Midweek Update: Governor Hickenlooper, AG Suthers seek dismissal of ‘political’ anti-TABOR lawsuit (Fenster’s Folly)

by CTBC Director | 4:11 pm, August 17, 2011

Predictably (indeed, Clear The Bench Colorado predicted both motion and grounds almost three months ago), Governor Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers filed a Motion to Dismiss the anti-TABOR lawsuit (”Fenster’s Folly“) this week, noting that the lawsuit raises a ”political question” rather than a legal issue and is therefore (as the U. S. Supreme Court [...]

The Food Stamp Panacea

by Jon Caldara | 1:42 pm, August 17, 2011

Remember Whitehouse press secretary Jay Carney and his ridiculous statement about paying the unemployed and how that “stimulated” the economy? Well, agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack tried to one-up Mr. Carney earlier today. Watch this video (and try not to roll your eyes. I dare you):

Ok, so now food stamps are the most direct way to [...]

Four Takes on the Phi Delta Kappa Education Poll: Pretty Darn Klever, Huh?

by Eddie | 11:52 am, August 17, 2011

It was to my youthful bemusement that today I ran across several edublog postings about a new “PDK” poll. PDK? At first I wondered that might stand for: Pretty Darn Klever? (or Kute?) Maybe Precociously Delightful Kid? (Guess they weren’t really talking about me, though….)
It’s actually the 43rd Phi Delta Kappa poll of American opinion [...]

CEA Officially Supports Job Killing Tax Hikes

by PerlStalker | 7:04 am, August 17, 2011

It comes as no surprise that the Colorado Education Association is supporting state Senator Rollie Heath’s job killing tax hikes. The CEA never saw a tax hike it didn’t like.

Despite their tax happy ways, the CEA is being cautious. They were “neutral…

Yet Another Court Voids Obamacare’s Insurance Mandates | Our American Constitution

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, August 17, 2011

Independence Institute constitutional scholar Rob Natelson comments on the Eleventh Circuit ruling the individual mandate in Obamacare to be unconstitutional.

Still skeptical about Rick Perry

by Rossputin | 5:28 am, August 17, 2011

After being in the race for two days, Texas Governor Rick Perry is polling ahead of former front-runner Mitt Romney and trading ahead of him as well on InTrade.com.

Yesterday, Rasmussen reported that Perry had a 29% to 18% lead over Romney among likely Republican voters they polled. Michele Bachmann was third at 13%, which is behind the undecided at 16%.

And over at InTrade.com, Rick Perry is trading around 38% to be the GOP nominee while Mitt Romney is trading about 30%.

It’s exciting, as someone who wants Barack Obama to lose his next election, to think that there’s an appealing, principled, intelligent, electable Republican candidate. Clearly, many people think that’s what Rick Perry is.

And he may well be, but I am as yet unconvinced.

As someone said to me, Fred Thompson never looked better than the day before he officially entered the presidential race. After that, his rapid flame-out was almost hard to watch.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Perry follows a similar trajectory, if for different reasons.

Let’s compare Perry and Romney for a second. (Sorry, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul fans, I just don’t think they have the horsepower, and I wouldn’t support Ron Paul anyway given his answer about Iran on Thursday night and other disqualifying errors of his foreign policy views.)

Perry is, to the Republican base, at least initially appealing. He seems principled on many issues, not least the 10th Amendment, but also has some serious Achilles heel issues, including immigration. As far as intelligence, it’s too early to tell, but I have to say I don’t come away from hearing him lately thinking “that guy has a big brain.” And then comes electable, and this is where I think Perry may be extremely vulnerable. He may be the worst mix of Fred Thompson and Sarah Palin, by which I mean that in 2008 there were quite a few moderate Republicans and independent voters who were so turned off by Palin that they voted for Barack Obama. (I was so turned off by McCain that I voted Libertarian.)

Romney is much less appealing to the Republican base. He seems less principled on certain issues, both because he’s known to have changed his views and because of his role in passing Romneycare. I don’t think there’s any doubt as to his intelligence; he’s clearly smarter than Perry (but not as smart as Gingrich.) And then comes electable, and this is where I think Romney has an advantage over Rick Perry. Romney doesn’t generate great enthusiasm among the GOP base and the Tea Party – yet. But if it becomes clear to voters who, whether Republican or independent, want Obama out that Romney can beat him but Perry can’t, how will GOP primary voters fall?

