Colorado has long favored a libertarian political party/philosophy. They are historically fiercely independent. The last 30 years, but especially the last 8-10, have seen a huge influx from other states (especially CA).
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Pig-headed stupidity may be a factor in the primaries. Now that unaffiliated voters can vote in primaries, those voters were sent ballots for both the Democratic and Republican candidates. The included instructions emphasized that voters could return only one of the ballots or neither would count. This warning was also emphasized in local news reports when the ballots were distributed.
Still, one of the Denver news stations reported earlier this week on the number of mail-in ballots that had been thrown out because the voters had completed both primary ballots. These people likely 1) do not read instructions, and/or 2) do not watch local news. (Cable news perhaps?) The voided ballot numbers were telling - over 200 in more populous and bluer Denver, and close to 600 in less populous blood-red Colorado Springs.
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Best quote of the year from Polis:
“I never view it as ‘liberal versus conservative,’” he said, as voters wound their way up to a smoking room that had become the campaign event’s unofficial after-party. “I view it as a forward versus backward.”
Is it time to eschew the labels that simply stimulate emotional reactions? Words like "conservative" and "liberal" have sadly been appropriated by the haters. People have become like Pavlov's dogs and using what were normal terms now just irritates and alienates.
Time for a new language that addresses the things that are broken and can be improved. Is it "liberal" to want good health care and education for all American kids? I would call it smart for the country. I would call it wanting to be globally competitive.
Is it "conservative" to make some attempt at budgetary restraint - to aim for a balanced budget instead of kicking the can down the road? I would call it fiscal responsibility. I would call it strengthening our country's financial health, so we can pay our way through tough times. Almost every serious economist would agree that the time to borrow is when times are tough (deep recessions). During the good times (now) we should be setting aside a rainy day fund.
Yes: "forward vs backward" and maybe "responsible vs selfish".
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What is far-left, left-wing, etc.? Vocabulary matters most, for without a clear understanding of what a word means — truth becomes impossible. Our nation is currently in the midst of the most dishonest political dialogue it has ever seen, with the President lieing minute to minute about everything, the way out of this poisonous cloud of lies for voters is with the facts, just the facts. Here are two: Single Payer is what every other wealthy nation has. It is not a far left idea. Germany, Britain and Japan are currently ruled by right wing conservative pro-business political parties, their populations are thrilled with single payer; Child Care is a normal idea. Taking care of the children of those who must work is rational for a society — again there's a long list of Conservative ruled nations with state sponsored daycare programs, and again their populations wouldn't give them up for the world because those foreign conservatives care about their children. These ideas are not against conservative values, they are against ideology created in think tanks by private corporations hoping to preserve their market share. Stop labling the common sense now being proposed by Democrats as "Far Left", "Left-Wing" and setting up a false dichotomy of us and them, rationalizing the extremes of Trumpism as "Right" when it is radically off the spectrum— in this scenario of false vocabulary reason can not triumph. We need reason and truth more than ever — in Colorado and everywhere.
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With more than half the article focusing on Jared Polis, the author makes it appear that Jared Polis is a shoe-in as the Democratic nominee. A few paragraphs, at best, for Kennedy and Johnston. Don’t be so sure about that prediction. Polis is seen among many Coloradans as more of the “establishment” candidate, while Kennedy and Johnston bring more of the outsider element, much like Hickenlooper, who was more known as a microbrew entrepreneur before starting a political career. We Coloradans still have that pioneer spirit, even if a majority of residents moved here from somewhere else. I think either Kennedy or Johnston will give Jared Polis a run for his money in next week’s election.
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Polis is proof that the far left has much in common with the far right. At a congressional hearing, Polis stated (twice) that men do not deserve due process when accused of sexual assault. He stated that if 10 people are accused and 9 are innocent, it is best to punish all 10, without due process. And he laughed about it.
Here is a link to a video of the hearing:
www.c-span.org/video/?c4550484/jared-polis-campus-rape
Polis is unfit to be governor of our state.
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Well...he actually differentiated between expulsion and punishment, and he did not say there would be no due process--he was just suggesting that a school's due process might properly be different from trial in a court. That was his main and stronger point. I think the person he was questioning made the better arguments, but based on such a short clip--for which I thank you--I could not say he was fit or unfit to be governor.
