Thursday, October 12, 2006

Warner out as presidential candidate Mark Warner: "So about a month ago, I told my family and people who know me best that I would make a final decision after Columbus Day weekend, which I was spending with my family. After 67 trips to 28 states and five foreign countries, I have made that decision. "I have decided not to run for President." 6:25:46 PM

Beauprez for governor? ToTheRight.org: "We've been trying to leave the Beauprez campaign alone, hoping and praying that bunch would get it together. Now absentee ballots are hitting, and it's clear nothing at 555 Denver Tech Center Parkway has changed for the better. For example, the campaign doesn[base ']t seem to know or care where it sends its lieutenant governor candidate when she comes out of hiding." "denver 2006" 6:23:07 PM

Clinton for president? New York Daily News: "Despite her apparent opposition to torture, Hillary Clinton said in a Daily News editorial board meeting yesterday that the practice is acceptable in some circumstances. Clinton got a rousing reception from the human rights community, and seemed to take an uncharacteristically bright-line stance, in a recent statement on the Senate floor during the debate over torture. 'Have we fallen so low as to debate how much torture we are willing to stomach?' she asked at one point, and left anti-torture commentators, and even Clinton critics like Andrew Sullivan, with the impression that she'd emerged into a kind of un-Clintonian moral clarity and said no to torture. But at yesterday's Daily News editorial board meeting, it emerged that she's not actually against torture in all instances, and that her dispute with McCain and Bush is largely procedural." "2008 pres" 6:19:17 PM

Iraq New York Sun: "The Iraq war and recommend a new course has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft policy options shared with The New York Sun by commission officials. Currently, the 10-member commission - headed by a secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, James Baker - is considering two option papers, 'Stability First' and 'Redeploy and Contain,' both of which rule out any prospect of making Iraq a stable democracy in the near term. More telling, however, is the ruling out of two options last month. One advocated minor fixes to the current war plan but kept intact the long-term vision of democracy in Iraq with regular elections. The second proposed that coalition forces focus their attacks only on Al Qaeda and not the wider insurgency." Thanks to the Daily Kos for the link. "2008 pres" 6:15:45 PM

Libertarians the new swing vote? Political Wire: "A new Cato Institute report says libertarians -- people who historically tend to agree with Republicans on fiscal issues and Democrats on personal freedom -- are the new swing voters. The authors estimate approximately 13% of voters fall into this category." "2008 pres" 6:05:45 PM

Endorsements roundup Andrew Oh-Willeke has a nice roundup of candidate endorsements up on Colorado Confidential, including links. However, he missed the Ritter endorsement from the Wet Mountain Tribune. From their editorial, "It's hard to deny the overall progress and advancement that took place in Colorado under the leadership of former governors Stephen McNichols, John Love and Roy Romer. Issues of importance to everyone - education, transportation, the economy and the environment - all improved thanks to the leadership skills and the non-partisanship demonstrated by those three visionaries. When Coloradoans go to the polls in the coming weeks, they[base ']ll have an opportunity to restore progress, advancement and visionary thinking to the political process by voting for Bill Ritter for Governor." "denver 2006" 5:38:35 PM

Colorado Legislative Council Blue Book 2006 Many voters have already received their absentee ballots across Colorado. Here's the link to the Colorado Legislative Council Blue Book 2006. You can also search the Coyote Gulch archives by using the handy Google search on our weblog. "denver 2006" 6:56:24 AM

Amendment 44 - Legal Marijuana? Elevated Voices: "John Walters, the Bush Administration's drug czar, came to Southern Colorado today to try and defeat Amendment 44, the ballot initiative that would legalize adult possession of up to one ounce of marijuna." "denver 2006" 6:50:56 AM

Richardson for president? Western Democrat: "The greater our Democratic majority in state legislatures and the more Gubernatorial seats we pick up, the greater the opportunity for Democrats to gain organizational and structural control of our democracy. That's why the work that Democratic Governors Association Chairman, Governor Bill Richardson, is doing is so important. This year, Governor Richardson has been traveling far and wide across our country, stumping for Democratic candidates for governor and incumbent Democratic governors. These steps are necessary to ensure that the next Democratic nominee for President of the United States has the infrastructure in place to not only make a run, but to win the Presidency." "2008 pres" 6:49:39 AM