A recent Gallup poll shows Republicans care more about electability than full agreement on policy. Furthermore, that view was more common among conservatives than among moderates, and conservatives are the vast majority of primary and caucus participants. So, the Romney vs Perry calculus goes, or may go, like this: Is Romney so much more electable than Perry that we’re willing to go with a guy in whom we have somewhat less confidence that he’ll uphold our conservative principles?

During the Thursday debates in Iowa, Romney didn’t stick his foot in his mouth. And other than one recent comment about corporations being people – a comment I agree with and which was the basis of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision – he’s giving the left-wing media very little to work with to beat him up, though they’re just getting started.

Perry, on the other hand, begins his campaign by calling Ben Bernanke “almost treasonous“, or more precisely that Bernanke would be that if he “printed more money.” Perry speaks like someone who hasn’t a clue about the Fed, and I say that as someone who thinks Bernanke is doing a terrible job and a terrible disservice to the nation and the world by enabling our big-spending government. I’m not looking to defend Helicopter Ben. When asked again, Perry stood by his comment, adding that he is “passionate about the issue.” Really? Even people who are passionate about Federal Reserve Bank issues aren’t passionate about them. Is Perry’s style going to be “passionate” about everything, so he can out-passion Mitt Romney (not that that’s an incredibly difficult task)?

Perry also has made most of his news in the weeks prior to his official entry into the race by praying. This is simply no way to win over the critical independent block of voters, though smarter political minds than mine (such as Tony Blankley on my radio show the other night) said that Perry’s strategy there is smart: the overt religiosity, particularly it being non-Mormon may make him more likely to get the GOP nomination, but it’s far enough away from the general election that nobody will remember it by then.

I’ll remember it, though, and as much as some of my religious Christian friends won’t like it, I’m turned off by his combination of overt religiosity and political campaigning. I don’t need to hear about a “loving and perfect god (who) is also a personal god” from a man who seems at least as home playing preacher as playing governor.

Let me be clear: I often support Christian conservative candidates with my vote and with donations. But there’s something about Perry’s aggressive preaching – and that’s what his Prayer Rally was to me – which I think is just fine for a citizen, and perhaps even for a governor, but unseemly in a would-be president.

Again, I know many people will disagree with me.

If you’re one who disagrees with me, let’s put aside our personal views on religion and even on the proper public involvement of a politician with religion for a minute and allow me to pose a question: What’s more important to you, beating Barack Obama or having an evangelical Protestant commander-in-chief?

If it’s the former, then this issue better concern you because Perry will turn off independent voters in droves with his prayers, his hyperbolic statements, and, like it or not, his drawl, which sounds like a slightly drunk love child of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Lest it be said that I’m a shill for Mitt Romney, let me point out two articles I wrote for the American Spectator, one preferring Mitch Daniels to Romney and another pointing out Tim Pawlenty’s policy advantages over Romney. (I am a big Daniels fan, not such much with Pawlenty, and my article was written before Pawlenty’s disastrous first GOP debate.) I have not endorsed anyone in this race, despite being leaned on here by close friends who are Romney supporters; I have kept my powder dry.

Romney is an uninspiring candidate on many levels, but he has the best economic credentials in the field and that’s the most important issue facing the electorate today. For me, in this election season, electable is itself inspiring.

Yes, Texas has created a tremendous number of new jobs and yes, Perry gets a bit of the credit. But I don’t think Perry will be able to explain it well enough. I think he may come across as, in part, the recipient of a happy accident of happening to be in Texas when things other than his leadership, such as high energy prices, were the primary drivers of job growth. Again, I’m not downplaying the success of Texas or even the success of Perry, but I do think Romney will likely still make a clearer case that he understands business and economics better than Perry does. Romney will offer soothing but aggressive competence; Perry will, if recent days are any clue, offer bombast.

Bombast usually doesn’t win elections, though it did in 2008’s remarkable conditions. But people realize that voting for the big talker really hurt them last time. They’re not going to want a literal and figurative cowboy, at least the independent voters won’t. And do people really want another Texas governor after the Bush fatigue of 2006-2008?

So that takes me back to my main question: If GOP voters come to believe that nobody outside the GOP base would vote for Rick Perry, and that therefore an Obama victory is more likely than not with a Perry nomination, will the GOP base hold its collective nose and nominate the probably-more-electable Mitt Romney.

