ACORN decision explained

by David Kopel | 3:16 pm, August 13, 2010

(David Kopel) The Bill of Attainder clause was among the topics of my Advanced Constitutional Law class last semester, so while I am not an expert on the clause, I’ll try to provide some guidance.
First, there are few Supreme Court cases on the clause. Second, Bill of Attainder controversies in the United States never involve the classic [...]

Klaven on the Constitution – Friday Funnies

by Mr. Bob | 2:49 pm, August 13, 2010

these dudes were like…totally not slacktivists.

Truthful Signs

by Mr. Bob | 2:33 pm, August 13, 2010

hat tip to @csteven

Why Ken Buck leads Michael Bennet 46% to 41% in Rasmussen poll

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 10:36 am, August 13, 2010

Why is Ken Buck leading appointed Obama Democrat Senator Michael Bennet (D-Washington, DC) by 46% to 43% in Rasmussen Reports’ Aug. 11 survey of 750 likely Colorado voters?
Some reasons that Buck starts the general election campaign with a small lead:
Andrew Romanoff’s attacks on Bennet in the Democrats’ primary were much tougher than Jane Norton’s snips at Buck in the GOP primary. Bennet is living down Washington and Wall Street and a bungled financing deal for the Denver Public Schools. Buck is living down high heels and half a dozen “dumbass” Tea Party birthers.
Bennet has voted for numerous job killing amendments and bills, and he promises to vote for more. He voted for a job killing stimulus bill early last year and for ObamaCare. ObamaCare imposes huge tax increases on all Americans while giving Obama the power to sharply restrict access to care for very sick people and most seniors. After the election, win or lose, Bennet will vote during the lame duck session for job killing climate and energy bills and for job killing union card check bills. He’s a rubber stamp for Obama’s job killing efforts to redistribute wealth in America.
Buck knows Colorado and wants to represent the state. 
Bennet grew up in Washington, DC, and wants to represent the over paid employes in his home town. He wants to create more government jobs and spend more on our failing public education morass.
Even though Bennet made more than $11 million in the  private sector, he wants to crush it. Bennet knows how to give us the same kind of centrally-planned and mismanaged Federal government that destroyed the old Soviet Union. While he enjoys being rich, he thinks being powerful would be more fun and satisfying. Bennet is Washington, DC’s first Senator just as the man he replaced, Sen. Ken Salazar was Mexico’s first Senator.
Ken Buck is very accessible to reporters, editorial writers, columnists and most bloggers. He isn’t afraid to discuss anything with anyone. He believes that if he answers questions honestly, he’ll win.
Michael Bennet is relatively protected by his highly-paid political consultants and handlers, most of whom probably are from out of Colorado. (I don’t really know, but high-powered campaigns usually bring in talent from outside the state.) 
Ken Buck has spent the last year driving to all 64 Colorado counties multiple times. He has friends and believers in every county, and they are working hard for him.
Bennet’s been too busy micro managing our lives in Washington to spend much time in Colorado. He has establishment Democrats who depend on government jobs and handouts working for him in every county.
Financial incentives in the form of jobs and expensive government handouts for party hacks will work to Bennet’s advantage, but true believers will work to Buck’s advantage.
LINKS:
www.Rasmussenreports.com.
Bennet versus Buck. Editorial, The Daily Sentinel.
Bennet, Romanoff join hands, shift target to GOP’s Buck. By Michael Booth.
Colorado Dems make nice as contest gets tougher. By Michael Booth.
Can Ken Buck buck the system? By David Cantanese & Jonathan Martin.

Sen. Keith King Chimes In on Colorado Adopting Common Core Standards

by Eddie | 10:23 am, August 13, 2010

Not to spend too much time today dwelling in the past — it’s been 11 days now since the State Board regretfully adopted the Common Core standards — but I felt impelled to bring your attention to a guest column in today’s Denver Post. State senator Keith King, a charter school administrator and education expert, [...]

