20100522 Dan Maes Nomination and Acceptance Speeches from El Presidente on Vimeo.

When asked why, after spending most of the year campaigning for Senate Frazier has now decided to jump to the Congressional race, the campaign explained that Frazier got into the Senate race because he “wants to serve the people of Colorado”, but now believes the best way he can do this is as a congressman. The decision was not made lightly or “on the fly”, we were told, but has been under consideration for some time – which is consistent with the length of time in which the rumors have been circulating.

The campaign specifically denied that Frazier’s decision had been prompted by recent actions of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in support of the Senate candidacy of former Colorado Lt. Governor Jane Norton. They could not immediately answer the question of whether the NRSC or other entities or individuals had promised support to Frazier in the Congressional race in exchange for the switch, but did promise to release this coming Monday a list of prominent supporters backing the new campaign.

As anyone who has had contact with the new grassroots movements in Colorado this year knows, there is already a GOP candidate running in CD-7, Brian T. Campbell.  The Frazier campaign stated that they look forward to a spirited competition with Campbell and any other GOP contenders who might emerge in CD-7, but aside from a generic assertion that they plan to work with the grassroots too, did not offer specifics on how they plan to deal with Campbell’s new base of support. While Ryan has appeared at many grassroots events as part of his previous Senate campaign, Campbell has been an organizer of several such events and claims to have the support of several thousand Republican, independent, libertarian, and even Democrat activists statewide (not only in CD-7). 

This led to what I believe was the most telling comment of the teleconference. When asked whether the Frazier campaign had considered how the switch would disappoint the grassroots, who seemed to favor him in the Senate race, and how he planned to address the inevitable charges that the switch shows him to be “flaky”  or a “quitter” like Sarah Palin, the campaign representative replied that no, they apparently had not given such disappointments and perceptions much thought, so focused were they on getting the announcement together. To me, that indicates not just a lack of attention to (pretty significant) details, but – astonishingly – the same sort of blindness to how voters and activists perceive the campaign and its actions that the Jane Norton Senate campaign has demonstrated thus far.

Watch PPC for more coverage as the day goes on.

Last night in Denver, Colorado’s appointed Senator Michael “Senator Who?” Bennett attended (briefly and at the last minute) a “townhall forum” on “comprehensive healthcare reform” put on by the self-parodyingly-named Metro Organization of People. 

As with all such townhalls, this one was strictly formatted and the questions for Back-and-Forth Bennett were given to him in advance to reduce the possibility of unfortunate gaffes and/or departures from the Obama machine’s coordinated message.  Naturally, this meant (as they reminded us several times as we waited and waited for Michael Bennett’s not-so-fashionably late arrival) that questions from the audience were not welcome and would not be addressed.

Well, I guess the closed agenda didn’t sit too well with a Ralph Nader supporter, who wore a “Nader’s Raiders” T-shirt and had clearly waited paitently for Both-Ways Bennett’s to show up to at last interrupt him on the third scripted question with his own impressively-bellowed commentary/question on “single-payer” (ie: fully socialized healthcare):

How amusing to see a juvenile tactic developed by the radical left now being turned against their one-time allies.  As Obama and the Democrats continue to disappoint the more radical members of their base, expect to see more of this sort of thing.

We’ll have a few more clips from the “comprehensive healthcare reform” forum up later today, including Senator Michael Bennett’s much-delayed and ultimately lackluster, Keanu-Reeves-style performance.  It was an interesting event, just not in the way the organizers might have intended…