I don’t know, but I think that the out-of-the-gate betting odds on Perry are too high. He shouldn’t be 8 points ahead of Romney. It’s too far until the election, too many debates still to come, and it’s hard to see how Mitt Romney doesn’t have an advantage in those debates, though they both have about equally great hair.

I’m open to hearing what Rick Perry has to say, but if he keeps coming across like a preacher more than a president, a cowboy more than a competent executive, then in a two-man race with Romney, I’ll support Romney. My singular political goal is the defeat of Barack Obama so that he doesn’t get four more years to defeat America. So, among the current GOP field (but not including Ron Paul) I’ll support whom I believe to be the most electable Republican, period.

Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Colorado Voter Registration: A Look Into the Numbers, Part 2–Colorado’s Gender Gap

by elpresidente | 5:06 am, August 17, 2011

First, a flashback to a report I wrote for National Review Online just after the November 2010 election, when I took a deeper look at Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s razor-thin victory over Ken Buck just a month after the Republican appeared to be growing his lead on the incumbent. The GOP scratched its collective head [...]

7/31 Backbone Radio Pt1 – Debrief on the Western Conservative Summit

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 9:00 pm, August 16, 2011

On Sunday, August 31, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour One of the program, Jimmy gives his take and fields two excited calls on the Western Conser…

7/31 Backbone Radio Pt2 – Walker Stapleton on the debt ceiling fight, national debt and PERA’s troubles

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 7:00 pm, August 16, 2011

On Sunday, August 31, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour Two of the program, Walker Stapleton, Colorado State Treasurer, gives his take on the debt…

7/31 Backbone Radio Pt3 – Andrew Struttman, Colorado College Republican Vice-Chair

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 5:00 pm, August 16, 2011

On Sunday, August 31, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour Three of the program, Jimmy sits down with Andrew Struttman, acting Vice-Chair of the Color…

Heath’s tax increase: It’ll go to the kids…right?

by Kelly Maher | 4:53 pm, August 16, 2011

Colorado state Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, is pushing a $3 billion tax increase onto the ballot for “education” funding. But assuming you even wanted such a tax increase (and I don’t) what are the assurances it would actually go for education?

Dougco Choice Injunction: What Now for Families? Who All Will Appeal?

by Eddie | 4:00 pm, August 16, 2011

My Education Policy Center friends told you the judge’s decision last Friday to put the brakes on the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program would create a lot of chaos for families. That’s the question of the hour: What are the more than 300 students who had received scholarships (and some had already started schools) going [...]

What We’re Up To

by Jon Caldara | 3:23 pm, August 16, 2011

Few things I want to highlight real quick:
Editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette Wayne Laugesen was kind enough to write a little blurb about and link to the show we did a couple weeks ago. We talked about the horribly fallacious campaign to smear the Springs with deputy director of the Colorado chapter [...]

Leave Breast Pumping to Contracts, Social Pressure

by Ari Armstrong | 9:43 am, August 16, 2011

Did the Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen, a tax-funded Colorado charter school, decline to renew a teaching contract for Heather Burgbacher because she pumped breast milk at work? That’s the allegation of the ACLU (and a one-sided story from 7News)….

Interesting Bedfellows – Giuliani – Perry?

by Mr. Bob | 8:03 am, August 16, 2011

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to mull the possibility of a 2012 presidential bid, but his true power in the race may come if he decides against running and instead throws his support to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The two men are good …

Easy for you to say

by Rossputin | 6:23 am, August 16, 2011

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/16/its-easy-for-you-to-say

In a Monday op-ed in the New York Times, billionaire Warren Buffett called on Congress to “stop coddling the super-rich [and] … raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains.” That’s easy for Buffett to say, now that he has about $50 billion to his name. But beyond the gall of a billionaire wanting to make it harder for everyone else to get rich, Buffett’s arguments range from misleading to ridiculous.

Please read the rest of my article for the American Spectator in its entirety at:
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/16/its-easy-for-you-to-say

Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Steamboat Institue 3rd Annual Freedom Conference

by Rossputin | 6:22 am, August 16, 2011

http://www.steamboatinstitute.org/freedom-conference-2011-2/conference-registration/

For my Colorado readers (or anyone ready to travel here on short notice) who are lovers of liberty and free markets, if you don’t already have plans this weekend, I urge you to register for and attend the Steamboat Institute’s Third Annual Freedom Conference taking place this Friday and Saturday, August 19th and 20th in Steamboat Springs.