Rasmussen: John Hickenlooper 43%, Dan Maes 31%, Tom Tancredo 18%

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 10:11 am, August 13, 2010

Governor-elect Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper leads Republican Dan Maes 43% to 31% while American Constitution Party candidate, Tom Tancredo, comes in third with 18% in the latest Rasmussen poll of 750 likely voters in Colorado.
Rasmussen Reports now ranks Colorado “solid Democrat” for governor. Impact graph:
Just 59% of Republican voters in the state now support Maes, while Hickenlooper picks up 82% of voters in his own party. Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, captures 25% of GOP voters. Among voters not affiliated with either party, Hickenlooper earns 35% of the vote, Maes 28% and Tancredo 24%.
Look for that 59% of Republican voters who are supporting Maes to shrink dramatically. Hickenlooper probably will gain among unaffiliateds while Tancredo will gain more support from Republicans as voters learn more about Maes’ fumbles and stumbles during his campaign and when he was in business. Tancredo should gain support as voters learn more about what he wants to do for Colorado. LINK: http://www.rasmussenreports.com.

Hasans give $10,000 to anti-tax initiatives 60, 61 and 101

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:59 am, August 13, 2010

Former Republican candidate for Treasurer of Colorado, Ali Hasan, and his mother have contributed $10,000 of the $12,000 that proponents for Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 have raised, Peter Roper reports. Opponents of the tax cutting measures have raised $4 million, he reports. LINK: Hasans top contributors to state’s anti-tax ballot questions. By Peter Roper. Good story.

Freda Poundstone backs Tom Tancredo, calls Dan Maes a ‘liar’

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:10 am, August 13, 2010

Freda Poundstone was an early supporter of Dan Maes. And she tells the Denver Post that she gave her financially struggling candidate more than $300 in cash so that he could pay his $3,300 mortgage. But she became unhappy with Maes, voted for Scott McInnis and now supports Tom Tancredo for governor. Maes denies that the money was a gift and says it was a campaign contribution. Poundstone says he’s “a liar.” Now, Maes’ campaign is trying to trace the $300 and figure out why it failed to report it as a campaign contribution.
This story shows how a prominent defector can announce her unhappiness with a candidate and her support for his opponent in a way that makes Maes look both careless with money and record keeping and unfit to be governor. Poundstone is a former mayor of Greenwood Village and a long-time lobbyist. In other words, she’s been a political force in Colorado for a long time, and she still knows how insert a knife and twist it.
At the same time, when the Post gave Maes a chance to respond, he put his reputation up against Poundstone’s in a she said he said exchange he couldn’t win. Then Maes clumsily declared the conversation over. Christopher N. Osher shows how a good reporter gives each side their say and lets the reader decide who to believe. 
In this story, Maes loses once again. Like most losers, he will show that he thinks readers are stupid. He will blame the “liberal, biased Denver Post” for his latest embarrassment.
LINK:
Ex-backer of Maes’ says she gave him cash for mortgage help. By Christopher N. Osher.

More financial trouble for Dan Maes

by Rossputin | 8:02 am, August 13, 2010

The Denver Post is reporting that a former supporter of Dan Maes, 83-year old former Greenwood Village mayor Freda Poundstone, is claiming that she gave Maes “more than $300″ to help the gubernatorial candidate with his personal finances.  She claims that Maes said he was behind on his mortgage payment and that several of his friends were helping him financially.

Maes says the $300 was a campaign contribution, which leads to a different problem because Mrs. Poundstone is not listed as a contributor during that time period.  Furthermore, Mrs. Poundstone says she would not make a campaign contribution in cash.

From the Denver Post article:

Poundstone challenged Maes to take a lie-detector test to prove her wrong.

“Anytime anyone wants to challenge my word, I’m willing to go anyplace to take a polygraph,” she said. “I wonder if he’d do the same.”

In case you wonder whether Poundstone supported Maes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlzUoobNU0I (start around 2:30…)

Here’s my take:

This news is another example of both why Maes should get out and why he won’t get out.

