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April 16, 2011 12:13 AM UTC

Bipartisan Support for Screwing Mike Coffman

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

TUESDAY UPDATE: Lynn Bartels of the Denver paper has a useful update on proposed changes to Mike Coffman’s district. As we noted above, none of the Democratic maps move Coffman’s registered Aurora home out of CD-6; both of Republican Dave Balmer’s would do this. On the matter of voter registration, the Democratic map proposals create a CD-6 that would be very competitive, while all five Republican maps draw CD-6 with a strong GOP advantage.

—–

The first round of redistricting maps have been released, and while none of the current maps are likely to end up as the final versions after votes, lawsuits, etc., there are some interesting common themes that can be gleaned from what we saw today.

The most obvious theme is that both Democrats and Republicans seem intent on screwing over Republican Rep. Mike Coffman. The makeup of Coffman’s current CD-6 district gives him a 2-to-1 Republican voter advantage and makes it all but impossible for him to lose re-election (or to even face a serious Democratic challenger, for that matter). But Coffman loses at least some of that advantage in all of the redistricting maps made available today.  

The map proposed by Democrats moves CD-6 from the South Metro area (Douglas County, primarily) and turns it into a seat encompassing Adams and Arapahoe counties; we haven’t seen the voter breakdowns of the proposed maps yet, but judging from the district boundaries the new CD-6 would likely be a fairly competitive district.

The Republican-drawn maps are a bit kinder to Coffman, but they still add Democrats from mid- to northern-Jefferson County and Arapahoe County. Looking at the boundaries of that map, CD-6 would likely have a slight Republican edge but would absolutely not be overwhelmingly supportive for the GOP.

Coffman has been openly talking about challenging Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in 2014, but if he doesn’t get re-elected to Congress in 2012, he can forget that idea; he’s been all but invisible during his first two terms in CD-6 thus far, and without a bully pulpit leading into 2014, he’ll face a serious uphill battle on name recognition alone.

Coffman has never been a favorite of Democrats, particularly during his meddling days as Secretary of State, but he’s also had a hard time finding his niche of support among Republicans. He tried to run for Governor in 2006 — a lifelong goal of his — but was quickly and embarrassingly shoved aside by Bob Beauprez. Coffman made a nice political recovery by winning a crowded GOP primary in CD-6 in 2008, and with few other options, he should be the figurative head of the Colorado Republican Party by now. He’s no figurehead now, and Republicans seem to have no problem throwing him under the bus during the redistricting process. It will be interesting to see over the next couple of months if Coffman has enough political juice to fight back.

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22 thoughts on “Bipartisan Support for Screwing Mike Coffman”

  1. On the other hand, now I have Perlmutter. Which is awesome. But it would have been fun to see that one finally get taken by a Dem…  

  2. Is when it’s all said and done he’s reasonably thoughtful and tries to do a good job. That just won’t do in today’s GOP.

    And as he’s an ardent conservative, he’s not going to get any love from Democrats.

    2. You’ve either

      A) Lost your mind,

      B) Not kept up with Coffman’s “no” votes on absolutely everything people on the left or in the middle have presented as legislation since he got in office, making him one of the most extremist right-wing nut-job Congressman in the country,

      or C) You’ve lost your mind.

      Coffman and his office staff will not even talk to people they don’t perceive as far-right supporters. A friend of mine called his office and was told, “Mike represents the people who elected him”. In other words, not the other 40+ percent. My GLBT friends have gotten in for a meeting with Lamborn’s staff even, but Coffman simply pretends people who do not agree with him do not exist.

      Coffman’s office told bold-faced lies about a rally we held at his office a couple of years ago during the summer of health reform debate. We had more than 1000 pro-health reform people outside his office (yes, we worked our tuchuses off on turn-out) in Douglas County, to a couple hundred Tea Party activists. When asked, his deceitful staff, deliberately lying, told the press most of them were there to protest health reform.

      Coffman also was under investigation for throwing out 12,000 voter registrations in 2008. He was found “not innocent” and was given a deal. If he fixed the problems, he was given a pass.

      Coffman consistently votes against the interests of the elderly, children, the poor, veterans, the homeless, the unemployed, people of color, etc. He has no soul, as far as I can tell, only a close bond to white, male, corporate, wealthy America.

      I give him credit for once appearing at a town hall sponsored by Adam Schrager’s folks with most of the Colorado Congressional delegation, — Perlmutter, Bennet, Udall, DeGette and Polis. He listened to the audience tell their tragic stories of abuse from the health care system, then he turned around and voted no against health reform anyway. (What’s worse, a schoolyard bully your barely know who takes your candy, or when a bully who pretends to be your friend in order to beat you up to take your candy?)

      Coffman may seem like a mild mannered, thoughtful guy, but even in peaceful, beautiful country ponds, there are sometimes large barrels of toxic, industrial wastes polluting every living thing in the vicinity.

      I wish this diary had a poll like this:

      Should Republicans and Democrats alike commit to ousting extremist Mike Coffman from office for his failure to represent his district, through redistricting?

      A. Yes

      B. Yes

      C. Yes

      Ask me again tomorrow. I’ll not hold back and tell you what I really think about Mike Coffman.  

        1. is disliked is because they’re too nice and they try too hard to be reasonable. It’s the only reason he can imagine people give him a hard time on Pols, so maybe he’s projecting a little bit.

      3. Nor is he perfect. And he is very political, as are most elected officials.

        To take one of your examples, yes he’s voted no on most every piece of legislation presented by the left. And I’m guessing many liberal congresspeople you love have voted no on every conservative piece of legislation. That’s what you get with a conservative congressman.

        But in doing that he is representing his district. That’s what he’s supposed to do. But if we find all those who’s votes we don’t like reprehensible, then there’s no room to work together to find effective compromise.

        1. That’s not the question under discussion.

          You made the far-fetched claim that Republicans don’t like Coffman because he’s too reasonable. Nancy provided a list of reasons why that description of Coffman is at odds with reality.

          The reason the Republican power-brokers don’t like Coffman has nothing to do with a vote here and there, and it’s certainly not because he’s “reasonably thoughtful.”  

        2. Did you even read my piece? If you did, you would see it has little to do with the way he votes, and mostly to do with his sleazy politicking, unwillingness to listen to his constituents, lying staff, allegations of voter tampering, and resistence to following a court order the first time it was issued. The guy is a slimeball.  

  3. And not easy to figure.

    Up ’till now, CD6 has been tilted like the University of Nebraska’s football schedule under Osborne.

    CD6 has been an automatic in the congressional win column for the reds since I can remember. This doesn’t make sense.

    Extreme conservative in demographic, it’s been a breeding ground for radical republican ballot measures, quircky teabag causes, and birther strategies.

    Why would the republicans draw up a redistricting plan that makes 6 even slightly competitive? Fist of all, a level or even remotely close to level playing field would go against every tenet that party holds dear.

    Just as voter suppression, legal or semi legal, allways favors conservatives, adding voters certainly will water down the red advantage.

    Curious to say the least.    

    1. I’m really getting to like him now that he’s in international development rather than politics. Give him at least a few years before dragging him back into this mess.

        2. and has a promising career ahead of her, I’m sure. I’d love to think she could win in CD6, but I don’t think she could. As much as I would give my I-teeth to have a progressive represent me and my family, CD6 needs an entrepreneurial military-vet, blue dog Democrat who has a wad of personal cash to throw into the race. We have a hard time covering all those bases, even with the great candidates we’ve had. As sleazy as Coffman’s political maneuvering has been, he’s a helluva fundraiser.

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