Today is the last day until January 21st. Think about that. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).
► El Paso County Commissioner Peggy Littleton has officially joined the ever-growing field of Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. By our count, Littleton is the 10th candidate to announce a campaign for the GOP nomination; in January alone, a Republican has announced for U.S. Senate on average once every five days.
► State Sen. Morgan Carroll said on Tuesday that she will not resign her seat in the State Senate in order to focus full-time on her Congressional campaign in CD-6. From the Denver Post:
“This is the job the voters elected me to do,” Carroll said Tuesday. “And I think it’s my duty to finish it.”
Carroll gave up her role as State Minority Leader when she first announced her Congressional campaign last summer, but had never indicated that she might step aside from the State Senate altogether. Carroll is term-limited in 2016 regardless.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry makes bold headlines with his editorial calling for real action on gun safety:
Here’s the deal, Colorado. We can come at the problem of gun violence and mass shootings two ways: We can make it demonstrably more difficult to gun up in this country, or we can look seriously for mentally ill people who might go off, and stop them. In another place and time, we would do both, but not here. Not now.
I guarantee you gun lords at the National Rifle Association, locally at the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners group, will have none of it. They’re already yanking the political choke collars of their puppets in Congress and at the Colorado Capitol, and their critics are running scared.
Here in Colorado, milquetoast gun laws spawn from Aurora’s massacre — requiring universal background checks and a reduction of the size of ammo magazines — brought gun lords down on three Democratic state lawmakers in 2013. Petrified state legislators here and in Congress aren’t about to offer any meaningful reforms, such as limiting sales of military-style weapons, mass purchases of ammunition, trigger locks or outright bans on assault rifles. The gun lords have thrown the gauntlet. They won’t even allow the Centers for Disease Control to study the plague of violence that kills about 90 people in this country every day, tens of thousands a year.
► So much for the ‘B-word.’ As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, pre-session sentiments of bipartisanship from Senate Republicans have been quickly abandoned in favor of a mass deportation of legislation to “kill committees.” We mentioned something similar in a post at the end of last week.
► Are you a supporter of Donald Trump for President? As Politico reports, you may be surprised about what you have in common with other Trump backers:
I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.
That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with authoritarian inclinations. And because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as well as Republicans, it’s very possible that Trump’s fan base will continue to grow…
…Authoritarianism is not a new, untested concept in the American electorate. Since the rise of Nazi Germany, it has been one of the most widely studied ideas in social science. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not. Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. [Pols emphasis] From pledging to “make America great again” by building a wall on the border to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.
► The race for an open legislative seat in HD-3 (South Denver) is expected to be among the more competitive Primaries of 2016. Democrat Jeff Bridges announced on Tuesday that he ended 2015 with a bang: Bridges has more than $40k in the bank, and new endorsements from former Gov. Bill Ritter and former Secretary of State Bernie Buescher.
Meanwhile, Bridges’ Democratic opponent, Meg Froelich, is touting the endorsement of EMILYs List.
► Six Republicans in the State Senate are pushing for legislation that would make it easier to kill people in Colorado. As 9News reports, Senate Bill 64 is based on the premise that the bar is just too darn high for imposing the death penalty in Colorado:
Sponsors told 9NEWS the effort is a direct response to the Aurora theater shooting trial, which resulted in a sentence of life because not all of the jurors voted for death, as well as a similar outcome in a Denver case involving multiple murders at Fero’s bar in Denver.
“I believe there is an appropriateness for the death penalty for the worst of crimes, but it has to be set up in such a way that it can occur,” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud.) “The unanimous opinion has become too high a bar. So, I believe three-quarters of the jury should be sufficient.”
In August, Aurora Theater shooter James Holmes did not receive the death penalty for his crimes when the jury couldn’t come to a unanimous agreement on Holmes’ punishment. You can certainly make an argument that Holmes deserved the death penalty, but our legal system worked exactly how it was intended; a jury of his peers deliberated and reported back to the judge with their decision.
► If you are a supporter of Trump, you also have something in common with Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who used most of the words in her rhetorical repertoire in a strange, rambling endorsement of Donald Trump for President. Whatever your opinion of the value of a Palin endorsement, it did give Trump another daily media victory as the calendar rapidly closes on the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
► It’s deja vu all over again for some issues in the state legislature. As Marshall Zelinger reports for ABC 7 News, several bills that failed miserably in 2015 are back again anyway.