The conference, which started like the little brother of the Leadership Program of the Rockies’ Annual Retreat, is now closer to the twin brother.

It’s a tremendous event with fabulous speakers such as, this year, Jonah Goldberg, Tony Blankley, Steve Moore, Ambassador James Glassman, and many others.

You can find more information about the event and go to online registration here:
http://www.steamboatinstitute.org/freedom-conference-2011-2/conference-registration/

The Steamboat Grand hotel, one of my favorite Colorado hotels, has great rooms for the event. If you come out this weekend, I recommend you ask about the rates for one of their “condo” style rooms which have a separate kitchen and living room, with a door or doors leading to the bedroom or bedrooms. Steamboat is a great town because it’s a real town, not just a ski resort. Lots of cool shops, good food, and nice people.

I hope you’ll come on out to the conference, say hi to me, and meet and great people famous and not so famous who share our passion for defending and expanding liberty in the United States. You’ll leave smarter, happier, and charged up to get out and fight for our ever-contracting freedom.

Again, check out the event information at http://www.steamboatinstitute.org/freedom-conference-2011-2/conference-registration/

Registration will close tomorrow afternoon, so don’t delay in your signing up!

Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Colorado short on primary care docs, “reform” will make ER over-crowding worse

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, August 16, 2011

Colorado’s overcrowded ERs to get worse with Obamacare because of lack of primary care doctors. In the Wall Street Journal, John Goodman explains how Medicare’s price controls contribute to this problem, and what to do about it.

7/24 Backbone Radio Pt1 – Monologues and phone calls on the economy and debt ceiling debate

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 7:00 pm, August 15, 2011

On Sunday, August 24, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour One of the show Jimmy analyzes the debt ceiling debate and state of the economy when the is…

7/24 Backbone Radio Pt2 – John Andrews and Randy Corporon

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 5:00 pm, August 15, 2011

On Sunday, August 24, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour Two of the show Jimmy talks with John Andrews, former Colorado Senate President, about his …

After Injunction, What’s Next for Douglas County?

by Jon Caldara | 3:46 pm, August 15, 2011

Last week a Denver District court judge ruled to stop the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program (voucher program). Education Policy Center director Pam Benigno spoke with Douglas County School District board president John Carson this morning on iVoices.org. Take a listen to this iVoices podcast to hear how the school district is dealing with the [...]

7/24 Backbone Radio Pt3 – Randy Corporon & Sarah Anderson on the Tea Party-Establishment Divide

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 3:00 pm, August 15, 2011

On Sunday, August 24, former Regis University radio host Jimmy Sengenberger filled in once again for Ross Kaminsky on Newstalk 710 KNUS’s Backbone Radio.In Hour Three of the show, Jimmy discusses the divide between Tea Party and establishment with R…

Perhaps Parent Trigger Debate Can Take My Mind Off Bad School Choice News

by Eddie | 2:31 pm, August 15, 2011

Many of you know what the big education news around here is. I’m still reeling, and it hurts too much to talk about it. So at least for today, while the emotional wounds are raw, I want to bring your attention to something else you may find of interest.
Not long ago I told you about [...]

Colorado Springs is No Failed City

by Jon Caldara | 1:24 pm, August 15, 2011

The Colorado Springs Gazette’s editorial page editor Wayne Laugesen and Sean Paige, deputy director of Americans for Prosperity Colorado, join me to tell you why the smear campaign against Colorado Springs was just a ton of hot air.

Is Rick Perry the next winner or the next Fred Thompson?

by Rossputin | 6:43 am, August 15, 2011

It’s obviously too early to make a judgment, despite Rick Perry surging to a 36% chance of getting the Republican nomination, according to bettors at InTrade.com, versus Romney’s 30%. Is Rick Perry the real deal? Can he translate his Texas electoral success into a national campaign?

Or are Republicans momentarily colored by the hope for a candidate they can really get behind, much as many were about Fred Thompson in 2008, only to soon realize that there wasn’t very much “there” there?

I can’t say I have an opinion yet, which is odd for me.

I hope Perry is for real, primarily because I hope for a Republican candidate who is both principled and electable. He may be more of both than Mitt Romney, but the latter is certainly a question in the general election.

Will the masses go for a guy who makes as much news for being religious as for anything else – even if playing up his “prayer rally” is the left-leaning media’s way to try to poison the well for Perry in the less religious or even anti-religious bastions of New York, San Francisco, and Boulder?

