U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line
(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez

(D) George Stern

(R) Sheri Davis

50%↑

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
March 07, 2010 10:40 PM UTC

Underdogs Shine In South Denver GOP Straw Poll

  • 33 Comments
  • by: redstateblues

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Yesterday’s Candidate Search 2010 event hosted by the South Denver 912 Project, and live streamed by the People’s Press Collective, was a showcase of GOP candidates for nearly all levels of elected office.

Candidates for Governor, CD2, CD6, CD7, US Senate, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, state House and Senate, and county positions were featured at the March 6 South Denver Candidate Search 2010 Forum.

Included in the activities for the afternoon was a straw poll of attendees that yielded results that may be surprising to some. From Colorado Statesman reporter Ernest Luning‘s twitter feed:

Yep, you read that correctly. Weld County DA Ken Buck out-polled US Senate front-runner Jane Norton, and Denver businessman Dan Maes out-polled gubernatorial front-runner Scott McInnis.

Now, that’s not to say that straw polls are meaningful. Usually they’re nothing short of worthless, except to show the barometer of the feelings of the small amount of people present at the time. But in this case, it seems to show that the candidates who are perceived as more entrenched in the political elite are not gaining favor among Republican activists and Tea Partiers.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen attempts by both McInnis and Norton to appeal to the activist base come up short. When McInnis, as well as FOX News and The Wall Street Journal, tried to paint the former Congressman’s plan to revitalize the state’s economy (the so-called “Platform for Propsperity”) as reaching out to the Tea Party, he was blasted by Maes and conservative groups.

Similarly, Norton’s attempts to portray herself as the Tea Party candidate at various meet-and-greet events in communities across Colorado have backfired–caused in no small part by comments like the ones she made last month when she made the claim that the $15 billion HIRE Act passed by Congress was “too small.”

Until this poll is followed by others with similar results, it will only be able to show us what most straw polls show–how people in the room at the time felt at that moment. However, if more local Republican/Tea Party events hold straw polls with the same outcome, you can bet that it will start to set off alarm bells in the McInnis and Norton campaigns–if this one hasn’t already.

Tweet
Share

Comments

33 thoughts on “Underdogs Shine In South Denver GOP Straw Poll”

  1. What the hell is a 912 group? There must be differentiation between them and Tea Party types. I know Glenn Beck is associated in some way.

    1. We are a non-partisan conservative grass roots movement designed to educate and inform our members and others in the community who represent our conservative views so that informed decisions can be made solely by the individuals themselves. We also do not endorse any candidates but rather extend our graciousness to them for their time and commitment in representing our core beliefs and values in the public official positions they hold.

      And yes, it was created by Glenn Beck. This group is one of the local incarnations. I’m not sure if they’re directly associated with the Tea Party national movement, but they are similar ideologically.

      1. The reference is to the national unity and fist-pumping determination the country had the day after the 9/11 attacks. Back when it looked like we had a common enemy and could all get behind George W. Bush and his wise leadership.

          1. If only we could pretend Republican policies didn’t drive the economy into a ditch and that Americans haven’t already decided to go a different direction in a rather sweeping electoral victory 16 months ago … things would be so much easier!

            1. It was the policies of BOTH the Democrats AND the Republicans which drove us into this economic ditch. Sadly, none of them are willing to take ANY blame. None of them have said ONCE, “Oops! Our bad!”

              Think about it. How long was Alan Greenspan the head of the Federal Reserve? They pushed an extra low interest rate in order to push more people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. Homes they shouldn’t have bought.

              It doesn’t matter if it was the first (and only) home of an hourly wage earner, or the seond/vacation home of a middle class family. Or the “investment property” by the almost wealthy executive.

              The policies that were put in place to encourage that borrowing, and the lending by the banks was PUSHED by our leaders… of BOTH parties.

              And the funniest thing is that nearly all of them could state an economic theory if they had to.

              What a mess.

              1. Not true.

                Greenspan admitted he was wrong in Dec 2008 testimony to Congress. He admitted that the low interest rate policy he pursued was based on the mstaken premise that banks would only do what was profitable and good for the banks and not bet the house (no pun intended).

                He admitted that his free market at all costs ideology was wrong.  

    2. .

      that there are roughly 5 “groupings” that sometimes are mistakenly lumped together:

      — Patriot Movement

      — 912 Project

      — Tea Party Movement

      — Shadow groups that are run by the GOP and

      — people who generally don’t even register, let alone vote, who are riled up.  

      The Patriot Movement is the one with the deepest roots.  It goes back about 35 years and, if there is a common thread, it might be the notion of being prepared for the coming apocalyptic anarchy – stock up on guns and ammo, so you can protect your food stores from roaming bands of looters when the government goes bankrupt and the police are all laid-off (and presumably form those roaming gangs.)  Another meme is preparedness to fight off the US Army, black helicopters and Xe when they come to put us into FEMA internment camps.  

