Coyote Gulch

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Denver November 2006 Election
Colorado Pols: "Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is saying that he'll wait to make a decision on running for governor until after the May vote for a new jail in Denver. The important thing in that message, and in how the Dems responded to it, is this: as we've been reporting for months, everyone is so scared of running against Hickenlooper that they'll wait for him to decide before they do. The problem with this, from the Dems perspective, is that cowtowing to Hick makes everyone else the Dems second choice in the eyes of the public. If Hick doesn't run, the press will bill whoever does run as the Democratic Party's 'second choice,' which is unfair but perhaps unavoidable."
5:54:38 PM

2008 Presidential Election
TalkLeft: "Donnie Fowler has dropped out of the race for DNC Chair. That leaves Howard Dean. (Roemer may still be in but he's toast.) Dean will get the job. He'll do a great job, the Democrats should be pleased. Congratulations, Dr. Dean."
9:47:30 AM

Colorado Water
Pueblo Chieftain: "It's been eight years since Colorado has had so much snow in its high country come February. Statewide snowpack readings for Feb. 1 represented the first time since 1997 that February snowpack exceeded the historic average, improving the prospects for spring runoff. As of Feb. 1, the state's snowpack was 114 percent of average, up from the 99 percent of average measured a month earlier by Natural Resources Conservation Service Sno-Tel system."
Also from the Pueblo Chieftain an article about Representative John Salazar rallying the Colorado delegation around water issues.
Thanks to MakesMeRalph for the links.
9:39:48 AM

Iraqi Election
Daily Kos: "Um, maybe turnout wasn't so high..."
Update: Friends of Democracy: "According to Intisar, reporting from Babel province, the area around Jarf Al Sakher still has a serious problem with terrorism. Voter turnout there was reportedly zero percent."
9:34:51 AM

Denver May 2005 Election
John Salzman laments the lack of coverage of opponents to the new Denver Justice Center from the Denver dailies, in his column in today's Rocky Mountain News [February 5, 2005, "Salzman: Dailies take little note of jail foes"]. From the opinion piece, "That's why it's surprising that the opinions of opponents of the proposed $380 million justice center, which would include a jail and criminal courtrooms, were largely absent from the news pages of the News and Post most of the past year - despite copious coverage of the issue. I discovered this by reading all news articles about the proposed justice center in both Denver dailies from April - when city contractors recommended building a new justice center where the News building currently stands - through Wednesday. A total of 36 stories were written. I divided the people named in these 36 articles, called "sources" by journalists, into three categories: jail supporters, opponents, or neutral. I counted each source only once per article. It turns out that a whopping 72 percent (62 sources) were supporters, 19 percent (16 sources) were neutral, and a paltry 9 percent (eight sources) were jail opponents. The pattern in both papers was almost identical. The most popular pro-jail source was Hickenlooper, who was named in 15 articles. The most frequently cited opponent was Christie Donner of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, who was included in two stories."
It looks like the May election will not be a mail only affair according to the Denver Post [February 5, 2005, "Panel changes mind, nixes May all-mail ballot"]. From the article, {The commissioners, who first voted two weeks ago, said the combined approach would give them a chance to try out new vote centers that are expected to be all over the city for the November election. Projected costs for the combined election are roughly $1 million, according to the election commission, based on 422 polling precincts and 11 early- vote centers...The mayor has proposed a new justice center, the main issue currently on the May ballot, along with charter changes to add Glendale firefighters to the city force."
9:04:59 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
From the Rocky Mountain News, "Former U.S. Attorney John Suthers will be sworn in next week as Colorado's attorney general. The state Senate on Friday confirmed Suthers' nomination to replace Ken Salazar, who resigned the post after he was elected to the U.S. Senate."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [February 5, 2005, "Senate confirms Suthers as state's attorney general"].
8:51:51 AM

e-mail John: