CONSERVATIVE COUNTERPOINT TO PROGRESS NOW COLORADO
The state Democratic Party and Progress Now Colorado have dispatched “trackers” to film Republican candidates on the campaign trail for several months. The clips have been used to attack GOP candidates and raise funds for the Democrats — kind of like “reward money.”

Now, Republicans have a counter “tracker” — Kelly Maher, secretary of the Denver County GOP and former lobbyist, and her partner, Mary Smith. Maher promoted the “GOP gotcha” website “whosaidyousaid.com” at the Western Conservative Summit held recently in Denver.

Like “happy hour” before the dinner that featured keynoter Dennis Prager, Maher dished video clips of Democratic candidates including gubernatorial candidate Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and 4th District Congresswoman Betsy Markey.

Markey is caught giving a pep talk to campaign supporters in May and urging them to win back independent voters that helped her defeat Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in 2008.

“We need to keep this seat in Democratic hands. We’ve got a great majority in the House. It’s going to be a difficult year, as we know. A lot of our independent voters, and you know a third of this district, 33 percent — a whole 33 percent — are independent voters,” says Markey. “And last time they went with us. This year, you know, somebody told me the independent voters, we don’t own them; they’re like renters. We’ve got to earn them back every time.”

Hickenlooper was videotaped delivering his “evolving” position that attempts to balance the oil and gas industry with agricultural and environmental concerns. His spin might have made a viewer feel like Alice in Wonderland saying, “I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.”

A tongue-in-cheek video clip captures Colorado’s 1st District Congresswoman Diana DeGette dashing to Hicknlooper’s rescue.

“If you look at the things he’s done, he’s probably just as liberal as me,” declares DeGette. And like the magic of Wonderland, the video morphs DeGette into Hickenlooper — a techno trip that thrilled the viewers at the Summit.

Asked if she’d been kicked out of events as the Democratic Party’s tracker said he has by Republicans, Maher laughed and said, “Oh yeah!” She whipped open the laptop and replayed clips of Democratic candidates, including Hickenlooper, of rolling up the welcome mat and sending her away. Ah… all is fair!

The videos were such a hit; they resulted in a steady stream of conservatives signing up to be put on a list to receive blast e-mailed clips. Maher hopes to expand the “tracker” video hit website to other states.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES CLIMB THE SUMMIT
The Summit was a place to be seen and heard — some Republican candidates were luckier than others in having “cameo” speeches or introducing keynote speakers at the breakfasts, luncheons and dinners.

Sunday breakfast speakers included Republican candidate state Rep. Cory Gardner, who aims to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey in the 4th Congressional District. Gardner announced, “The seat is ranked number nine in the country for the most likely to change parties.”

In the days before the Summit, Gardner said he’d received an e-mail from Dick Morris, but assumed it was an imposter and deleted the message. Another Morris email arrived, and again Gardner deleted it. Finally, he said, John Andrews, director of Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, called.

“He said, ‘Dick Morris is trying to get a hold of you,’” recalled Gardner, who burst out laughing.

Ryan Frazier, who is running against fellow Republican Lang Sias in the 7th Congressional District, also spoke at the breakfast. Frazier and Sias are scheduled to appear Friday on KBDI “Colorado Decides” hosted by Jim Benemann and Eric Sondermann and Sunday morning on KUSA “Your Show” moderated by Adam Schrager.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton introduced radio talk show host and author Dennis Prager, who gave the keynote speech at the Saturday dinner that was packed with nearly 1,000 folks. Earlier that day, Norton’s primary opponent Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck got the spotlight at the luncheon that featured a speech by Colorado’s former 6th District Congressman Tom Tancredo.

Buck seized the opportunity to tune-up his admiration for Tancredo — after a little embarrassment two days earlier at a Buck campaign rally in Denver headlined by U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina. A speaker at the rally, Tancredo had called President Barack Obama the biggest threat to the security of the United States — Buck called it a “Tancredoism” that he did not agree with. The following day, Fox KDVR TV aired audiotape of Buck saying, “I can’t believe that guy opened his mouth.”

Republican 3rd Congressional District candidates state Rep. Scott Tipton and Bob McConnell were seen working the crowd — both were gearing up for a debate in Pueblo this week. McConnell said he hopes Tipton will agree to more debates. Contrary to the myth that all Republicans are alike, McConnell said, “You could drive a battleship between me and Scott in terms of how different we are.”

Other Republican candidates and elected officials seen in the crowd included Scott Gessler who’s challenging incumbent Democrat Secretary of State Bernie Buescher; Dr. Mike Fallon, GOP candidate in the 1st Congressional District; state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, of Berthoud, who also videotaped the Summit weekend; state Rep. Marsha Looper, of Calhan; state Rep. Ken Summers, of Lakewood; and Owen Hill, who is challenging Democratic heavyweight state Senate Majority Leader John Morse in SD 11.