      The 912 groups (“912 Project”) are inspired by Glenn Beck.  Their websites proclaim 9 Principles and 12 Values.  The values are simply the Boy Scout Law, put in a different order, with no credit given to Baden-Powell.  The principles, available by google, I will leave for someone else to analyze.  There are hints of nativism and eschatological exclusion, mixed with Mosaic legalism untempered by Christian charity.  This seems better thought-out than “OLIGARHY.”  

      The Tea Party Movement was true grass roots.  Spontaneous.  Like the first three, it is predominantly Caucasian, retired, and financially comfortable.  While there is some flexibility, most Tea Partiers think the federal government is too big for its britches, involved in too many things that exceed its Constitutional authority, taxes are too high, oppose federal bailouts and fear healthcare reform.  A few particularly grouse about arbitrage traders and hedge fund managers nearly destroying the economy, and then getting paid a steep ransom not to just blow their own heads off.  A few of them wax poetic about the beauty and elegance and stark logic of markets and capitalism.  

      Folks came together in common cause under the Tea Party rubric, but didn’t want to get bogged down with formal organizations or leaders.  Meaning, for any of you who have watched TV shows about white slavery, they were ripe for exploitation.  

      Which leads us to …

      A plethora and multiplicity of independent-sounding, freedom-loving shadow organizations that want to stick it to The Man.

      And, by the way, are owned and controlled by The Man.  

      There’s “Americans for Prosperity,” “Campaign for Liberty,” Colorado Union of Taxpayers, The Gadsden Society, Liberty on the Rocks, Peoples Press Collective, We the People Congress, Western Slope Conservative Alliance and “TheConstitutionalistToday,” for starters.  Notice I didn’t list FreedomWorks or Dick Armey.  The are very careful to not overtly state who is funding them.  

      But if you read their websites, they are not talking about forming a third party or otherwise going off the reservation.  These groups are all talking and preparing and even training to hijack their local precinct caucuses and county assemblies.  

      In case you’re wondering, only 2 political parties in Colorado have precinct caucuses and county assemblies.  The 3rd parties aren’t big enough to justify doing that.  

      So these groups are all pointed in the direction of participating in the GOP caucuses and assemblies, unless I missed my guess and they are actually registered as Democrats (registration is necessary to participate in these events.)  And of course every one of these websites proclaims loudly that they are non-partisan.    

      The last grouping is folks who are mad about something, they’re not 100% sure what, and they really don’t know what to do about it.  They mostly figured politics was a waste of time in the past, but they really fear for their own future and for the country, so they are trying to find a way to do something to stop the precipitous national decline.  They have checked into many of the groups described above and are still disillusioned.  They mostly see right through the fact that the GOP is pulling the strings, and they don’t like the GOP any more than they like the Democrats.  

      Some are conservative, some are libertarian.  Some are even centrist, if you bother to listen to them, which the above groups simply don’t have time to do.  

      .

        1. I’m getting their emails. I thought it was illegal for a church to host a political, partisan event or at the very least, threaten their non profit status. Then again, I guess there aren’t a lot of Assembly of God Democrats in Greeley.

      2. …Tea Parties were authentic grassroots.  Much different tune from the screams about “Brownshirts” and “astroturf” we had going.

        1. He’s one of your fellow masochistic conservatives who enjoys posting here.

          If this “grass roots” movement turns into electoral success for the GOP, then I’ll be convinced. Much like it took all of the young people and minorities finally turning out for a Democrat to get Obama elected before the Republicans believed it would happen.

        2. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here – while the individual Tea Party chapters may be grassroots, they are egged on by both corporate (insurance company bussed-in astroturfers) and GOP (FreedomWorks, the Tea Party Express…) backers.

          The Tea Party is only “unaffiliated” in as much as it doesn’t answer directly to the RNC, IMHO.

  2. …pretty sure there HAVE been a number of straw polls that show similar results.  Like…all of them.  That’s not to say I think Buck and Maes will be the guys.  I actually still don’t see either one winning their respective primaries.  But I don’t remember the last straw poll that McInnis or Norton won.

    3. .

      That was held on 27 February.  

      Methodology was key.

      One could only vote by cell phone/ texting, and had to either be there in person or be watching the live streaming (or be told how to vote by someone who was.)  One vote per SIM Card.  

      Someone told me that the Tidwell campaign had brought  a box full of cell phones.  I was sitting 10 ft away from their literature table and never saw any evidence of that.

      Steve Barton, who most think is running a distant 5th, nearly beat Norton at that one.  That was after Buck had a nifty zinger for the Norton stand-in:

      “Must be present to win.”

      .

        1. .

          from one of the links in Boulder Republican’s post below, http://www.peoplespresscollect…

          I see that I got the date wrong (21 Feb) and Tidwell was 4 votes behind Wiens, and they were both more than 20 votes behind Buck.  

          Sorry.

          But I was right that Norton barely squeaked ahead of Barton.

          .

    4. …the value or lack thereof.  I get that some/most/all of these may mean absolutely nothing.  Just supporting what I said above.