► It’s official: We broke another record in 2015, though not a good one. Last year saw the hottest global temperatures ever recorded, easily breaking the previous record…set in 2014.
► Recent polls are showing a surge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid to capture the Democratic Presidential nomination. Is the surge real?
► Federal law enforcement officials have received their share of criticism for a relatively hands-off approach to the #YallQaeda terrorists holding an Oregon visitor’s center hostage. As Think Progress notes, this has provided the armed militia plenty of space to fight amongst themselves instead.
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Both Sides Do It – stupid bloggers on the left and NRA Board Member/Rock Stars on the right:
A lie that will never die and that will be used to the end of this Republic and beyond to blame Democrats for all the destruction and death brought by Republicans.
A lie can travel halfway 'round the world before the truth can get its shoes on. Mark Twain
I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.
I disagree, Authoritarianism appeals most strongly to those with the least education. They are content to let someone who seems to know what they're doing do their thinking for them.
ConservaDem senator continues her red baiting against Bernie Sanders
Hey, Fuck You, Too, Claire, you Ignorant Bitch.
Maybe she's right, and maybe all the ConservaDems 'round here are right. Maybe Colorado is destined to be forever purple.
Maybe Michael Bennet is the greatest thing since Sliced Gary Hart, but I don't think so. Maybe chickenshit Dems who are afraid of actually supporting the historical principles of the Democratic Party are the reason CO won't finally turn blue.
I don't want another 4 or 8 years of half-assed Democrats agreeing with Radicalized Republicans by default and by their inability to counter talk radio and Organized Obstructionism of a Republican party who wins while losing election after election.
Laugh at Trump, but he knows how to cater to his wrong but strong base.
Laugh at Sanders and ignore a large slice of the Democratic base that is not aligned with Goldman Sachs and Corporate Dems of the past.
I gave $100 way back when to Bernie and so far it's paid off in spades. Claire can complain about Socialism all she wants and she'll never change my, of many others' minds about Bernie Sanders.
You don't have to change your mind. But when he doesn't get the nomination you'll have to decide on your next move, Zap.
I can't stand Claire either but she's right about one thing. The silence you hear from the right about Bernie's socialism is so they can make plenty of noise about it if he becomes the nominee. Why do you think they spend all their time attacking HRC and ignoring Bernie? They pretty much know they're getting HRC but, hey, it's worth a try for Bernie instead. Especially if they get stuck with Trump or Cruz.
Obama's been a Nazicommunistsocialist for 8 years now – didn't hurt his re-election chances.
Obama didn't win Missouriin 08 or 12, although it was a razor's edge in 08. The thing is, the people whom Claire wants to persuade not to vote for Bernie know their election history, too, so they know she's spinning like a top.
Newsflash,Claire: He still won the Presidency twice.
You have to wonder about the logic or lack therof in McCaskill's statements. What does it profit her to try to undermine the guy whom polls say beats Trump better than Hillary does?
I want Bernie to win the nomination, have sent money, will continue to promote him, and I may even caucus for him, but if he doesn't win, he doesn't.
Purple is a color with a lot of shadings to it…from the icould blue purple spectrum gradient.![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQct9MgPW6fayPaLe8qFS0zpORPlKGzJ2HffFgL-d2j8wr_s3Vb)
Obama ran as a centrist just like Bill Clinton did. Citing Obama's success as a basis for projecting a self identifying socialist's potential for success is apples to oranges. Obama didn't even run as a liberal, much less any kind of socialist. The only people who ever claim Obama is an extreme liberal, socialist or radical of any kind are Republicans. This is not to say a Dem today can't succeed running to the left of the centrist Obama (plenty of room for that), but as a socialist? An old Jewish socialist making it into the WH in 2016? Yeah, right.
Well said, B.C. And the other side of the coin is the success rate of running and electing unabashed left wing candidates. Remember President McGovern? President Ted Kennedy? President Walter Mondale?
Dave Perry is a Colorado treasure, like Mike Littwin. Not many people dare to tell the truth these days.
Thanks mama
well worth the read… Attaboys are definitely due Mr. Perry.
I am a lifelong gun owner who, if called by my president to join a militia and protect my country, will lend my self and my firearms to that effort.
That, I believe to be the intent of the second amendment…period.
And I agree with every word Dave Perry wrote.