PRO-CHOICE PAC MAKES PRIMARY CHOICES KNOWN
Colorado’s most visible pro-choice PAC picked sides in a half dozen Democratic legislative primaries this week.

The NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Political Action Committee released its endorsements a couple days after Colorado voters began receiving mail ballots for the August 10 primary election.

“With 48 pro-choice seats at risk in the Legislature this year, our PAC keeps a laser-like focus on protecting and electing pro-choice candidates,” said Emilie C. Ailts, executive director of the Denver-based abortion-rights organization.

In state Senate races, the group is backing a couple of statehouse denizens with pro-choice voting records and a newcomer deemed best suited to take on a decidedly anti-choice Republican incumbent, according to Ailts.

In safely Democratic districts, former state Rep. Cheri Jahn gets the nod in the District 20 primary, as does state Rep. Joel Judd in District 34.

“As representatives in the House of Representatives, both Cheri Jahn and Joel Judd voted time and again to protect women’s ability to make personal, private decisions about their reproductive health and to protect Coloradans’ access to medically accurate information and services to prevent unintended pregnancy and to have healthy pregnancies,” Ailts said.

Senate District 15 contender Rich Ball gets the group’s blessing and encouragement to “give ‘ban abortion, ban birth control Kevin Lundberg’ a pink slip.”

NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado PAC also endorsed three pro-choice candidates for state house seats: Mark Thrun for state house district 5, which covers Denver’s Capitol Hill and Highlands neighborhoods; Jon Goldin-Dubois for state house district 7, which includes Denver’s Park Hill and Stapleton neighborhoods; and Laura Huerta for state house district 30 in Brighton.

“We cannot risk letting anti-choice extremists retake majorities in our state Legislature,” Ailts said, “because we know the top of their agenda includes repealing pro-choices laws that benefit Colorado’s working families.”

NOW DEGETTE CAN CONCENTRATE ON IGNORING JUST ONE REPUBLICAN
Is erstwhile Republican candidate Steve Barton finally done running for office this year?

The one-time U.S. Senate hopeful — that’s “hopeful” in the most generous sense of the word — was usually listed in newspaper accounts as a Fremont County patent attorney, along with fellow longshots Cleve Tidwell, and the other guy. But Barton endorsed Ken Buck after delegates denied him a spot on the primary ballot at the state convention in May.

So Barton went shopping for another primary, this time petitioning his way onto the ballot for the 1st Congressional District race.

Trouble was, the Republican slot to lose to Democrat Diana DeGette this year was already occupied by emergency room doc Mike Fallon, who aims to “cure Congress.”

Last week at a Windsor Gardens candidate forum, Barton surprised the crowd by dropping out and endorsing Fallon.

“Like many others, including Mike Fallon, I have seen for many months the severe danger to survival of our state and country if the likes of DeGette are allowed to remain in office,” Barton said in a statement issued by the Fallon campaign.

Fallon welcomed the endorsement of his sorta-rival, announcing Barton would take a place with Team Fallon consulting on “research and policy.”

“Steve has a brilliant mind for research and policy,” Fallon said. “We’re humbled by his decision to put aside his own campaign to help our effort and welcome him to the team.”

Lest Denver’s several Republicans face any confusion when mail ballots arrive this week, Fallon reminded his backers to go ahead and vote for him anyway, since

Barton’s name still appears on ballots.

ROMANOFF TO DEBATE EMPTY CHAIR ON PUBLIC TELEVISION
Don’t adjust your set.

When Denver’s CPT-12 public TV station airs a debate this week between Colorado’s Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff will indeed be talking to an empty chair. But it doesn’t mean he needs glasses.

Producers of the Colorado Decides debate series — brought to you by CBS4 and CPT-12, which recently changed its name from KBDI — say Romanoff’s rival, incumbent U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, has declined to participate, so Romanoff gets the stage to himself. Along with that classic debate no-show prop, the empty chair.

A Bennet spokesman said the senator has simply been unable to fit the taping into his schedule, what with serving in the Senate on the other side of the country. But Colorado Decides producer Dominic Dezzutti is skeptical. He says the station has been trying to work something out with the senator’s campaign staff since March and has offered up any number of possible times to tape the show. But no dice.

So taping is going ahead without Bennet the morning of July 26 with an airdate for the hour-long debate set for the night of July 30. As at other debates in the series, political consultant Eric Sondermann and Channel 4 anchor Jim Benemann will moderate. That’s right, moderate between Romanoff and the chair.

Republicans Jane Norton and Ken Buck taped their Senate primary debate July 19 and it’s scheduled for broadcast the night of July 23. The debate series should be available for viewing over the Internet at www.cpt12.org, though by press time the site looked like it hadn’t been updated for a couple years.

