Today is Tuesday, February 09, 2010


Polls: Hickenlooper 49%, McInnis 45%; independents disapprove Obama, 57%, approve 29%; 75% angry

The latest highly regarded Rasmussen Reports poll shows Democrat Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper leading former U.S. Rep. Republican Scott McInnis, 49% to 45%. Hickenlooper is the Democrats' candidate for governor, and McInnis is the Republicans' presumptive candidate even though Dan Maes still is contesting him for the GOP's nomination.

A Marist poll shows 57% of independents disapprove of 

Obama and Palin two peas in a pod, living the American dream

Obama and Palin give great speeches. He uses telepromters. She uses notes. They both appeal to gullibles.

Obama shouldn't be president, and Palin never should be.

They're living the American dream. Love it.

Tea Party folks are people who've been on the sidelines for decades. They're motivated by fear. They're afraid of Obama, Pelosi and Reid. They're not nuts. They are just folks who have new priorities and the smarts to get involved when they have a chance to make a difference.

On health deform, Obama wants to continue the con, but Americans are on to him. They don't like the way Washington works. They don't trust anyone in Washington.

Obama's floundering. In 2008, he was the Lakers. In 2010, he's the Nets.

I originally posted this on Politico.com this morning.

 

Colorado Political event calendar updated

This week's Colorado Political Events Calendar has been updated. More updates are welcome. Also see calendars on candidates' and county parties' web sites. I haven't attempted to duplicate the calendars at Liberty Events, the Colorado Republican Party or the Colorado Democratic Party. Scott McInnis, Dan Maes and Cleve Tidwell have busy calendars this week. Ken Buck and Jane Norton apparently are on the phone raising money.

Interview part 2: J. J. Ament calls for changes in PERA board, investment assumptions

The makeup of the board of directors of Colorado’s troubled PERA (public employees’ retirement association) needs to be changed and the organization needs to fully disclose its profits, losses and holdings, according to J.J. Ament, a Republican candidate for state Treasurer. If Ament is elected Colorado’s Treasurer, that also will give him a seat on the 16-person board of directors of PERA.

“You have to change the system,” Ament said in an interview, adding,

Interview: J.J. Ament says he would de-politicize Treasurer’s office, eliminate losses, defend TABOR

J.J. Ament said in an interview that he wants to be elected Treasurer of Colorado so that he can use his 10 years of experience as a municipal finance consultant and as an investment banker to eliminate the state’s investment losses. He wants to reform the state’s approach to managing its $6.3 billion in investments. And he promises to invest to maximize returns for taxpayers instead of looking out for the political interests of the Treasurer, governor and General Assembly while making sure they live up to the spirit as well as the letter of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). Ament said

Obama’s ‘gangster government targets Toyota’

Questions about how President Obama's administration is targeting Toyota in an effort to boost sales for the government-owned General Motors continue to mount. The Washington Examiner's editorial concludes:

Tea Party conventioneers want to take over Republican Party

People are attending Tea Party, 9.12, R Block and related events to learn how to take over and reshape the Republican Party.

And that's the strongest sentiment Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame found at this weekend's National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. In Colorado, the caucus training by GOP-related groups is amazingly intense and serious business. Links:

Some Tea Party folks weren’t impressed with Sarah Palin’s speech

While a lot of Republicans and tea partiers cheered Sarah Palin's Nashville speech last night, at least a couple of activists in Colorado's Tea Party movement were less than overwhelmed.

In replies they posted on 

The President will seal Sen. Michael Bennet’s hard left, Obama Democrat identity

The last thing you want to do as a political candidate is let your opponents create your identity for you, because they will cast your image in the worst possible light.

President Obama will do the Republicans' dirty work for them when he comes to Colorado on Feb. 18 to do a couple of fundraisers for appointed Democrat Senator Michael Bennet.

The President will 

Can Denver’s Democrats carry Andrew Romanoff to win over Michael Bennet?

Democrat Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff was warmly received at a recent meeting of some Denver Democrats while his opponent's wife failed to make much of an impression. Lede graphs from the Cherry Creek News:

Ken Buck, Jane Norton, Scott McInnis, Dan Maes using Twitter, Facebook

Many of Colorado's leading candidates for public office are using Twitter and FaceBook as well as their web sites and e-mail to reach and communicate with 

Sarah Palin earns cheers at Tea Party convention

Sarah Palin earned a lot of cheers at the Tea Party convention in Nashville, TN. She mocked President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And she expressed the frustrations that many conservatives have with the president and Congressional Democrats. 

But even though she gave what amounted to her state of the union speech, I'm not sure she convinced many people that she has the experience or knowledge that we want to see in a president. She didn't convince me. 

Note that the Associated Press and Yahoo have posted a distorted picture of Palin speaking. They picked the worst shot they could find. Pure editorial bias. 

Fundraising: Tom Wiens’ game playing should end his run for U.S. Senate

Former Colorado state senator Tom Wiens' U.S. Senate campaign should be done because I think that it is clear that he has tried to mislead voters and contributors by reporting huge fourth quarter fundraising results and not immediately reporting that some 88% of the money came out of his own pocket.

Obviously, he announced the surprisingly big results in the hope that he would create a sense of momentum that would bring supporters and contributors to his side. When he first announced that he'd raised $725,000 in the quarter, he refused to say where the money came from. That raised suspicions that he contributed most of the money. Then he said he loaned $540,000 to the campaign and raised about $188,000. Turns out he contributed all but $87,169, which came from other individual donors, according to the report he has filed with the Federal Elections Commission. 

He has been trying to 

Joe Rice, Senate Democrats get GOP’s solution to Colorado’s budget crisis

When Joe Rice (D-Littleton) recently replied to my e-mail that asked him to vote against the "Dirty Dozen" tax increases going through the House, he sent back a snarky, arrogant suggestion that I sit down with him and figure out an alternative to the tax increases. Since I'm not in the Colorado General Assembly, that's not my job. That's his. But, of course, he wants to increase spending and raise taxes as he did with the car tax last year. He doesn't want to cut spending. Ultimately, I considered asking him to go talk to the Republicans in the House. They know where to cut.

House Republicans didn't come up with cuts, but Republicans in the Colorado Senate this afternoon announced their alternative plan, which I recommend to my spend and tax Rep. Rice and to my state Senator, Linda Newell. It's time for Rice and Newell, who wants to have a commission of business leaders figure out a solution to the state's bloated budget, to quit playing games with their constituents and focus on solving the budget crisis without enacting job-killing tax increases. The letter and press release follow:

Hickentaxer wants higher taxes before he has to decide he won’t want them

There are three stages of obfuscation.

1. You say that you're against taxes in a recession when you think you can claim the recession is over. We're still in a recession despite signs of a recovery. See 10% unemployment.

2. You refuse to take a stand on tax increases that will kill jobs and the economic recovery when your Democrat party is raising taxes in Colorado and nationally. Delaying a decision shows how you will govern. It says you're for tax increases before you have to claim to be against them.

3. You decide that if you're going have a chance to win an election, you will have to try to pull an Obama and say you aren't for tax increases. Of course, now that we all distrust Obama and Democrats, the lie won't work anymore and your quirky personality won't make up for your 1960s' liberal positions on the issues.

John Hickentaxer refuses to say whether he'll raise taxes. Is anyone surprised?