History has shown us that campaign talk and actions in office are not the same thing. What a candidate proposes seems to always be moderated by the actual process of working within an existing government framework. So I say, I would rather support a candidate who leans far left. As I often said during the presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders proposed the whole loaf of bread. Had he been elected, he would probably only have been able to produce half or less. However, with Trump we not only got all the crumbs swept away, he and his administration supported by a "how high do you want us to jump" Congress, are even taking away the food from the mouths of babes. So to any candidate who is far left, I say go for it. I would like to see all people have health care. I would like to see our beautiful planet saved from destruction for future generations, and an educated population would be a welcome relief. We used to have a Left and a Right. Now we have a Wacko Right, and the Left has become the Middle. It NEEDS to be pushed a bit further to the left to balance the scales and bring sanity back to our governing bodies again.
"For the first time in state history, those undeclared voters can participate in the June 26 primary, and the number of votes returned this month will be an early sign of the state’s political direction."
Unaffiliated voters have had the opportunity this year to vote in whichever ONE primary they'd like to, rather than none. In such a purple state it appears a good policy, allowing more of our centrist citizens a chance to engage earlier. And it seems on the surface like we're at the crest of a blue wave, with Independents able to vote their blue conscience. But not so fast - there are always unintended consequences.
There are reports circulating now that a fair number of those voters did not heed their ballot instructions and have voted in more than one, or even every, primary race. ALL of those votes will be invalidated.
An interesting time to be a native Coloradan, with a challenging November on the horizon.
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The question never asked is, "How far right are we willing to go." We've seen the results of far-right governments but no one asks if we want to do it again.
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How far left are we willing to go. California is testing that
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If California can't pay for single payer, I'll be interested to see if Colorado can. With all due respect to Mr. Pollis, he seems too far to the left for prime time.
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Yeah it's easier to promise than to do, especially considering tax increases require a popular referendum to pass and Colorado in notoriously stingy when it comes to those kinds of votes. There are several rural counties that lack adequate health care facilities. It isn't a question of insurance, the infrastructure simply does not exist. A good example: 8 counties in Colorado don't have a single dentist. Single payer healthcare will be great for Denver, but in the poorest parts of the state where doctors are scarce, it's not going to help much. That makes getting them to vote for a tax increase even harder.
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There was no mention of Donna Lynne, the candidate I’m voting for and our current Lieutenant Govenor. Nice to have an article about CO in the paper I read every morning.
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Corey Gardner our Senator is already as evasive and sightings are as rare as hen's teeth so Stapleton hiding out too sounds like a bit much.
If you don't want to be questioned by voters, then run in a super red state where 2 parties plus lots of independents is waaayy too "taboo" to exist anymore. lol.
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Johnston has no friends among educators thanks to a bill he passed that did away with tenure and instead tied teachers' jobs to standardized test results. It has netted him millions from Michael Bloomberg and right wing education "reformers" but it has sunk his chances at electoral success. Its Kennedy v Polis, and we will see if a $12M self-funded campaign by Polis can win when others have failed in this state.
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I'm curious how Polis is going to shake out. There are a lot of blue dog Democrats outside of Denver. The 2013 recall election of Angela Giron in Pueblo showed those dogs still have teeth. Not sure how well Polis will do with them.
Colorado used to be controlled politically by the Ku Klux Klan, but there is still a strong undercurrent of hate, appeal to ignorance and intolerance. Don't mistake the physical beauty of Colorado for the dark side of its politics. Were it not for the large military presence in Colorado Springs, that city would not be notable for much of anything except for the massive "religious" tax-dodge known as "Focus on the Family."
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You guys are still using coded terms like "average American" to mean conservative, insular whites?
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"Single-payer health care. An all-renewable electric grid. State-funded full-day preschool."
I am shocked!
I consider myself a moderate conservative and those are all issues that I include in my own portfolio.
Simply because they make total sense, maximize the number of people who can contribute productively to the economy and increasing revenue and living standards at the same time.
And THAT is a business-centered agenda.
