If Sen. Wayne Allard chooses to run for a third term in 2008, he'll start off trailing Democratic Rep. Mark Udall, his presumed challenger, by a margin of 10 to 1 in one important category: Cash on hand.

Chance, as Louis Pasteur said, favors the prepared mind, and none is more prepared in the Democratic Party than that of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Missing votes in Denver

The trouble-plagued Denver selection has raised questions about who is in charge of voting in the city.

Denver voters will have a chance to share information on what went worong with Tuesday's election and give ideas on how to fix it at a public meeting likely to be held within the next two weeks.

Those creative folks at the liberal group ProgressNow are hosting a happy hour next Tuesday for Democrats who won or just fought the good fight.

Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, was asked at a news conference Wednesday if businesses in Colorado had reason to fear a wave of "communist"-type legislation now that the Democrats control all three branches of government. "We are not now, nor have we ever been members of the Communist Party," Romanoff said.

Republicans have a new strategy for taking back the state House. Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, joked Tuesday that if they combined Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, they would have a majority.

"Those states used to be one territory," he said.