Maes’ reaction is stupid.  People already know he’s not a successful businessman.  He should have admitted what the money was (if it was indeed a gift to help with his personal expenses) and he should have said “I’m sacrificing a lot because I want to serve our state and prevent John Hickenlooper from continuing the anti-growth, big-spending, sanctuary state legacy of Bill Ritter.”  Plenty of people would be OK with that, and the people like me who think he’s a weak candidate would just continue to think that.  It doesn’t make him look much worse than he already does – except for people then having to wonder who he’ll owe favors to if he wins, a significant problem for a guy who’s running as not owing loyalty to anyone but the voters.

My reaction is essentially premised on the thought that Poundstone is telling the truth.  If that’s the case, Maes’ denial (beyond just the issue of truthfulness) is one of the worst examples of rookie political naïveté which has already plagued the Maes campaign.

But by saying it was a campaign contribution, he opens himself to some much bigger issues, including another reporting violation and being called a liar by an old woman willing to take a lie detector test.  Yeech.

Aside from the campaign, Dan Maes is broke and unemployed.  This race is his chance to “be somebody”.  Also, assuming he has political ambition, he’ll probably think that he would damage his chances of winning some other race in the future if he drops out…and he’d probably be right.

It’s not so much the issue of the money but the issue of Maes’ reaction to it which is yet the latest piece to drop into the puzzle showing that Dan Maes is not ready to be CEO of a state and that he should get out of this race.  The fact that it’s believable that he needed the money is why he won’t get out.

Hickenlooper 43, Maes 31, Tancredo 18 in Rasmussen’s First Post-Primary Colo. Governor Poll

by Laura Victoria | 7:37 am, August 13, 2010

In the first post-primary Colorado governor’s race poll, Rasmussen reports Republican nominee, Dan Maes, received a higher than expected 31 percent of the votes when pitted against Democrat Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and former Congressman Tom Tancredo, running under the … Continue reading →

Pass the Torch of Freedom

by wesley | 7:01 am, August 13, 2010

It’s Friday, so let’s take a brief break from election politics. While this video focuses on the Second Amendment, it touches on a more important concept. If we spend all of our time focusing on the the anti-liberty legislation, but ignore the anti-liberty generation; if we spend years as pro-liberty activists, but only minutes as [...]

Government Motors moving to become Half-Government Motors

by Rossputin | 5:00 am, August 13, 2010

Goverment Motors, formerly General Motors, is reportedly planning the second-biggest IPO in history, looking to raise up to $16 billion by selling about one fifth of the government’s stake, bringing total government ownership under 50%, according to a Thursday news story by Bloomberg.

We’ll have to do a little math once the deal is priced to guess whether it’s a good buy or a better sale, looking at GM’s total current debt as well as the likelihood of GM’s success with their Chevy Volt electric car (so far seeming rather unimpressive, overpriced at $41,000, and uncompetitive with either other electric cars or with much cheaper conventional gasoline cars.)

The price will also give some clue as to how much money the government, meaning the taxpayers, will lose (or perhaps make, though I’d be a little surprised) on the bailout of GM.  And to be sure, even if the government ends up with a profit, the move was still wrong.

My guess it that GM stock will be eagerly bought up by the public…and that it will be a good (short) sale fairly early on despite the company actually turning a $1.33 billion profit in the second quarter.

That said, perhaps some of the people who flocked to Ford and foreign automakers because of refusal to buy from a government-owned company might reconsider and look at GM vehicles when they need a new car or truck.  I wouldn’t consider it until the government owns zero shares, and even then I probably wouldn’t simply because of how the GM bondholders were raped by the Obama Administration in order to simply give those investors’ interests to the United Auto Workers.

I don’t wish for GM to fail, but I do wish for the UAW to fail on everything except maintaining most of the benefits that its retirees are counting on…in part because the taxpayer will get swamped with that bill if they fail and in part because even as a heartless capitalist I don’t want to see guys who worked a lifetime based on a promise of a decent retirement end up in soup lines and homeless shelters simply because their union bosses and idiot corporate managers failed them.