WILL THE LAST UNITY PARTY MEMBER SHUT OUT THE LIGHTS?
That sound you heard up Boulder way last week might have been freshman Rep. Jared Polis breathing a sigh of relief. While the Internet entrepre-gazillionaire Democrat still has to make it past a Republican this fall, Polis’ path toward re-election to his 2nd Congressional District seat got a little bit clearer with the announcement that Unity Party candidate Bill Hammons has withdrawn from the race.

Hammons, who successfully petitioned onto the ballot for the same race in 2008, blamed “the drama produced by the major-party candidates petitioning onto the ballot” for what he said was a delay learning this year’s petitions fell short. The number of sigs rejected by Secretary of State Bernie Buescher’s petition verifiers was also, Hammons said, higher than expected.

“Combine these factors with the fact that many venues full of local voters have changed their policies to ban political petitioning,” Hammons said in a statement, “and I realized that now is the time for me to make a graceful exit from this race and focus on my duties as Unity Party Chairman.”

Since Hammons won’t be on the general election ballot, his party risks losing its unique “Qualified Political Organization” status in Colorado — which allows voters statewide to register as members, but doesn’t confer privileges to nominate straight to the ballot the way state Libertarians, Greens and American Constitution Party organizations can.

Colorado could drop recognition of the Unities “unless our voter affiliation numbers dramatically increase this year,” Hammons warns.

Like-minded voters had better get cracking. As of the June report on voter registration totals, the Unity Party counts only 110 active members registered statewide. That’s out of 2,384,465 active voters of all persuasions.

STATE DEM PRESS SECRETARY DECAMPS FOR OHIO
The fresh-faced, hard-hitting Colorado Democratic Party press secretary recently tasked with attacking Republican Senate candidates Jane Norton and Ken Buck didn’t last long in the state, but his reasons for leaving Colorful Colorado for Drab Ohio don’t have anything to do with the Centennial State’s toss-up Senate race.

Brad Bauman — who arrived in Colorado in early June fresh from a stint with government-transparency advocacy org the Sunlight Foundation — will no longer be blasting blistering releases pointing out Norton and Buck’s foibles. Instead, he’ll be getting the word out for Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, a Columbus-area rookie facing a tough re-election fight at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers.

It’s not because Colorado Democrats can’t use his help — Bauman pegs Colorado and Ohio’s Senate seats as among the closest-fought contests this election season — but because he owes Kilroy a debt of loyalty. When the freshman Dem gave him a call a couple weeks ago, he said, he couldn’t turn down her appeal for help.

As for Bauman’s desk at CDP headquarters — or at coffee shops and WiFi hotspots around the metro area, where he usually composed the frequent broadsides aimed at Norton and Buck — it won’t go vacant for long. State Democratic Party Communications and Outreach Director Grace López Ramírez says the Donkeys plan to have a replacement braying about the Republicans pronto.

CAMPAIGN FOR FAIR ELECTIONS PRAISES SENATE CANDIDATES
The Campaign for Fair Elections, led by Public Campaign Action Fund and Common Cause, applauded both U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) for cosponsoring the Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752) and his Democratic primary opponent, former Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, for pledging to support the Fair Elections Now Act if elected.

“Sen. Bennet and former Speaker Romanoff know Coloradans want an end to corporate-funded elections,” said David Donnelly, campaign director for the Campaign for Fair Elections. “Voters of all political stripes welcome their support for the Fair Elections Now Act, legislation that would make our elected officials accountable to their constituents — and not the special interests funding their campaigns.”

“Coloradans know that the only interests our elected officials should be paying attention to are the problems of everyday citizens,” said Elena Nunez, program director of Colorado Common Cause. “We applaud both candidates for supporting legislation that would restore our government to one that is of, by, and for the people instead of one bought and paid for by special interests, and urge their Republican counterparts do the same.”

The Fair Elections Now Act would allow candidates to run competitive campaigns for office on a blend of Fair Elections funds and a match on small dollar donations. With Fair Elections, the only interests our elected officials would be paying attention to are their constituents. The legislation has the broad, bipartisan and cross-caucus support of 157 U.S. House members and 23 Senators.

Romanoff’s campaign sent out a press release Thursday welcoming his opponent’s decision to support the Fair Elections Now Act — a measure Romanoff endorsed six months ago. He made sure to emphasize that Bennet’s decision came the day before, a few hours after Romanoff held a press conference to renew his call for FENA’s passage.

“Better late than never,” Romanoff said. “I welcome Sen. Bennet’s words. Now it’s time to take action: Return the million dollars you’ve taken from special-interest groups. Stop taking any more.”

Romanoff was the first candidate in Colorado’s Senate race to refuse contributions from political action committees. He remains the only candidate in this race — and one of the few in the country — to have taken this step.