February 12, 2016 12:55 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Feb. 12)

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Happy Birthday, Uncle Abe; you don’t look a day over 207. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Last night seven Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in Colorado took part in a debate at the University of Denver. Tomorrow night, six GOP Presidential candidates will debate in South Carolina.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore can’t seem to make it onto the main Republican debate stage no matter how many GOP candidates drop out of the race. As Politico reports, Saturday night’s debate in South Carolina will feature 6 Republican candidates…none of them named Jim Gilmore. Perhaps Gilmore should consider running for U.S. Senate in Colorado instead.

► The Colorado Independent reports on the latest development in Gov. John Hickenlooper’s  plan to use money from the so-called “Hospital Provider Fee” to pay for necessary services in Colorado:

At issue is whether it would be constitutional to reclassify a billion dollar hospital program so money generated from it will not push general fund revenue over mandated limits under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and many Democrats in the legislature want a program called the hospital provider fee redesignated so there’s more money in the budget to fund roads, education and other programs.

In a legal review released today by former attorneys for past governors Bill Ritter, a Democrat, and Bill Owens, a Republican, they say the Hickenlooper plan would be “legally sound and fiscally responsible.”

Hickenlooper’s office continues to wait for an opinion from Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, who appears to be dragging her feet on the issue for political reasons.

► Democratic Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders faced off in another debate last night. Politico presents five takeaways from the debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Washington Post called the debate a clear victory for Clinton.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

Let’s dispel with this fiction once and for all that Marco Rubio is a shoo-in to be the establishment choice in the Republican presidential race. Marco Rubio is not a shoo-in to be the establishment choice in the Republican presidential race.

Politics can change in an instant. And that’s what happened last Saturday night when Rubio repeatedly, um, repeated a stock line from his stump speech during a debate in New Hampshire. “Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country,” Rubio said. And said. And said.

Chris Christie called him out: “There it is, the memorized 25-second speech,” Christie joked.

► Personhood activists are looking to create a municipal abortion ban in Colorado Springs.