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Can Denver and Boulder override the rest of the state? How close is the margin?
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The entire Front Range as we call it from Fort Collins to Pueblo is almost overwhelmingly blue. It's also where almost all of the states population is. I personally, am tired of Boulderites calling the shots for the rest of the state. There is a reason they call it The People's Republic of Boulder.
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Huh...somewhere in there are Douglas and El Paso counties which have returned Republicans for Congress fairly regularly. Douglas county being the wealthiest county in the state, El Paso being the most populous.
Why did you give short shrift to Cary Kennedy? She beat Polis handily at the State Assembly, and has shown broad support across the state as a result of her work as State Treasurer. Both Kennedy and Johnston have proposed single payer health plans as well. People keep saying Johnston has the best chance of winning statewide, but both Kennedy and Johnston have far greater name recognition.
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The CO party caucuses don't mean nearly at much in this election since independent voters can now cast ballots in the primaries; they just have to choose one party.
I like Kennedy, but in this era of screaming housing prices, ongoing water and natural resource issues I think we someone with some business and negotiating skills and I think that may be Polis. It's really not about who's nicer or more charming, it's who can stand against the pressures of rapacious business interests and I think that makes it Jared. Not because he's a guy, but because he has business smarts and enough money that he doesn't have to be beholden to the oil and gas boys.
"Single-payer health care. An all-renewable electric grid. State-funded full-day preschool."
Hardly far left.
But the electricity thing will take the release of world changing technology.
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Re: Electricity, not really. Research XCEL Energy's request for bids submitted earlier this year in Colorado. To build and operate renewable energy operations was cheaper than just operating some fossil fuel operations. And storage has a new way to store energy that pretty much solves the duck curve, when it is fully tested and approved, running trains up and down hills, 20th century technology. The cost of renewables and storage is dropping very quickly.
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This Coloradan will be voting for him.
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Polis will succeed in BUYING the democrat nomination. Everybody acknowledges this. His television ad's are truly running non-stop 24/7 in every corner of the State. $1.5 billion in family fortune dollars can afford that. Just like Trump, Polis is self-funded. The campaign contributions he has received from real people don't amount to a hill of beans.
So great, ... that result guarantees a Republican governor for the next four years. Walker Stapleton - scion of the Geo. H.W.Bush Dynasty
I mean, really, who pays for the stuff Polis ridiculously proposes, free college, free sanctuary, free healthcare, free child care... all under the shadow of Colorado TABOR, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights that caps State spending increases at 3% a year,.... and has withstood annual challenges of repeal for 25 years. Famously stated: nah-gunna-happen.
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@Charlie C: You tipped your hand in your first sentence when you referred to the "democrat nomination." The adjective is "Democratic." You sealed the deal when you referred to Polis's "ad's." Members of the party of Trump disdain literacy, including the correct use of apostrophes. As for Walker Stapleton, isn't he the scion of an even earlier dynasty? The one that included a Stapleton who was a Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard? Should be an interesting race.
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Doug Bruce, the guy who saddled the state with TABOR went to jail for tax evasion.
He is also a slum lord with a property in my own neighborhood that has crumbled for the 25 years you speak of, and is down to the 2x4s and studs with a big fence around the whole hellish looking mess, a pretty good metaphor for Republican style politics right now. You can see clean through the house.
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Walker Stapleton represents himself as a fourth-generation Coloradan, when in reality, he was born in Greenwich, CT, his father was born in Kansas City, and his great-grandfather, Benjamin Stapleton, was a high ranking Klan member, was born in Kentucky.
What frightens me more is his smarmy pronouncement that he supports Donald Trump and the way he hits in his ads those key words that get Trump supporters all hot and bothered. Colorado may be progressive along the Front Range, but outside of the Front Range, I believe it's still strongly red and would vote for this yahoo.
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Kudos to the Times for this article on Colorado issues, and the previous article on fracking in CO. (If you have not read the fracking one, check it out here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/us/colorado-fracking-debates.html
Developments in CO reflect and shed light on nationwide debates. Keep up the coverage!
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The key to winning a statewide election here is to carry Jefferson, Arapahoe, and Larimer counties, which can go either way.
