August 28, 2006 11:05 PM UTC

Tom Massey vs. the "Last Donkucrat"

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Pueblo Chieftain profiled yesterday the Colorado HD-60 race between incumbent Rep. Tom Massey and Democrat Curt Imrie, who was briefly a challenger to Jay Fawcett for the Democratic CD-5 nomination in the spring.

The HD-60 race is not on either party’s list of high-value targets, since many Democrats will find plenty to support in the middle-of-the-road Rep. Massey.

Tom Massey swears that despite how it may appear to some, he is not a Democrat in Republican’s clothing.

But while he forwards such ideas as government support of education and limited regulation of certain industries, he still supports traditional GOP platforms.

That’s not only a skill the freshman lawmaker learned as a real estate broker, but also after serving on the Poncha Springs town council and the Salida school board.

“I know how to work in a bipartisan fashion, and I know that you can’t get anything done without collaboration from both sides of the (political) aisle,” Massey said. “I work both sides to the middle and try to find a win-win for both. When you’re in the minority you can lose outright very easily. But if you work effectively with both sides, you can get both sides to the middle.”

Imrie, by comparison, brings his commanding knowledge of the Democratic mascot to the table.

As the self-proclaimed dean of pack-burro racing, Imrie has become a fairly well-known character in these parts as the jackass-riding cowboy who’s lost more political contests than he’s won donkey races.

Imrie has run – and lost – races against well-intrenched GOP incumbents for state House District 61, Congressional District 3 and Congressional District 5.

Now, the 60-year-old Democrat is running against freshman Republican Rep. Tom Massey for House District 60 in a race he describes as “winnable,” at least compared to the other candidates he’s gone up against.

Tom Massey doesn’t have anything to worry about. The only real risk he had was an attack from the conservative wing of the GOP, which never materialized. He even participated earlier this year in the liberal Bell Policy Center’s “Referendum C Accountability Tour.” Massey is the sort of politician that hardcore ideologues on both sides of the aisle grudgingly respect, which in our opinion bodes very well for his future prospects.

As for Curt Imrie, cabin fever is nothing to sneeze at. We’re happy to see him keeping busy.