Two of my good drinking buddies, libertarian Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine and social conservative Ann Coulter agree on one thing:  I’m a lot funnier after a glass of scotch. What else can we all agree on this year? Find out at our 27th Annual Founders’ Night Dinner! We will have a spirited “can’t we all get along” style debate between Nick and Ann.

This year we are holding the event on Thursday, February 16th at Infinity Park in Glendale. You can click here to buy tickets online. Or call Mary MacFarlane at 303-279-6536, ext 102 or email her at Mary@i2i.org.

In addition to featuring Nick Gillespie and Ann Coulter that night, we’ll be honoring Colorado’s most famous businessman Jake Jabs – President and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse!

“‘I think there is a legitimate argument that it’s in the national interest to build the pipeline,’ said Udall, adding that it’s important that the administration work with Nebraska to find the right route before approving the Keystone project.”

Udall pointed to partisanship surrounding the Keystone XL project as the reason for its failure to receive a permit.

“It speaks to the fact that the Keystone XL debate has been infused with presidential politics, partisan politics, and has not had enough to do with the discussion of how do we truly become energy self-reliant,” said Udall.

But this stands in contrast to an earlier 2009 project the administration did back–and touted:

More than two years ago, on Aug. 20, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton approved a 1,000-mile pipeline that has the capacity to send 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s oil sands to Wisconsin. That pipeline is owned by the Canadian company Enbridge and began operating in October 2010.

What the U.S. Department of State had to say when the 2009 pipeline received approval:

“The Department found that the addition of crude oil pipeline capacity between Canada and the United States will advance a number of strategic interests of the United States. These included increasing the diversity of available supplies among the United States’ worldwide crude oil sources in a time of considerable political tension in other major oil producing countries and regions; shortening the transportation pathway for crude oil supplies; and increasing crude oil supplies from a major non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries producer. Canada is a stable and reliable ally and trading partner of the United States, with which we have free trade agreements which augment the security of this energy supply.

Approval of the permit sends a positive economic signal, in a difficult economic period, about the future reliability and availability of a portion of United States’ energy imports, and in the immediate term, this shovel-ready project will provide construction jobs for workers in the United States.”

Sen. Udall’s conclusions about legitimate arguments to be made that building a pipeline like Keystone XL represents a “national interest” simply corroborates the State Department’s own conclusions from 2009.

It would appear, however, that the administration is doing quite well playing presidential and partisan politics in the Keystone XL debate, placing political expediency–satisfying economic and strategic concerns in 2009 while favoring environmental arguments in 2011-12–above legitimate national interests when it comes to energy independence and economic growth.

In 2008, Romney romped with more than 60 percent of the vote, besting runner-up Sen. John McCain by more than 40 points.

Gingrich’s drop in support mirrors his 33 point decline in favorability, while Santorum’s surge closely tracks not only a positive favorability, but an edge over Romney among self-described Tea Party (35-34), Evangelical (37-30), and “very conservative” voters (38-29).

There is a considerable amount of volatility to the the poll, with PPP noting that 33 percent of those surveyed saying they could change their minds between the time of the poll and Tuesday, February 7. However, with those that are more firmly committed, Romney holds a 45 to 25 advantage over his second place rival, and also possesses large leads among seniors (43 to 23) and “somewhat conservative” Republican voters (51 to 19) over Santorum.

Updates as we pour through the crosstabs. The poll was conducted February 4, with 527 likely Republican caucus voters.

Stay Tuned for February!
We are already organizing events for February 7 to Occupy the Colorado Caucus and February 29 to show solidarity with Occupy Portland’s Shut Down the Corporations action. More details will be available soon.

Lacking details, it is unclear whether this will be a coordinated state-wide effort, of if small groups will pick and choose from publicly announced locations to drop in and, well, do whatever sort of “occupying” they see fit.

Screen-cap for posterity:

Are you ready for 2012, digitally speaking? People’s Press Collective announces “Digital Fundamentals” classes and seminars. ***Detailed Registration Information below***

What: PPC Digital Fundamentals training course
Where: New offices of Independence Institute
When: January 21 and January 28, 2012 from 9am-12noon (and more to come)
Cost: FREE
MUST RSVP by email to: services-at-peoplespresscollective-dot-org (Facebook RSVP does not count)

PPC is kicking off the year with an entirely new set of training classes and seminars–we’ve updated and retooled our presentations to bring you up-to-speed on the latest online tactics for liberty-minded digital activists.