To win there, you have to play to the center.
What this article overlooks is that Colorado's new open primary law, which allows unaffiliated voters to cast a ballot in either party primary (but not both), is going to tend to push the Democratic party electorate to the center.
The article also does not mention that Colorado is a mail-only ballot state. Yes, you can drop off your ballot at a government office or in a drop box, but there's no voting locations where you have to wait in line on election day. So that may drive a bigger turnout.
Polis may lead in the polls for the Democrats, but we'll see what happens when the results come in. As for Stapleton, his great-great grandfather was the KKK-affiliated governor decades ago and his family has ties to the Bush clan. Many conservatives here prefer Victor Mitchell, a former legislator from Castle Rock, or Mitt Romney's nephew Doug Robinson.
Stay tuned.
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In this and another article about women running for governor, the NYT has failed to mention Donna Lynne as a Democrat also on the ballot for Governor.
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That's because Lynn is running dead last and not really worth mentioning. Kennedy has a much better chance of tugging the nomination away from Polis.
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Polis appears to be walking away with the nomination and, in a normal year, he would been beaten handily in the general election. Boulder culture is widely derided in most of the state as elite or over-the-top progressive. The level of energy on the left and the disenchantment of the center may be enough to save his chances. It will be an interesting election!
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"Boulder culture" like the great flagship University of Colorado and all the exemplary citizens who have graduated from there? Colorado would be a backwater (think Wyoming) without the Boulder culture.
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Eh, as someone employed at CU (I actually grew up in Boulder as well), I wouldn't want to neglect the quality or importance of the other Colorado cities - Denver is a regional center in a way that Boulder just isn't. Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont...all are far from "backwaters" and even CO Springs, which is culturally Boulder's opposite, is a big economic player around here.
Colorado is nothing like as rural as Wyoming, and this is in many ways a rural vs urban election.
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I didn't say that I shared that view, but it is extreme to say Colorado would be Wyoming without Boulder. Think two-thirds of the state is public land available for recreation, 26 ski resorts, at least three other universities on par or exceeding CU, Aspen, Fort Collins, Greely, Colorado Springs, four National Parks.... Boulder is more Colorado culture than vice versa.
May the best Democrat win !!
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Unfortunately, it appears that the best-funded candidate may win. We really need to get money out of politics.
I am disappointed that the Times is giving free advertising to Jared Polis, who definitely does not need it as a self-funded millionaire candidate. Why not a more balanced view by including more about his main rival, Cary Kennedy?
Poll any progressive policy in the United States and it consistently has a majority among voters. (some things consistently poll in the 80's and 90's)
For a long time, the right has been able to separate those policies, and create wedge issues, so many people vote for a single issue, or even against themselves.
Now that the political stars seem to be aligning, any Democratic candidate that is unequivocal and ''sane'' about those progressive policies are garnering the votes (shown time and time again in special elections so far)
The right is going to continue to try and label everything as ''extreme'' (their favorite adjective), but it is people just coming back to the center of a political spectrum that has been pulled so far right over a generation or two.
People that think that truly progressive taxes ( you make more, and pay more) single payer health care, human rights for all (not subjugated by religious rights anymore) and keeping families together (whether they are refugees, immigrants or even citizens) are not the ''extreme'' ones anymore.
The ones that think Americans don't deserve those things are.
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Well stated! Republicans with "wedge issues" have been playing the electorate for fools for too long.
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I don't understand how it is possible (or sustainable) that Colorado turns blue when it is completely surrounded by 7 red states. I find that astonishing; promising, but still astonishing.
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FYI: New Mexico is as purple as Colorado.
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Colorado has experienced a huge influx of people from urban centers on both coasts over the past few decades.
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Colorado has one of the highest per capita number of college graduates in the country.
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We need a revitalization of organized labour to oppose oligarchy and support the rights of employees, as well as pushing for higher wages. Ms. Kennedy is an advocate for those things and I voted for her. Single payer health care is desperately needed and I hope she will push for that as well when she is governor.
