Junction Daily Blog: Western Colorado Talk and Opinion

Political Short Takes

February 17, 2006

OK, so maybe there won't be another candidate in the Governor's race, at least on the Democrat side. State House Majority Leader Alice Madden (D-Boulder) decided this week not to run and endorsed former Denver D.A. Bill Ritter. Madden had said she would consider running if Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper decided not to run. I suspect her advisers figured out that most Coloradoans regard people from Boulder as "not like the rest of us," which would make it somewhat difficult to win a Statewide campaign. Ritter has recently picked up endorsements from Senator Ken Salazar and former Senator Gary Hart. Ritter might be able to avoid a primary if Gary Lindstrom ever figures out that the party faithful at the State Assembly aren't likely to support a Democrat who used to be a Republican who used to be Unaffiliated who used to be a Democrat. Or maybe not. There's still a lot of "anybody but Ritter" sentiment among the lunatic-left fringe of the Colorado Democratic Party. Which probably explains why the pro-life Ritter is leading both Republicans in recent polls.

Congressman Joel Hefley (R-Colorado Springs), the dean of the Colorado congressional delegation, has decided not to run for an eleventh term in the House. Hefley had appeared to be reluctant to run earlier this year, but received pressure from President Bush and national Republican campaign groups to enter the race. Presumably, national "hold onto Congress" groups thought a primary race for Hefley's relatively safe seat would consume resources needed for efforts in more contested districts, like our own 3rd C.D. Hefley was always a low-key sort of conservative who rose out of relative obscurity when the House Ethics Committee, which he chaired, censured House Majority Leader Tom DeLay three times. As a reward for his efforts toward better government, Hefley was removed from the Ethics Committee chairmanship by, you guessed it, Tom DeLay.

What do Colorado Democrat Peggy Lamm and conservative hate-monger Ann Coulter have in common? They're both taking some heat about where they live versus where they vote. Lamm, who is running for Congress, owns a house outside her district but rents an apartment in the district. She apparently failed to use her in-district address when she renewed her driver's license--a no-no if you're running for Congress. Coulter, who lives in Florida, registered to vote using her realtor's address; an address she reportedly uses as a mail drop to avoid stalkers. She recently voted in the precinct where she registered, but not in the precinct where she lives. In Florida, it's a felony to knowingly falsify your voter registration information, but only if you're poor, black, or both. Coulter should come out of this just fine.

I've written about push polls in this blog before. I want to warn you that there's one going on right now. Our household got a robo-call two nights ago that smelled like a push poll to me. It appears to be going to households who have at least one registered Democrat, because I have talked to other people who have gotten the same call. It starts off with a short statement trying to link Congressman John Salazar to illegal spying on Americans by the Administration. Then it asks if you support illegal spying, then it asks if you support John Salazar. A legitimate poll would never lead off with a statement, nor would one ever use the word "illegal" in a question, because that's an inflammatory word designed to bias the result. And a legitimate poll would never be a robo-call. The automated caller voice said the organization was named "USA Polling" but I doubt it. There's a USA Polling Group at the University of South Alabama, but they seem to be a legitimate academic group who polls mostly local issues. I also doubt if Salazar or the Democrats are behind this poll. I confirmed that with a call to Rich Baca in Salazar's Grand Junction office. He said the local and Washington offices are aware of it, but they don't know which anti-Salazar group is doing it. I think it's a third-party group trying to dry up Salazar's fundraising, which has been very successful. With red-flag wording like that, I can see the headline in a month or so when the "results" of the push poll are leaked: "Salazar's Support Slips Among Democrats."

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