      Dan Maes wins Channel 7 News Colorado Gov. poll

      Ken Buck wins Northern Colorado Tea Party senate candidate poll

      Ken Buck and Dan Maes win their respective polls at the North Denver Candidate Search

      Ken Buck and Dan Maes win respective polls at the People’s Press Collective

      Can’t find a link, but I’m pretty sure that Buck and Maes also won an online poll of the Denver County GOP pretty significantly a couple months back.

      I could keep looking, but I think I made my point.  I would say that if some new polls came out showing Norton and McInnis as the favorite of the more involved Republican primary voters (i.e. the people who take part in these types of polls), it would be a trend in that direction, not merely a continuation of the current trend.

      To address the question a couple of you asked about conservative support in the general election should Norton & McInnis win, my opinion–which has developed and solidified in the past two weeks–is that Norton can and will get most of the conservative support.  McInnis will not, and will lose the general election for that reason, among (many) others.  The economy would have to get much worse, he would have to deliver a balanced and consistent message through election day, and at least a few “mini-scandals” would have to develop involving Hick.  If not, he’s dead in the water.

  3. He’s got most of the angry nuts behind him. But they aren’t donating squat to him. Fulminating old farts sitting on their barcaloungers yelling at the TV don’t a revolution make.

    On the flip side, McInnis has a million chits to call in within the party and has full backing from just about every party operative. And this is the Republican party, not the Democratic party. They’ll follow their marching orders.

    1. But the question is, if Republicans nominate McInnis and Norton, will the energized base hold its nose and turn out, or will it decide this is more proof the bigwigs run things at the expense of the little guy?

      1. Hard core conservative republican base may not be so fired up with their primary results.

        Similar to how some of the Mitt Romney and Huckabee supporters split their votes and the more perceived moderate John McCain won the primary. Remember what happened in winner take all Florida with the Repubs in 2008. McCain only beat Romney by 3 points or so because Huckabee came in a strong third taking many of the conservative votes that would have gone to Romney had Huckabee not been in the race. The hard core group may do the same splitting their votes between Buck and Weins giving Norton the victory here in the Repub Senate primary. Ultimately, I do not know what that might translate into in the general?

        1. There are more votes up for grabs in the middle than on either extreme, so a Norton win in the primary still is probably the GOP’s best shot. If a Norton and McInnis ticket leaves Tea Party types unenthused, that still leaves fewer votes on the table than Norton and McInnis can potentially get from unaffiliated voters who might be alarmed by Buck or Wiens.

          1. After the primary, it comes down to a few things.

            1 – Money.

                 TV, Radio, Mailings, etc. It all costs a LOT of money. Hate it though we do, if you don’t have enough on hand already, you CAN’T get people to work for you without COD. And a campaign CANNOT work COD.

            2 – Motivation.

                 People need to have a reason to get up and go door-to-door for THAT candidate.

            3 – Organization.

                 The people in the organization, local, state and national have to ALL be fired up and forcing a tidal wave to move on your behalf. If you don’t have a REAL organization with significant hands on winning campaign experience, all the money and motivation in the world doesn’t matter.

            Think of it this way. If your house was on fire, you would want people to come in ASAP with up-to-date training, the most modern equipment and lots of water at high pressure to put that fire out.

            But all of the water, even with all of the well-meaning neighbors in the world won’t put that fire out. Not without the proper equipment. And especially not without people with winning hands-on experience.

            Buck doesn’t have any of those.

            2. But Norton has not raised enough to put this race out of reach for others.

              Her lackluster fund raising indicates she has significant flaws considering the size of her Rolodex.

      2. First off Norton was imposed from without and does not have a bunch of favors to call in. So outside of the dollars, Buck is arguably in a better position than Norton. For the caucus, Buck could conceivably do better than Norton. If his fundraising for Q1 and Q2 are then decent – who knows…

    2. I think you are part of the group that bases a lot on what you see on the outside. I will give you some insight so maybe you could vote on your principles like most people should.

      Maes has all of your so called “angry nuts”, the problem is these people are not nuts as you call them, they ARE Republicans and the are going to make a difference. They may not be donating the money, but that is because they are not the millionaires who have all the money to give. The activists are the average people like you and me and they are going to work hard for Dan Maes because they want change.

      Maes also holds a lot of support within the Party, the problem with all of those people is that you dont see them. You may ask why, Well its because they are so scared that if McInnis wins he will destroy their jobs for not supporting him. Now is that someone you want to support? Someone who will threaten everyone’s careers and hard work just because he didn’t have their support.

      Second,Mcinnis has a million dollars but do you know where it comes from? Washington! Now if I’m not mistaken the majority of people now would like the Federal Government out of our state and out of control of our lives. How is a Governor who is tied to Washington going to tell them that it is not their business?

      That is some food for thought.

      Another thing, the tea party people, and also principled republicans will not fall in line with the anointed one, the will vote democrat on purpose of showing the party how angry they are with the way the party has chosen to go. If you look back on the past several voting years the party has put an anointed candidate in every year and LOST. Why on earth would you continue to take the same path? Is it that maybe there is hope, I am here to tell you that is a bunch of crap

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Gabe Evans
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

149 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!