Friday, July 7, 2006

Ritter for governor? There is now a website doing an attack job on Bill Ritter. Never underestimate the impact of a negative campaign. They can be cheap and easy to manage. Thanks to the Denver Business Journal for the link. Category: Denver November 2006 Election 5:49:25 PM

Suthers for Attorney General? There's an election angle in here someplace. We think it'll blow over due to lack of interest by the public. We're hoping that someone will send us the link for the Trailhead Group. We'll happily link to them for their side. Here's the link to Attorney General John Suthers website. He doesn't have a weblog or email list that we can find. Both would be fine tools for presenting their side of the story. Thanks to ColoradoLib for the link. Category: Denver November 2006 Election 5:42:42 PM

Fundraising in statewide races Colorado Pols has the fundraising numbers for the governors race, "Bob Beauprez (R): $149,158 raised in June; $837,509 cash on hand. Bill Ritter (D): $360,000 raised in June; $n/a cash on hand." Along with the numbers for Attorney General, "John Suthers (R): $21,425 raised in June; $217,362 cash on hand. Fern O'Brien (D): $14,430 raised in June; $8,221 cash on hand." And numbers for Secretary of State, "Coffman raised about $63,000 in Q2, leaving him with about $83,000 cash on hand (keep in mind that Coffman transferred $68,000 from previous committees, including his short-lived gubernatorial campaign). Gordon, meanwhile, is spending money much faster than he is raising it. Gordon raised about $69,000 in Q2, but he only has about $29,000 cash on hand...nearly one-third less than Coffman." And numbers for State Treasurer, "The latest financial reports for the State Treasurer race are in, and they pose an interesting question for Republican Mark Hillman, who has already burned through a lot of money. Hillman has raised about $247,000 since he first announced his candidacy last summer (including about $65,000 in Q2), but he only has $145,000 cash on hand. Ordinarily that might not be a big deal, but Hillman has accepted the voluntary spending limit cap of $500,000, which means that he's really going to have to tighten his wallet to save enough money for TV air time in the fall. Democrat Cary Kennedy, meanwhile, has raised a total of about $195,000 since announcing her candidacy in January (including about $88,000 in Q2), and has about $165,000 cash on hand." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 7:25:12 AM

Immigration bill on fall ballot? Republicans in the special session still want immigration legislation on the fall ballot, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Republicans won round one of a special legislative session on immigration Thursday night by hijacking what they considered a weak proposal for cutting services to illegal immigrants with a ballot proposal that would put the issue before voters. The GOP victory in a Democratic-controlled Senate capped an opening day that was marked as much by election-year political posturing as debate on substantives issues. Republicans, upset that the Colorado Supreme Court last month threw out a citizens' initiative to ban most state services, successfully resurrected the proposal with an amendment that substituted the Democrats' Senate Bill 1... "Democratic Sen. Bob Hagedorn, the sponsor of the hijacked bill, said the vote showed that the special session called by Gov. Bill Owens was about nothing more than partisan posturing for November, when control of both the governor's mansion and the statehouse are at stake. 'It's a charade. It's a mockery, this whole special session,' said a visibly frustrated Hagedorn. 'This is not about good public policy; this is about the November election.'[...] "But it's not yet certain the measure will land on the ballot, because it must still win final Senate approval - and could be changed again - before it moves to the House. Lawmakers are fractured into two factions: the do-it-now crowd and the let-the-voters-decide crew. Most Republicans say they want to give citizens a chance to vote on whether to limit state spending on all but federally mandated services, such as emergency medical care and education, for illegal immigrants." Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "In a stunning close to the first day of the special session, five Senate Democrats late Thursday sided with Republicans to send voters a measure limiting services to illegal immigrants. The defections made Republicans giddy, adding a dramatic twist in a fast-moving session likely to set the stage for a bitter November election. The proposal to limit government services was the cornerstone of the Democrats' agenda, but one they had expected to be signed into law and put into effect immediately, and not be put on the ballot." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 7:00:40 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 7/30/06; 7:51:44 AM.