Incorporating the latest developments in new and social media, while relying on our firm grasp of proven online strategies, we’ve rebuilt the digital curriculum to target both beginners just exploring the world of digital activism and those—like our own PPC alumni—who are ready to click their way to the next step online. We strongly encourage our PPC camp alumni to attend again–things have changed since 2009 (heck, they changed on us in the past couple weeks with Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ feature!).

Partnering with the Independence Institute and American Majority, we are able to offer the trainings at no cost to you through our “digital scholarships”!

Our first two dates for the “Digital Fundamentals” classes have been announced: Saturday, January 21 and Saturday, January 28, both from 9am – 12pm, at the new offices of the Independence Institute in Denver. In this class we’ll take a look at the basics of blogging/citizen journalism, and focus on the biggest tools in the social media arsenal, Facebook and Twitter. The class will be the same each day; sign up for the date convenient to you!

Registration/check-in begins at 8:30. Please arrive promptly. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided prior to the beginning of each session.

In addition to these initial sessions, we will also be adding topic-specific seminars designed to go beyond the digital basics in several key areas, including video blogging, online legal considerations, research and writing methods, digital strategy, and more. We will announce those shorter one-hour weeknight sessions as we are able to schedule them. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for more details.

There’s more.

If you are located outside the Denver area, we may be able to bring the training to you and your group! Please email Michael at services-at-gmail-dot-com for more details. Travel/locations, class size, and availability are negotiable, and certain restrictions may apply.

***MUST READ–FINE PRINT***:
Though the Digital Fundamentals courses and topical seminars are free, we REQUIRE advanced RSVPs for each class, in order to provide for materials and refreshments.
Please RSVP with your name, date of session, preferred email address, and links to your website or Twitter feeds where applicable, no later than 24 hours prior to the start of each session. Campaign staff are welcome, but disclosure of affiliation is also required (thank you campaign finance). Late RSVPs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Should you wish to bring friends–all are welcome–we do need the same information for all attendees in advance.

RSVP to: services-at-peoplespresscollective-dot-org

Space is limited–we like to keep the class size manageable to ensure quality contact between our students and ourselves and maximize available time for question and answer periods.

***DETAILS–DIRECTIONS AND WHAT TO BRING***:

DIRECTIONS: We are proud to welcome our students to the brand new Independence Institute offices located “Uptown” in Denver, at the corner of Clarkson and 16th Avenue, just a few blocks east of the Capitol. There is a small amount of free, on-site parking next to the building. We do not recommend parking on the street due to class length; there is, however, inexpensive paid parking available just two blocks west on Pearl Street.

727 E. 16th Ave.
Denver, CO 80218

INTERACTIVE MAP: http://www.i2i.org/contact.php

WHAT TO BRING: The Independence Institute has WiFi, so we strongly encourage you to bring your laptop, iPad, or Internet-enabled phone. Be prepared to generate story ideas or present an area of interest that you would like to pursue with your digital activism.

We then asked survey participants to rank the stories relative to each other based on newsworthiness, recollection, or long-lasting effects. Points were awarded in reverse descending order (a first place vote was worth 27 points, second place worth 26, and so on), and a final point total calculated. Rather than exhaustive retrospective on each, a quick Google search will result in hundreds of links for the vast majority of the top stories, from old media and blogs alike. Our friends at Complete Colorado kept us up to speed on a daily basis, with a variety of sources for each of the stories listed below. Aside from our own searchable PPC archives, a quick rundown can be found on our allied blogs Colorado Peak Politics and WhoSaidYouSaid, as well as the Energy blog at the Independence Institute, the Education blog at I.I., and our entire list of contributing blogs found in the sidebar. The Denver Post Spot blog also provided coverage of many of the twists and turns of each story as well.

Here are the unscientific-but-fun-nontheless results produced by you, our readers. The number of first place votes is in parentheses.

1. Redistricting/Reapportionment 812 (9)
2. Failure of Prop 103 759 (8)
3. Lobato decision 709 (6)

4. Douglas County school vouchers 656
5. State Rep. Amy Stephens and SB200 634
6. Treasurer Walker Stapleton vs. PERA 612
7. Xcel rates and the New Energy Economy 594
8. Secretary of State Scott Gessler and voting issues 580
9. Occupy Denver/SEIU Wisconsin solidarity rally 533
10. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment report and the “green jobs” myth 522
11. Denver’s Mayoral race, Hancock’s controversy 493
12. President Obama’s poll numbers in Colorado, his Colorado visits, and Colorado as a battleground state 465
13. Fracking fracas 462
14. El Paso County fiasco 452
15. Jefferson County school board races, the “Dads” 423

