'Colorado Model' Got Democrats in the Door, But Their Stay Might Be Brief
By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
As the liberals are finding everywhere they turn, governing is hard.
Case in point, the Rocky Mountains, where a group of multimillionaires backed a top-to-bottom effort called the "Colorado model," a well-funded effort to turn a red state blue. This included the funding of candidates for governor, for statewide office, and the legislature, but also the creation of think tanks, political advocacy efforts, and other astroturf operations with one goal in mind: sweep as many Republicans as possible out of office and replace them with Democrats.
The donors, people like Tim Gill, Rutt Bridges, Jared Polis, and Pat Stryker, must have been thrilled with the results. Because of their support, Colorado now has a Democratic governor, the Democrats are the majority party in both chambers in the state legislature, the Democratic Party has picked up one U.S. Senate seat and two U.S. House seats from the GOP, and the state went for Barack Obama over John McCain by 9 points in 2008.
The Colorado model has fascinated conservatives every since they learned of it. They have studied it, debated it, and tried to replicate it on the right—so far without any proven success. But, as Michael Barone writes in the D.C. Examiner, all the concerns on the right may be for naught. The Democrats' hegemony in Colorado is starting to erode.
"Colorado seems to be going in the other direction. Gov. Bill Ritter, elected by 17 points in 2006 and seeking another term next year, is trailing former Republican Rep. Scott McInnis in the polls and runs only even against a little-known Republican state legislator. Michael Bennet, appointed by Ritter to fill Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's Senate seat, has a negative job rating and runs well under 50 percent against Republican opponents. Barack Obama's job rating in the state has been conspicuously below his national average—closer to those of still rock-ribbed Republican Rocky Mountain states than the hip states of the Pacific Coast," Barone says.
"Campaigning, it turns out, is easier than governing," Barone writes. And, he might have added, because elected officials are responsible to the voters, not just to their donor base. As Republicans are finding, it's easy to demonstrate how the party in power is out of step with the electorate.
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Tags: Colorado | Democrats | Republicans
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Reader Comments
Colorado politics
The problem in Colorado is the Californians. They trashed their own state and have fled to other states like Colorado, where they want to implement the very same policies that have devastated their home state.
We need a counterbalance here. Send more Texans.
Stick to trees, Hugger
It's apparent that you are a dem shill with little to say. McInnis left the Congress after 6 terms to be closer to his aging parents in Colorado.
There were questions about his wife for getting paid but since she managed all of his re-election efforts, the FEC investigated and found no wrong doing.
You say McInnis has a temper, but I listened to the very same radio show and to me it sounded like he refused to be rolled over by a couple of hosts who kept trying to press his buttons. I guess if you don't cave into the hosts, you have a temper--give me a break.
The fact is that the dems have a lot to worry about here, and the recent PPP polls reflect what's happening on the ground in CO.
The Democratic process . . .
Held hostage by Democrats in Colorado?! Not surprised. I find little distinction between Blagojovich (sp?) and Colorado Democrats. I'm somewhat surprised, though, about the people of Colorado. I would surmise that CO voters, like mushrooms, were likely kept in the dark about these revelations. I guess the definition of transparency is in the eye of the beholder.
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