I don't know if anyone has noticed but Colorado is starting to become a center of progressive activity in 2006. Let's see:
We could start with the fact that Democrats took control of the State legislature - a shift in BOTH houses - for the first time since 1964. Plus elected a Democratic Senator (comments on that acknowledged). And it looks like the Republicans will hand the Governor's mansion over to the Dems in November if the course holds.
And there is more:
Bill Winter is running a close to dead heat with John Courage over at Mark Warner's
Mapchangers And that is with 874,000 registered Democratic voters in Colorado and just about 3 million total voters. Texas is 12.5 million voters and don't register by party but we can still assume they outnumber the Colorado Dems by better than 2 to 1. And everyone would love to see him displace Tom Tancredo. And
Bill's polls show him leading Tancredo.
Angie Paccione just raised almost $300K this last quarter and is poised to provide a significant - and we think winning - challenge to Marilyn Musgrave - who decided recently to kill the trigger lock legislation as a indicator to her constituency of her priorities. And Angie's polls show a 59% disapproval rating of Marilyn in the district.
Jay Fawcett has the advantage of runnning for an open seat. Joel Hefley - say what you like about him - was a true boy scout and stood up to Tom Delay. His thanks for protecting the integrity of the US House was to be kicked in the crotch so hard he couldn't stomach running as a Republican anymore. Jay has run ads attacking Dobson take a look, his poll numbers show Republicans in Fort Dobson are ready for a change and he has found a voice that resonates with progressive bloggers.
For the first time in a long time, the Democratic Party is fielding more candidates in more state races than the Republicans. There is only one uncontested state house race. I can speak from personal experience to one race. Anna Lord is running for Colorado House District 21 - held until this election by Keith King, who would have been the House Majority Leader this session if those pesky Democrats hadn't taken control of the House. This seat has not been contested since 2000 (the candidate in 2002 raised $375 total). But Keith was term limited out. And we are walking (and wading with this weeks weather) the district.
The voters are desparate for a choice. Republicans are tired of their national leaders. Anna's focus on personal liberties - whose life is it anyway and why should the government be telling people how to live their lives? On women's choice - that the answer to the abortion debate is MORE choices for women - access to affordable and comprehensive preventative reproductive medical care is the critical first step in the debate. On public education - not just elemnetary and secondary but state colleges. As she says, the Republican legislature had been strip mining the state college budgets to backfill their budget failures and it must stop. All of these resonate with her district and we see the results when we walk away from a person's door - over 65% of voters we talk to one on one are saying they consider Anna an attractive candidate (for her positions).
The great thing is all of these candidates are different - they show that the Democratic party is a BIG tent. The disagreements aren't personal - they are debates over the best decisions for Colorado and America. There is no lock step regime forcing compliance - it is respect and discussion to reach - as Anna saya "laws that don't sound good, laws that are GOOD and SOUND." So come on in - Colorado's rivers, skies and politics are beautiful and blue.