazar's seat?
Mark_Wolf Tancredo vs Romanoff.
berny_morson I'm told Pena has been working really hard for Obama. He may be headed for a third cabinet appointment.
Mark_Wolf Somebody on one of the chat shows last week said Salazar remains a viable VP choice.
mike_littwin From what I hear, Pena isn't necessarily looking to go back to D.C.
Ed_Sealover I don't think Salazar is in the running for VP. Obama is looking for someone with experience and preferably with a military background. Salazar has neither of those.
mike_littwin Salazar is not a viable VP choice. But it is something you can say if you need to say something on TV.
berny_morson Everybody is a viable VP choice on the chat shows.
Mark_Wolf I'll take Ken Salazar for $200 please
mike_littwin I'll take Jared Polis for $5.3 million.
Ed_Sealover By the way, I hear Tancredo is going for Salazar's Senate seat whether or not Salazar is still there in 2010. He's the kind of guy that can win the GOP primary but have a very hard time in the general election.
mike_littwin I don't think Tancredo could win any statewide race -- primary or general. But I know he'd love to run against Salazar.
DenverGuy Before I understood how the chat works, I posted a question about why reporters always report on the horse race and don't get very deep on the issues of governing. I can see from this discussion that the reason is because that is what the reporters think about.
Mark_Wolf OK, let's chew that one over. Thanks for the question, Denver Guy.
Mark_Wolf The morning after the election, the horse race is the story, but I'd love to hear responses about that.
Ed_Sealover I think the way people govern plays a big part in the horse race. Media have extensively reported Doug Lamborn's troubles in office, for example. But in the end, the fact that he had two opponents rather than one essentially made his record a moot point.
berny_morson The "horse race" is a valid subject on the day after the vote. But if you look at the paper in the days leading up to the vote, we had plenty of stories about where the candidates (and the voters) stood on the issues. I had stories about immigration and the Iraq war in the 6th district and education in the 6th and the 2nd. Also did a story on how Republicans in the 6th are moving away from Bush. I don't think the Rocky owes any apologies for also discussing the mechanics of politics.
mike_littwin denverguy, part of the problem in running primary races and in covering primary races is that the contestants generally agree on about 95 percent of the issues. What issue do you think really separates the people running in the 2nd or those running in the 6th? What happens in most primaries is the overhyping of small differences that, in the end, matter almost not at all.
DenverGuy I'm imagining that what I would like to see wouldn't sell papers, but I guess I would like to see candidates have to answer very specific questions on the details of policy.
DenverGuy That alone would show me how qualified they are to have the job. But I guess I look st the campaign as a job interview and not a popularity contest.
Mark_Wolf You're going to see plenty of that as the campaign heats up.
berny_morson As a matter of fact, our stories came with boxes in which the candidates did address policy and were quoted verbatim. We also did a story about the candidates websites, pointing out that all their position statements are available to the public. There is no lack of opportunity to hear from candidates on the issues. Of course, not every candidate understands every issue in sufficient detail to to comment .
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