With a volatile stock market, it will be a most interesting time for GM to launch the second-biggest IPO in US history (the biggest being credit card company Visa).  I think an IPO will be well-received at first, both by investors and by those like me who want the government to get out of owning stock in private companies, or rather to return these companies to being private. However, until the union grip on the company, and even more importantly the Obama Administration grip, is loosened even further, it’s hard to think GM will be a great stock in the long run.

GOP candidates don’t want to be smeared as ‘Dan Maes Republicans’

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 6:50 pm, August 12, 2010

No Colorado Republican candidate who has read The Blueprint or lived through a recent losing legislative campaign will set themselves up to be smeared by Democrats as “Dan Maes Republicans.”
That is, no Republican candidate in this state will endorse or even speak well of the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, Dan Maes, if they know what’s good for them. They need to remember that the Democrats have trackers with video cameras recording everything they say in the hope that they will say something stupid or radical.
An endorsement of Dan Maes will get a GOP candidate on YouTube, and it won’t be pretty.
Dick Wadhams, the chairman of the state GOP, has called Maes a “joke,” according to his friends, Peter Boyles and Tom Tancredo. Since they exposed his opinion of Maes and since the primary, Wadhams hasn’t ventured a kind, supportive word about Maes. He’s just said he supports the party’s candidates. The GOP’s candidate for the U.S. Senate, Ken Buck, already is distancing himself from Maes.
Impact graphs from a Allison Sherry story today:
Buck said he isn’t fretting about appearing too conservative or too close to GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes, who made headlines for comments about Denver’s bike-sharing program being part of a United Nations effort that threatens freedom.
“I don’t have to distance myself from anything,” Buck said. “I am who I am. I haven’t said those things. Those radical statements aren’t attributed to me.”
There are a lot of reasons that smart, ambitious Republicans are staying away from Maes.
A “Dan Maes Republican”:

Puts the GOP ahead of Colorado.
Doesn’t know right from wrong.
Endorses Dan Maes’ refusal to “pander” to moderate Republicans and independents.
Supports Dan Maes’ long campaign effort to con Colorado voters about his business record, which looks pretty dismal.
Winks at incompetence.
Wants to win political power at any cost.
Is willing to live with a governor who doesn’t know how the state government works and doesn’t think he needs to.

The Blueprint; How the Democrats won Colorado and why Republicans EVERYWHERE should care is a powerful book by Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer about how the Republican-controlled legislature infuriated four Colorado billionaires back in 2004 and motivated them to combine their resources to build an unstoppable political machine. That machine really was a coalition of rich liberals and nonprofits that figured out how to destroy even Republicans they liked.
Democrats took over Colorado by investing millions in opposition research, building databases that contain information about the political beliefs and voting records of all registered voters and creating and using huge mailing lists to get their negative messages out to Democrats and independents. They used news releases, numerous direct mail pieces and radio and TV ads as well as emails and blogs to smear and defeat their opponents.
Any Dan Maes Republican will mark herself or himself as another GOP loser and has been. Democrats will smear “Dan Maes Republicans” mercilessly just as they have crushed numerous GOP candidates since 2004. 
Indeed, so far, most of the Republicans who are endorsing Dan Maes are losers, has beens and a few naive Dan Maes groupies. They have nothing to lose, and they don’t seem to understand or care that by endorsing Dan Maes, they’re helping to destroy the GOP.
It makes no sense for GOP candidates to give Democrats more ways to demonize them. By endorsing Dan Maes, GOP candidates and party officials would be buying the rope that Democrats would use to “hang them together.” Not many Republican candidates will do that.
This is my 142nd post about Maes. Search http://www.businessword.com for Maes.
LINKS: 
Getting to know Dan Maes. By Ross Kaminsky.
GOP resources begin sift to Buck as he focuses on Bennet. By Allison Sherry.
Maes treated to silence from GOP after gubernatorial primary win. By Karen E. Crummy and Christofer N. Osher.