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Mike Johnston is as liberal as Polis but more realistic, balanced and electable state-wide than Polis. Johnston's "what I don't care about" ad is a classic statement of personal belief and reaches the heart of what many of us who live in Colorado hope to see become the prevailing ethic, in Colorado and in the United States. It's a critical contest with the forces of darkness seeking a return to regressive social policy at home and indifference to the larger world of which we are a part whether Trump likes it or not. Mike Johnston can help lead us out of the wilderness.
Kennedy is sound on principles, but hyper-focused on school funding in Denver but her overriding focus on schools is not enough. Johnston not only talks the talk on education, he has walked the walk, in the shoes of a teacher and administrator. He also has walked the walk on gun control, open-mindedness, and long-range thinking.
Johnston is our best candidate, with the best chance of defeating Stapleton.
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I like the Mike Johnson ad you reference; in addition, his other ads are balanced and lean less toward the negative than do other candidates. I agree with you that he is the candidate who can defeat Walker Stapleton; unfortunately, I'm not sure he has a chance against Kennedy or Polis.
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Johnston is not a liberal when it comes to education, but neo-liberal. He claims that the charter high school of which he was a principal was the first, statewide, to achieve a 100% college acceptance rate of its graduating seniors. However, this statistic ignores the fact that many of the enrolled 9th graders left before 12th grade. This is how charter schools manipulate their statistics and cherry-pick students to make themselves look better. Public schools, in comparison, take in all children and still compete well against charter schools overall. Public schools represent our values that all children deserve a quality education and that having a well-educated society benefits us all. Public education is a public good. Charter schools, because they are privately run, are not a public good from which all can benefit. Neo-liberalism is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
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I like Polis but there are a lot of people in this state who hate "Boulder liberals" and I am very concerned he will motivate republicans to vote against him. That said, his pockets are deeper by far than every other candidate on both sides and I'm hoping all that money will pay for ads that overcome the bias. Hate to say it, but the only way the Dems may lose this race is if they run a rich, gay Boulder liberal...
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Good article. Mostly informative and accurate save one glaring error. There are actually FOUR qualified Democratic candidates for governor. The author neglected to mention Donna Lynne, the current Lieutenant Governor. While she is trailing in the polls and has little, if any, chance to win on Tuesday, she is, nonetheless a legitimate candidate.
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Donna Lynne, current Colorado Lt. Governor, and native New Yorker, is also running on the Democratic primary ballot for Governor. You seem to have forgotten her in the article.
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I noticed that omission, too. Lynne has been endorsed by Governor Hickenlooper. She deserved to be included in this article.
All of the Democratic candidates are spectacular, especially in contrast to the Republicans. One of those guys (they're all men) is campaigning as a businessman "outsider" with no experience in politics. As if America needs another one of those. He and the other GOP contenders are aggressively declaring themselves gung-ho for Trump and campaigning against the Affordable Care Act. A bunch of clueless, tone-deaf losers.
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She has not been explicitly endorsed by Gov. Hickenlooper; he has only said she would be a good Governor.
“'It’s worse than moving blue,' said Jon Caldara, who leads the Independence Institute, a Denver-based libertarian think tank. 'We’re turning into California.'”
Ok, seriously. As a Californian, I really don't get why every non-Californian in the US thinks that California is some kind of dystopia. Sure, California has many problems, but none of these problems are exclusive to us. Our problems with homelessness, housing, etc. are exacerbated by public policies that do not update at the pace of our economic growth. If they're only referring to our high taxes, then tell me again how well Kansas is doing.
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The problem with the we're turning into California argument is the counter argument that the Republicans want to turn us into Kansas.
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As a California expat living in Denver, the sentiment is strong - and completely ridiculous. California is the 6th largest economy in the world. I sometimes wonder if Colorado enjoyed the economic woes of the 80s/90s or if they have simply forgotten them. Even in my time living here, which hasn't been terribly long, things have continued to improve dramatically. If this Californiafication is somehow bad, I am truly curious what good looks like...
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Jon Caldera is a contrarian, libertarian hack. 90% of what he says is nonsense and his inclusion here only speaks to his effective PR, not any relevance he has to what's actually happening. Just Google him and you'll be overwhelmed with his garbage, me-first opinions.
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