Cutthroat trout on the Roan Plateau Here's an article about efforts to save a genetically pure strain of Colorado River Cutthoat trout on the Roan Plateau from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write, "More than 15 years ago, the Grand Valley Anglers chapter of Trout Unlimited adopted Trapper Creek, a headwater tributary of East Parachute Creek, and the handful of cutthroat trout that managed to survive in the stream during the millennia since the fish were isolated on the plateau at the end of the last Ice Age. There are five remaining populations of Colorado River cutthroats on the Roan Plateau, but only two of them - in Trapper and Northwater creeks - are considered Core Populations, meaning their genetics are at least 99 percent pure. The others show signs of interbreeding with rainbow trout stocked in the previous century. But more than exotic species threatened the cutthroats. Years of cattle grazing along the creek resulted in beaten-down banks and, along most of its length, the stream was too wide, too shallow and too warm to support fish easily. In 1991, the GVA gathered about two dozen volunteers and spent a day moving rocks, building instream log barriers to create pools and drops, and planting willows and narrow-leafed cottonwoods. Chief among their efforts was building, with cooperation of the Bureau of Land Management, cattle exclosures along two sections of the creek, totaling about three-quarters of a mile. This was hands-on conservation volunteerism at its most basic... "In 2002, Bill Elmblad, then the Colorado Division of Wildlife area fisheries biologist, attempted to salvage some of the Trapper Creek fish after hearing reports that drought had nearly emptied the stream, leaving fish trapped in small pools where they were becoming featured dinner items for the local black bear population. 'The stream was virtually dried up, some of the worst conditions I've ever seen,' Elmblad said in a later conversation. 'We somehow managed to bring in 48 fish. But they immediately turned cannibal and the larger fish ate the smaller fish before we could separate them in the hatchery.' The fish proved difficult to raise and initially refused to eat the normal hatchery fish diet. Once a suitable diet was found, the fish managed to thrive, but when Elmblad decided to return some of the fish to Trapper Creek, there wasn't still enough water to do so." "colorado water" 6:42:05 AM

RMN state house endorsements Here are the Rocky Mountain News' picks for the state house. From the article, "House District 1 (southwest Denver, Arapahoe, Jefferson): Republican Aimee Rathburn, a community activist with extensive experience in fund-raising for nonprofits, gets our nod in this open seat for her sensible ideas on expanding water supplies on the Front Range, education reform and fiscal responsibility. Her opponent is Democratic attorney Jeanne Labuda, a former liaison to southwest Denver in Mayor Wellington Webb's administration... "HD 4 (northwest Denver): Democrat Jerry Frangas is an effective lawmaker who is running for the third time against Republican Rick Nevin. Among his accomplishments, Frangas co-authored the law that doubled traffic fines in construction zones... "HD 6: (Denver, Arapahoe): House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who faces Republican Jeffrey Hecht, clearly deserves another term. As speaker, he helped push fiscal reform onto the state ballot and then saw to it that the resources from Referendum C were allocated according to what voters were promised." "denver 2006" 6:26:42 AM

Beauprez for governor? Here's a background piece about U.S. Congressman Bob Beauprez from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Some people on Capitol Hill are as predictable as the sunrise - and Rep. Bob Beauprez is one of them. Each morning in Congress, politicians make big speeches, lobbyists prowl the hallways and reporters scurry after the latest new scandals. And each day, many times more often than not, Beauprez casts a few more votes in lockstep with his Republican Party leadership. In 3 1/2 years leading up to his run for Colorado governor, Beauprez has rarely strayed from the mainstream party line as he has racked up a clear pro-business, socially conservative voting record, an analysis by the Rocky Mountain News finds. The second-term congressman has joined fiscal conservatives on a series of mostly symbolic protest votes when he thought his party's leadership was spending too much money. Still, in a delegation known for renegades like Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, and others who take pride in crossing the party aisle, it's hard to find occasions when Beauprez has broken ranks on a major piece of legislation or close votes that came down to the wire... "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which scores lawmakers based on a few dozen key votes each year, gave Beauprez perfect scores in 2003, 2004 and most of 2005. He was marked down only when he joined Tancredo and a majority of other Republicans and supported a hard-line immigration reform bill, which the chamber opposed in favor of a proposed guest-worker plan. On immigration, Beauprez's position has evolved - and toughened - during his time in Congress... "He has supported the Republican majority on its conservative values agenda. He opposed expanded federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. He supported a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. And he played an outspoken role advocating for Congress to get involved in the fight over whether to remove a feeding tube from Florida hospice patient Terri Schiavo. Overall, Beauprez built a conservative, solidly Republican voting record even though he was fighting to hold the closely divided 7th District, where the equal split among Democrats, Republicans and independents would suggest that an aisle-crossing centrist might do well." "denver 2006" 6:22:34 AM

Ritter or Beauprez for governor? Bill Ritter and U.S. Representative Bob Beauprez have similar views about Colorado's water issues, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "Republican Bob Beauprez and Democrat Bill Ritter largely agree on the broader issues of water development and protection, although they differ on some of the finer points. Both say the state needs to increase conservation and reuse programs to augment the state's water supplies, and they agree that additional water storage facilities are needed. Both agree that the Colorado Interbasin Compact Committee, which is trying to bring together water users from across the state to come up with long-term solutions for all, needs to finish its work. And both acknowledge that the state's growing cities are drying up agricultural land at alarming rates... "While both candidates talk about urging agricultural and metropolitan users in the state to conserve and reuse the water they do have, Beauprez said the state needs to store more water by dredging existing facilities and building new ones. Ritter said while he agrees additional storage is needed, it cannot be done at the expense of other parts of the state... "Ritter said climate change, also known as global warming, is a fact that the state must consider in determining future water policy. Beauprez said there is an estimated 1 million acre-feet of water leaving the state that should be captured. Like Ritter, the congressman said conservation is important but cannot be relied on alone to solve the state's water needs." "denver 2006" 6:15:45 AM

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