Federal Judge Walker Will Lift Stay on Gay Marriages: California May Resume Same-Sex Marriages August 18 – UPDATED With Pdf of Order

by Laura Victoria | 2:04 pm, August 12, 2010

Vaughn Walker, the San Francisco Federal Judge who overturned as unconstitutional California’s voter approved Proposition 8, has now agreed to lift the stay on his ruling effective August 18.  Unless the opponents of same sex marriage obtain an appellate reversal … Continue reading →

A Glimpse at New Schools: SkyView Academy (Highlands Ranch)

by Eddie | 12:17 pm, August 12, 2010

It’s been too long since I’ve taken a glimpse at a new Colorado school. But as the school year fast approaches for most students around the state, it’s definitely time to get back on track.
For the preschool-through-5th grade students at SkyView Academy in Highlands Ranch, a south Denver suburb, the inaugural school year doesn’t [...]

Ken Buck Leads Michael Bennet 46-41 In Rasmussen Colo. Senate Poll

by Laura Victoria | 12:13 pm, August 12, 2010

In the first poll conducted since Colorado’s August 10, 2010 primary, Republican nominee Ken Buck leads appointed Democrat Senator Michael Bennet 46-41 percent, Rasmussen reports.  The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Colorado was conducted on August 11. The margin … Continue reading →

600 degree Temperatures in the Great Lakes?

by Chuck Moe | 11:34 am, August 12, 2010

The ClimateChangeFruad.com website has discovered gross errors in the temperature data recorded by Michigan State University.

Let’s Talk Primaries – Winners and Losers

by Jon Caldara | 10:22 am, August 12, 2010

On this Friday’s Devil’s Advocate, I am joined by Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin and Westword publisher Patty Calhoun to talk about Colorado’s recently decided primary elections. Who won and who lost, and what it all means for voters in November. That’s tomorrow night at 8:30 PM on Colorado Public Television 12. [...]

Scott Gessler campaigns for fair and honest elections

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 8:54 am, August 12, 2010

Republican candidate for Colorado Secretary of State, Scott Gessler, is making his point in a film clip. Link is here. 
http://www.scottgessler.com/

Tom Tancredo says Dan Maes is 3rd party candidate and should quit

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 7:39 am, August 12, 2010

Colorado gubernatorial candidate, Tom Tancredo, is quoted in the Grand Junction Sentinel as saying (apparently on 850 KHOW) that Republican candidate, Dan Maes, is the third party candidate and should consider quitting. This would let a GOP vacancy committee select another Republican to run against Tancredo and Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper. Or it would let Tancredo and Hickenlooper fight it out in a two-way race. Maes is not expected to quit even though very few Republicans are rallying to support him, according to the Denver Post. In an editorial, the Post reiterated its opinion that Maes is unfit to be governor.
GOP state chairman Dick Wadhams told the Sentinel that the 19,000, or 4.8% of the 407,000 Republicans who voted in the Senate primary but not in the gubernatorial primary was “a significant” undervote. Tancredo agreed and told the Sentinel:
“Four hundred thousand people were asking themselves, ‘Who’s the worst one?’” Tancredo said with a hearty laugh. “I’ve never seen a race like this in my life. I wonder how many people were holding their nose and voting. The 20,000 were holding it, but still the smell came through, and the stink was so bad they thought, ‘I can’t do it.’ “
LINKs: 
GOP voter desertion fuels Tancredo. By Charles Ashby.
GOP faces historic upset. By Joe Hanel.
Maes treated to silence from GOP after gubernatorial primary win. By Karen E. Crummy and Christopher N. Osher.
Maes, Buck victories raise questions about GOP unity. By Tom Roeder.
Maes seeks Republican solidarity. By Patrick Malone.
Despite win, Maes not a worthy pick. While Democrats rejected an insurgency in Senate primary, Republicans inexplicably chose Dan Maes in the governor’s race. Denver Post editorial.
Former Arapahoe GOP chair, Nathan Chambrs: Dan Maes unqualified to be governor, in over his head. The Business Word, 8.11.10.
Primary results; voters mostly opt for moderation, good sense. Editorial, The Durango Herald.
What the primary results mean. By Aaron Harber.

Thoughts on Ken Buck and Michael “Who?” Bennet

by Rossputin | 6:15 am, August 12, 2010

Readers of these pages and participants in certain Facebook conversations are well aware that although I had endorsed Jane Norton back in June, I had become disenchanted with her campaign.  The primary is over now and there’s no point in going through specific details of that frustration as I continue to like Jane (and Josh Penry, for that matter) as people and as Colorado conservatives.

Simultaneously, although Ken Buck made a few mistakes on the campaign trail, his ability to pretty much stay positive impressed me.  Much more than that, however, was the rare policy division between Ken and Jane near the end of the campaign on the subject of Afghanistan.

Playing the “double down” theme, as Jane did, was an obvious play/pander for GOP base voters whom Norton must (correctly) have thought she was losing, leading to the somewhat desperate move to invite John McCain to stump for her in the waning hours of the campaign.  I like Jane, but “double down” and McCain are mistakes.

Ken, on the other hand, argued for much more limited, achievable goals in Afghanistan, something I greatly appreciated not just because I think it’s smarter policy but also because it wasn’t playing to the base just to reinforce conservative credentials.

One might argue that Ken was actually playing a game, but his game was playing to the middle for the general election.  There might be some of that, which we may also have seen in his walking away from Tom Tancredo’s words about Barack Obama being America’s greatest threat.  But given that nobody really thought (despite the poll result Buck’s campaign released) that Buck was untouchably ahead in the race, and given that Republicans tend to greatly fear looking strong (and equate being aggressive with being strong), Ken’s Afghanistan policy statements were courageous.

I was reminded of this by hearing appointed Senator Michael “Who?” Bennet who made some noise about Buck running an extreme campaign; I don’t have the exact words, but something like “on the fringe of the Republican Party”.  This is the same Michael Bennet whose winning vote count in his primary left him getting even fewer votes than the rather pathetic Scott McInnis in his losing bid in a 5% undervoted governor’s primary, and more than 14% fewer votes than Ken Buck received in the GOP primary.)

I think Bennet will have a VERY hard time selling “Buck is an extremist” to Colorado.

A 9News interview shows how remarkably out of touch he is: “This idea of liberal verses conservative, Republican verses Democrat, spy verses spy, I don’t know what it is, but that’s not the way the people of Colorado are thinking, I don’t think that’s the way the American people are thinking. They want us to cooperate and get something done and stop fighting.”

Ummm, no, Michael, that’s wrong.  Completely, utterly, ridiculously wrong.

The American people are absolutely thinking about liberal versus conservative, then secondarily Republican versus Democrat, as you and your puppet masters tear apart this country.  Even the idiot bankers who gave so much money to Barack Obama are turning against the Democrats, having learned the lesson of frog and the scorpion with “Progressives” and the Obama Administration playing the scorpion.

The American people also are sick and tired of politicians “cooperating”. At least right now, they like the “Party of No” and the most hated Republicans, at least among Republicans and probably many conservative-leaning unaffiliated voters, are the RINOs from Maine who provide the margin of victory on almost any Democrat initiative which passes the Senate these days, including the outrageous bailout of teachers’ unions paid for with our tax money and cuts to food stamps.  Of course, Bennet was for that too.  The problem with the fighting in the Senate is that there isn’t enough of it.

In addition to staking out a rational position on Afghanistan, Ken’s relatively soft-spoken tone, at least compared to the shrillness from Jane’s campaign in recent weeks, will make it harder to portray him as an extreme sort of guy.

And, as I mentioned in a note yesterday, Ken’s performance in areas with a high percentage of Hispanic voters is a remarkable insight into how Hispanic citizens feel about dealing with illegal immigration and its negative externalities.