The rest:
16. Sen. Suzanne Williams’ accident
17. Continued rise of independents in Colorado
18. Sen. Mike Kopp’s resignation
19. State implementation plan, regional haze, Clean Air Act compliance
20. Hickenlooper vs. Obama
21. Larry Carillo and Larimer County GOP
22. Republicans and civil unions
23. BlogCon11
24. Sen. John Morse’s notable quotables
25. Rep. Sal Pace’s “leaks”
26. Child care/sex offender lists crosscheck
27. Aurora’s mayoral race

Any results surprise you? While the results at the top aren’t all that unexpected, I found it interesting that the rather heated and intense Aurora Mayoral race–in contrast to the similarly heated and controversial Denver Mayoral race–came in dead last.

Didn’t see that one coming.

Covering the various candidates–Romney, Cain, Santorum, Perry–also provided one of the more humorous episodes of the past year. Each time I covered an event, I’d get an angry email or Facebook message, asking me why I was only covering that particular candidate, and not someone else. Covering Romney’s appearance in June prompted one person to claim I was “in the bag” for the former Governor of Massachusetts.

Really people? Get over yourselves.

Thankfully, I was granted the opportunity by a couple of the campaigns to sit-in on a conference call, or attend the meeting as a member of the press–not just a blogger.

And, thankfully, National Review Online reopened their blog–this time, Primary Event, to allow me to cover the 2011 Western Conservative Summit in Denver as a member of the press, and to churn out great copy on those campaigns that did decide to make an appearance.

From Romney’s June trip to Colorado, where the Denver Post’s Tim Hoover asks the candidate one of the more familiar questions his campaign will receive, on one of the key issues that has dogged Romney this cycle:

More coverage here.

At the 2011 WCS, my favorite piece was interviewing the attendees and seeking their input on who they might like to see challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

I was there for the “battle of the Ricks,” as Perry and Santorum squared off during the conference over comments made by Perry concerning the 10th Amendment and gay marriage.

Cain, of course, took the inaugural WCS straw poll. I took satisfaction in beating the other news outlets to the story in late July, but little did I know just how far Cain would ride the seemingly ephemeral results of Denver to commanding political advantage by early fall, only to see his campaign disintegrate among accusations of infidelity and inappropriate behavior.

On that hot July day, I didn’t see either of those developments coming, and neither did anyone else. That’s part of the fun of hitting the campaign trail. In several years now of covering Colorado politics it is the expectation of the unexpected that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Here are the slideshows, which received thousands of views at NRO:

Aspiring 3rd Congressional District Democratic candidate, former House Minority Leader Rep. Sal Pace (D-Pueblo) had some strong words for those who might oppose unions and their Big Labor agenda way back in January, as union rhetoric heated up due to clashes in Wisconsin.

The quote, reported by Debi Brazzale of the Colorado News Agency, put Pace at odds with the dominant Democratic rhetoric of the time, which was espousing a less-violent dialogue following the shooting of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who had been grievously wounded earlier that same month, and his own calls for the continuation of a “civility pledge” in the House chambers.

Thus was born Sal “The Fist” Pace–and I managed to grab (with some considerable assistance) the audio from 850KOA before it disappeared into the ether:

“I’m willing to put my fist where I need to put it. I’m willing to fight. I’m willing to get in and rumble to make sure that we’re fighting for good jobs.”

Colorado Peak Politics, whose own riff on Pace’s delicate issue of relieving himself in public rocketed to number one in their list of most trafficked posts for 2011, was among those who were willing to hammer home the crudeness of the would-be Congressional challenger, time and time again.

That’s the beauty of working together on the right side of the blogosphere. We’re starting to get it in Colorado.

And as for Pace, well, we’re sure to hear about more ‘leaks’ from his campaign in 2012.

Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.

Given the Colorado Model and the mixed results of what should have been a great year in the 2010 midterms, nothing should be taken for granted in this state.

Probable defeat by dougle-digits? Make it a cool 27 percent. Run up the score. Motivate folks to mail in their ballots. Tax increases, like other left-wing incrementalism, are similar to Hollywood villains. They keep coming back. You don’t win until the ballots are counted on election, and even places like Denver turn their back on billions in tax hikes.

If you’ve got extra ammo left over after an election, even if you win, you didn’t do your job.

Even when it comes to the expected defeat of a proposed tax increase that, let’s just say, no one had the appetite for outside of State Sen. Rollie Heath’s home turf of Boulder, as election results demonstrated.