I think the common wisdom of the moment is correct: At least initially, Perry and Bachmann are fighting for the same voters, fighting for the chance to be the anti-Romney Republican.

Meanwhile Mitt Romney stays mostly above the fray, even ignoring attacks against his record during Thursdays Republican debate in Iowa, instead reminding voters of his private sector business record and taking jabs at Barack Obama such as “in order to create jobs, it’s helpful to have had a job.”

Perry’s entrance into the race is a disaster – or at least a setback – for Michele Bachmann whose betting odds were barely changed after winning the Ames Straw Poll even while coming in third in the poll was enough to force former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty out of the race.

Other thoughts: Herman Cain’s fifth place finish, behind Rick Santorum, should cause Cain to get out of the race unless he just wants to stay in because he wants to hear his own voice, or thinks we really need to hear his voice. I like Cain but he’s not ready for prime time. I wouldn’t mind if he took a few years to bone up on things and tried again in the future, much as Sarah Palin might be doing (though I maintain confidence that I’ll win my bet that she won’t run in 2012, which probably means she’ll never run for president.)

I simply don’t like Rick Santorum. His statement that the 10th Amendment should not stop the federal government for intruding on federalism when a moral issue is involved is anathema to me, and I think it would be anathema to the Founders.

Ron Paul’s statement that we shouldn’t do anything about Iran’s trying to get a nuclear weapon is in character with a guy who said we should have told the Pakistanis before going to get Osama bin Laden. In other words, he’s not just wrong, he’s dangerously, irredeemably, unforgivable wrong on foreign policy.

It’s likely that this will end up a Perry vs. Romney race unless there’s a bombshell against Perry, leaving it a Bachmann vs. Romney race. The WSJ ran a fairly brutal piece by Charles Dameron about Perry this weekend entitled “Rick Perry’s Crony Capitalism Problem” basically saying that companies which donated, or whose owners donated, to Perry’s campaign then received big investments from a state-run venture capital firm. It’s a damning charge and one Perry better deal with right away. Even a slight odor of corruption could easily end his campaign very quickly.

Meantime, Mitt Romney better figure out how to defend himself against charges that he’s simply not a real conservative. It’s an attack which could potentially help him with independent voters if he gets to the general election, but it’s too big a risk to let those statements go unchallenged. Not only could it easily cost him the nomination, but being shown as not genuine, not consistently conservative could easily hurt him with independents almost as much as with the GOP base.

My take on this election, like several past elections, is that it’s about autheniticity. If voters are voting for spenders, they’ll vote for the professional spenders, the Democrats. If they’re voting for restraining the size and cost of government, they’ll vote Republican, even though the GOP has not been solidly for limited government for years, because the Democrats still, even now, argue for more spending and taxes. This is the Coca-Cola election: voters want “the real thing.”

Is Rick Perry “the real thing?” If he can convince voters that he is, he’ll be our next president. For now, it’s too soon to tell.

Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Health Insurance Exchanges: A Race To the Bottom

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, August 15, 2011

The problem is that the actual insurance that health plans offer may be fairly lousy — perhaps just a little better than the typical managed care plan offered under Medicaid. That’s because of the way these insurance products are going to be regulated, and the way they will be priced under the federal scheme.

Colorado Voter Registration: A Look Into the Numbers, Part 1–Surging Independents

by elpresidente | 5:10 am, August 15, 2011

Over the next few days I’ll be conducting a little “inside baseball” look at voter registration numbers, turnout, historical trends, and a variety of other factors that will play a big role in determining both the course of action that both Republicans and Democrats take over the next 15 months as they battle to determine [...]

Waterloo II

by Joshua Sharf | 12:44 am, August 15, 2011

I’ll have some further thoughts about tonight’s first contact between enemy forces in Waterloo, but for now, here’s the raw sound of Gov. Perry and Rep. Bachmann. I thought Perry spoke well, got a little lost during the Q&A, but finished well. And I thought Bachmann connected well with people, showed why she’s such an [...]

Waterloo

by Joshua Sharf | 4:47 pm, August 14, 2011

For this evening, Waterloo, IA is the center of the Republican political universe. It wouldn’t have been 2 weeks ago, but this happens to Iowa towns with some regularity, so they handle it well. The Black Hawk County Republicans have done a nice job handling the plague of locusts reporters who have descended on the [...]