The only reason it’s not incredibly easy to portray Michael Bennet as “extreme” is that nobody really knows what he believes in or what he stands for.  So instead of trying to portray him as a radical leftist, which he probably isn’t, Buck should portray Bennet as a puppet of Obama and Schumer and Reid; when their fingers move, his mouth does.  In a time when the state and nation are desperate for adult supervision, for real leadership, Michael Bennet has shown himself to be incapable of providing either.

That’s why Ken Buck is going to beat Bennet by a bigger margin than Bennet beat Romanoff with the one huge caveat that Buck will need to be able to raise more than half, and probably 3/4 of the money that Bennet raises in order to do beat him soundly.

McCain-Palin Fail Again

by Ari Armstrong | 12:08 am, August 12, 2010

In 2008, Colorado voters went with Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin by a margin of 54 to 45 percent. John McCain and Sarah Palin haven’t found much political success here in 2010, either.In the Third Congressional, Sarah Palin endorsed Bob McConnell over …

Primary Results – Tea Party flexes some muscle

by Lesley Hollywood | 7:40 pm, August 11, 2010

United States Senate – Republican Ken Buck:  209,967 – 52% Jane Norton:  197,143 – 48% United States Senate – Democrat Michael F Bennet:  183,521 – 54% Andrew Romanoff:  155,061 – 46% Governor – Republican Dan Maes:  196,560 – 51% Scott McInnis:  191,209 – 49% State Treasurer – Republican Walker Stapleton:  180,383 – 51% J.J. Ament:  [...]

New CO governor poll shows no real path to victory for conservative candidate

by Rossputin | 3:00 pm, August 11, 2010

[Update: Astute reader Jeremy points out that this joke of a group put out the poll today but did the survey before the primary.  Just goes to highlight what I said in the original note about bias from a Dem polling firm.  Still, I think that there is very little way Hick loses this thing, unfortunately.)

Public Policy Polling, which is a Democrat polling organization for purposes of considering possible bias in their results, has put out the first poll of the Colorado governor’s race following yesterday’s primary.  (They also predicted McInnis and Norton to win just the day before the election…)

The poll, which you can read HERE, shows Hickenlooper beating Maes 50-38 in a two-way race, with 12% undecided, and Hickenlooper getting 48% in a three-way race, versus 23% for Maes and 22% for Tancredo.

Hickenlooper has a 50%-33% favorable-unfavorable balance, whereas both Maes and Tancredo are on the other side of that scale, at 23% favorable and 38% unfavorable for Maes and 27% favorable and 50% unfavorable for Tancredo.

If anything, this sentence from the poll results cements the election’s fate: “Independents like Hickenlooper by a 47-30 margin, but they dislike the other two by 17-41 and 24-47 margins, respectively. “

While the favorable-unfavorable numbers for Maes and Tancredo sound too negative to me, the overall result of the poll in terms of the likely election results strike me as very reasonable, very much along the lines of what I would predict at this point in time.

In short, unless either Tancredo or Maes gets out – an unlikely proposition at this point – there is no path to victory for anyone but Hickenlooper.

Spending Revolt Tour Coming to a Town Near You!

by Jon Caldara | 2:13 pm, August 11, 2010

If you’re anything like me (and unless your balding and dyslexic you’re not), you hate out of control government spending and love buses. What happens when you combine a hatred of government spending and a love of pure American gas-guzzlers with luxurious bench seating?  The Spending Revolt Bus Tour! The bus tour is hitting [...]

Michael Bennet Wrong for Colorado site launched

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 12:04 pm, August 11, 2010

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has launced a new web site: Michael Bennet: Wrong for Colorado. Link is here.
Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund, which helped fund Ken Buck’s primary run, has posted its endorsement of Buck here.
Buck for Colorado is here.

