We’ve just released our new Big Line located directly to the left. Where’d we get it right and wrong? Let us know, Polsters.
Mayor
Chris Romer
We think Romer’s still got the lead in part because he has the money to be everywhere at once. He can define the race, whether it’s negative or positive, and will be able to raise and invest huge amounts of money. A lot of voters may end up voting for Romer because of his father and their shared last name. Unfortunately, the “investment banker” is an easy target, and Romer only beat Hancock by 2,000 votes. Still, a win is a win.
Michael Hancock
By beating Mejia and the rest, Hancock has proven his viability as a candidate. He should be raising much, much more money to compete against Chris, though. He’ll also have a hard time swaying progressive voters because of his views on abortion and evolution. Still, Hancock has a great story and an impressive media savvy. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t have is an antidote or counterpoint to that asinine City Council pay raise vote. That’s going to look terrible in ads.
Clerk and Recorder
Sarah McCarthy
We’re impressed with McCarthy. She came out of a distant third place to win round one. She’s got a lengthy resume with varying experience and networks in both government and nonprofits. She also won 2,000 votes more than Johnson in a down ballot race.
Debra Johnson
Debra would be the first to tell you that her strategy in round one was contingent on her winning second place. She didn’t expect to end up in second to McCarthy, and she’ll have to work hard to redefine herself. That bad press from earlier isn’t going to help, and Johnson won’t be able to beat McCarthy on “experience.”
Council 1
Susan Shepard
Shepard has been campaigning hard for the past year straight and has great name ID from last year’s run. She’s really been campaigning for about a year, and that’s always helpful. She really could have benefited from AFSCME support, though, and could’ve used a win in round one to prove she’s better than second place. That said, Shepard is going to be able to sway more of the voters who supported other candidates than Ken. She should win, but narrowly.
Ken Padilla
Padilla went from a total underdog in last year’s special election to a serious contender this year. He has a lead, but it’s too narrow for him to get comfortable. The only way Ken can win is to make a better appeal than Susan to the voters who supported someone else in the first round. We don’t think he’ll be versatile enough to do it, however. He does have very vocal union support, and that certainly can’t hurt.
Council 5
Steve Saunders
Saunders beat Susman once. He’s charismatic and has enviable name ID from his time with 7News. He’s run his campaign the exact way he needed to in order to win, and should be able to keep it up if he can keep raising the money.
Marybeth Susman
We know Susman can raise good money and she has a very visible and vocal group of supporters. She really needed to beat Saunders, though. He only won by a few hundred votes, but a win is a win. Susman may not be able to top Saunders in name ID, and we’ve heard she’s been stumping for Michael Hancock while campaigning for herself. That’s a big mistake when the Mayoral race is so contested, and it will probably hurt.
Council 8
Wil Alston
Alston has assembled a good team and is preparing for a real race. He’s got a pretty decent network from his time working in Ritter’s office and is popular in the business community. That means he can probably raise the money he needs to win it.
Albus Brooks
Brooks is doing aggressive outreach in the African American community within the district. He’s got the experience, too, but not nearly as much as Alston. It’ll be a close race.
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Herndon won it out-right on May 3rd.
and now the rest of the Big Line carries no weight. You really didn’t know that Chris Herndon has already won?
That was from a previous big line which we didn’t remove. It’s fixed.
“I respect the right of all women to make their own personal and private reproductive decisions. I feel our priority should be to focus on prevention of unwanted pregnancy.” Michael Hancock from http://ppvotescolorado.org/ppv… – This is 100% unambiguous as is Micheal’s 100% rating from Planned Parenthood.
A few comments on your line as this race finally starts to get interesting – Acc. to the Post, Hancock’s doing well in fundraising lately and is peaking at the right time: http://www.denverpost.com/poli…
Lest we forget, Romer’s spent nearly a million of his 1.4 on one Chicago consultancy already. Most of it’s burned up, which is why he lent himself 100k of his own coin just prior to the runoff.
Questioning Hancock’s position on Women’s rights is puzzling – the only source I’ve seen that seems to share your take is Romer’s campaign itself. Hancock, apparently, got a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and has solid support from prominent Colorado women.
Lastly, Hancock clearly fumbled the ball by not answering directly whether he “believes in evolution”. He said, apparently, that he, “believes in god”. Seems he was simply being too coy for his own good. I have heard others say they heard him correct this at other forums by saying he both “believes” in god and supports the best in science education – including evolution – which is the position of most Americans.