May 21, 2007 04:26 PM UTC

Jared Polis' Candidacy Official

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Boulder Daily Camera reports:

Boulder entrepreneur and philanthropist Jared Polis will formally begin his candidacy for U.S. Congress today, bringing to the 2nd Congressional District race a candidate with virtually limitless financial firepower and solid name recognition.

If elected, he would become Colorado’s first openly gay representative to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Polis, a Democrat who served six years as a member of the Colorado State Board of Education, said he would file his campaign papers this morning.

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and environmentalist Will Shafroth, both Democrats, are competing with Polis for the seat. No Republican candidates have announced.

Neither candidate returned calls for comment Sunday.

“I have a track record of thinking outside the box,” Polis said in an interview with the Camera Sunday. “I have experience from the public sector coupled with experience working in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.”

It is his business experience that gives Polis, 32, an immediate and formidable presence in the race for the seat held by Rep. Mark Udall since 1999…

As usual, you heard it here weeks ago.