Fox News personality Greg Gutfeld wants to open a gay bar next to Ground Zero mosque

by Rossputin | 11:13 am, August 11, 2010

Love it…let’s see the Mosque founders accept “tolerance” as they suggest we do for them…

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6983

and

http://www.dailygut.com/?i=4696

He’s a very naughty boy; Ethics charges announced against Maxine Waters

by Rossputin | 11:08 am, August 11, 2010

Ultra-leftist Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) faces three ethics charges (see official Ethics Committee document HERE) related to her attempt to get federal bailout money directed to a bank, OneUnited, in which her husband, Sidney Williams, was an investor.  The value of Williams’ ownership had dropped from over $350,000 at the end of June, 2008, to $175,000 in September, 2008, after the government put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into “conservatorship” (because OneUnited had substantial investments in FNM and FRE-backed securities.)  Williams had also been a member of the bank’s Board of Directors.

Please read the rest of my thoughts on the subject in my article for the American Spectator:
See “A Grandmother on Trial“, Ross Kaminsky, AmSpec, 8/11/10
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/11/a-grandmother-on-trial

My prediction: The committee will find Waters guilty of these charges and give her a mild slap on the wrist which she will grandiosely refuse to accept or acknowledge. She will proclaim herself a “victim” of the system, using barely concealed racist language, and she’ll become even more popular among her South Central Los Angeles voting base.

CSAP Scores Get Little Attention, But Call For Expanding School Reform Approach

by Eddie | 10:41 am, August 11, 2010

Yesterday morning the Colorado Department of Education unveiled the latest CSAP (state assessment) results. It’s hard to believe: in the past these events attracted a lot of fanfare. But for the most recent announcement, I missed the brass band and confetti. Maybe because there wasn’t any.
And that doesn’t take into account the fact the release [...]

Former Arapahoe GOP chair, Nathan Chambers: Dan Maes unqualified to be governor, in over his head

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:31 am, August 11, 2010

After Cliff Dodge resigned this morning as president of the Arapahoe County Republican Mens club to run Tom Tancredo’s gubernatorial campaign, another former president of the club and a former chairman of the Arapahoe County Republican Party, Nathan Chambers, declared that he thinks the GOP’s candidate, Dan Maes, is in over his head and unqualified to be governor of Colorado. Chambers is a highly regarded GOP activist and observer. Several Colorado editorial pages and conservative bloggers, including me, agree with Chambers.
But many elected Republicans and officers of the state and various county Republican parties are lining up behind Dan Maes despite questions about his ethics and competence as a businessman and candidate for governor. They are more concerned about the party and put the party above any concerns about a candidate’s competence and integrity. 
Mort Marks, a wealthy member of the Arapahoe County and state Republican establishment, backed both Scott McInnis and Jane Norton in yesterday’s primaries. They lost and Marks announced that he will support all Republicans, including Maes and U.S. Senate candidate, Ken Buck. Susan Beckman, an Arapahoe County commissioner and co-chair of McInnis’ campaign in the county, urged activists to vote a straight party line ticket. She irrationally demonized the Denver Post for exposing McInnis’ lies, plagiarism and incompetence. Blaming the liberal Denver Post and media was McInnis line of defense against his plagiarism scandal, but it failed to keep him from being tromped by some 5,000 votes in the primary.
While several people spoke up for Tom Tancredo at this morning’s breakfast, we clearly were out numbered by long-time activists who failed to get the message from Republican primary voters yesterday.
Simply put, more people who, like state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams, consider McInnis “untrustworthy” voted against him than the people who, like Wadhams, consider Maes a “joke”, voted against Maes. I doubt many Republicans voted for McInnis or Maes or were enthusiastic about either guy.
One indication of the lack of GOP support for Maes and McInnis is that a huge 5% of people who voted in the GOP’s senate primary did not vote for either Maes or McInnis. Some of us could not vote for the lesser evil. We couldn’t vote for incompetence or men who are unfit to be governor.
The Colorado GOP leaders are badly out of touch with Colorado Republican voters. And they’re even more out of touch with independents who will decide the election. 
It will take a few credible polls to convince the GOP activists and sugar daddies who support Maes that he has no chance and that they need to get behind Tom Tancredo.

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