You probably heard that one, right? It was not me, however, estimating Coloradan’s appetite for such a ballot measure, but the newly-elected Governor of the state of Colorado, former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, back in January:

“All of our legislature can tell you they – we have our work cut out for us in terms of just balancing the budget. There’s no extra money anywhere. Pretty much everything is pretty significantly funded, and yet there’s no appetite for taxes anywhere, all over the state. Well, maybe a couple neighborhoods in Boulder. Just a joke. Turn that camera off.”

Sorry, Gov. Hickenlooper. The cameras were rolling, and I managed to catch you in that moment of honest reflection after the election scrutiny had passed, in a post at WhoSaidYouSaid:

The video was cited by Compass Colorado in an ad attacking Sen. Evie Hudak for her support of Prop 103, in one of the few TV ads to appear during the 2011 cycle, and the only one featuring content by a conservative blogger in Colorado:

The power of video.

And I had no idea it would be so, all the way back in January. At the time, it seemed like just another of Hickenlooper’s folksy, off-the-cuff forthrightness that has made him a popular Colorado politician.

As an added bonus and a quick lesson for our side, earned media that can be captured on video is campaign gold. The Independence Institute decided to highlight the work of some studies that showed more than 5000 jobs would be lost as a result of Prop 103′s passage by toppling, you guessed it, more than 5000 dominoes.

Effective. Earned media. New media gold.

Turning briefly from straight-out investigative reporting or blogging, one of the highlights of my year was working with the fabulous Tabitha Hale, formerly New Media director at FreedomWorks, to put together a panel on ‘Building a State Blog Network’ for the group’s BlogCon11 conference held fortuitously in Denver in November.

Simply being listed among the star-studded speakers list on the conference agenda was an honor. I was joined by fellow People’s Press Collective cofounder T.L. James, the implacable Ari Armstrong, my former internship mentor and news guru Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado and the Independence Institute, and my former coworker and video partner-in-crime at the state Capitol, Kelly Maher of WhoSaidYouSaid.

Our panel was extremely well-received by our blogging peers, and that was a great compliment:

@ChargerJeff: “Ahh. This is the panel I’ve been waiting for – setting up a State Blog Network and implementing the Colorado Model. #blogcon11 rolls on.”

@maggie82: “Enjoying infö from the Colorado group on building a state blogging network…there are things @SOBAlliance could learn/apply #blogcon11″

‎@orrinjohnson: “Really, really, impressed with the Colorado righty blog networks, aggregation. #jealous #inspiration #BlogCon11″

@jasonahart: “Panel of #Colorado bloggers from @peoplespress provide great discussion on how to work together writing for the web #blogcon11″

MIC CHECK!!!

Little did any of us know that it would be the thwarted attempt by Occupy Denver to disrupt BlogCon11 that would become not only local, but national news.

This well-distributed and well-trafficked PPC short video captured just a small portion of the, um, encounter with a cadre of Occupy Denver folks. A quick search of YouTube of BlogCon11-related videos reveals dozens of similar videos.

My friend Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit had some great recaps, as did Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.

Kurt Schlichter, an attendee at BlogCon11 and contributor at Big Government, summed up the encounter and offered advice on how to deal with the Occupods:

The big lesson of the Battle of BlogCon? When the Occupiers encounter resistance – real resistance that attacks their cherished premises with mockery and contempt – they will fold. This is a generation of special snowflakes, of kids instilled with self-esteem instead of a drive to achieve. No one has ever called them idiots before and treated them accordingly.

And they can’t take it. They’ve never had to defend their views against people who think they’re stupid. They simply don’t know how. The Occupy movement is performance art, not political science. It is an information operation, not an authentic, organic expression of beliefs.

They have not earned respect and they don’t deserve it. Don’t “engage” them, don’t “reason” with them, don’t try to “understand” their views.

Mock them. Treat them like the buffoons they are. And win.

How do we know we “won”?

Colorado blogger Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom managed to capture on video the appearance of a local Denver-area private school teacher who decided that attending an Occupy rally amounted to a great civics lesson. Unfortunately, the teacher could not withstand the scrutiny brought by the public appearance, including a couple media reports, and managed to convince YouTube to pull the video for violating privacy.

Here’s a lesson for the teacher–if you’re in public, you have very little expectation of privacy, and can be recorded at will according to Colorado law. How’s that for a civics lesson?

The beauty of the Internet is that the video, though pulled from YouTube, has been cached elsewhere several times over. We’ll add a tech lesson to the young progeny’s exposure to the real world.

MIC CHECK!!!