We’ll preface this opinion with all of the necessary clichés: It’s not over until the fat lady sings. The future isn’t carved in stone. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
These are all wise sayings, but Election Day is less than 40 days away. Mail ballots in Colorado start going out in two weeks. And as we enter the final stretch of the 2020 election cycle, a consensus opinion seems to be forming about Colorado’s U.S. Senate race.
As Ella Nilsen writes for Vox.com, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is toast, thanks in part to his close association with President Trump. We’d recommend reading the entire article for the full effect, but take a look at some of the opinions provided in the Vox.com story; not one of them is from someone who thinks Gardner is going to beat Democrat John Hickenlooper in November:
“Gardner is one of the best incumbents [Republicans] have running; it’s just that he’s running in one of the toughest states for them,” said Cook Political Report Senate editor Jessica Taylor, who recently moved Cook’s Colorado Senate race rating from a toss-up to Lean Democratic.
“I think there will be a slice of the electorate who will vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump but will vote for Cory Gardner as well if they can be convinced he’s been an effective senator for Colorado,” said Dick Wadhams, a Colorado Republican strategist and former chair of the state GOP. “That’s Cory’s only path for victory.”
“If Trump moves toward losing the state by 10 points, it makes it virtually impossible for Cory to win.”
“He’s twisting himself in knots,” Colorado Republican pollster Dave Flaherty told Vox. “Justice Ginsburg’s death is an example. l think that is going to be hard to get away from; that is going to hurt him.”
“The fact Gardner has to spend hard-earned dollars to do the negative on his own is an interesting observation [of] where outside money is in a very long list of Republicans that need to be defended by Mitch [McConnell].”
“Cory Gardner, unfortunately he is the example of a Republican Party that has fallen in lockstep behind a maniac,” said Josh Freed, the founder of the Climate and Energy Program at the center-left think tank Third Way. “Gardner is saying to Coloradans, ‘Don’t pay attention to my entire record; pay attention to this one thing.’ Gardner is the neighbor whose willful negligence caused your house to burn down, and he knocks on the door to apologize by bringing you a potted plant.”
“I know Cory and I served with him,” said former Colorado House Majority Leader Alice Madden, a Democrat. “He has been the king of trying to make everybody happy without doing a lot.”
“I’ve often had a more difficult time nailing down where his position actually is,” said Jonathan Houck, a commissioner in Colorado’s Gunnison County. “He doesn’t seem to engage at a level that’s easy to discern off the bat, it takes some digging to get there.”
“I’m also supporting [Hickenlooper] because he’s done the work here,” Houck said. “The western and eastern parts of the state are sparsely populated. When John Hickenlooper was governor, he was governor of the whole state and he didn’t forget about rural folks out here.”
As you can see, there is not a lot of confusion on this topic.
Gardner has no real message in 2020, other than trying to convince voters that he’s a better version of Hickenlooper. His ridiculous flip-flop on confirming a new Supreme Court Justice is the latest in a long line of baffling failures that are out of step with the Colorado electorate. Fact checkers regularly demolish his carefully-hewn talking points, and his own television ads are idiotic. His refusal to discuss anything, with reporters or constituents, has become a running joke.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over, but the consensus opinion is that it’s right around the corner.
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“I’m also supporting [Hickenlooper] because he’s done the work here,” Houck said. “The western and eastern parts of the state are sparsely populated. When John Hickenlooper was governor, he was governor of the whole state and he didn’t forget about rural folks out here.” – Jonathan Houck, Gunnison County Commissioner
Dave Barnes, I think that quote was made just for you, and happy Friday…
Gunnison County: population = 17K.
Highland and West Highland neighborhoods of Denver: pop = 17K
Yes, Dave, I understand your point !
These eulogies for Gardner got me thinking about Zapatero who used to post on here. He had some pretty strong feeling towards Michael Bennet. Anyone know if Zappy had the same degree of contempt towards Hick?
I believe he and I share a similar opinion of Hick. Does that help?
Yes…..thanks!
Zappy didn't much mention Hick. He was totally obsessed with Bennet.
True. Michael Bennet left him no time to waste on Hick.
I repeat the old story of the boxing manager who always told his fighters before the final round that they were behind on points and needed a knockout to win.
Hick is close but behind on points. Send him your cash and work to turn out your voters. No matter how long the war, victory goes to the army that wins the final battle.
And DMD fans, we're in a dead heat with two-gun pigmeat.
Come out smokin', pin her to the ropes, and keep your feet moving.
It's not a dead heat V. Gardner will cook his goose for good when votes to confirm the religious zealot. It's kind of appropriate that Betsy Markey lost her seat to Gardner for voting for the Affordable Care Act and Gardner is going to lose his seat for voting for a religious zealot. There is some kind of weird karmic symmetry here in Gardner taking one for the zealots. I hope Hickenlooper hammers the bastard again and again in the next five weeks over his craven vote. Push the percentage into double digits. It's not a dead heat but there is time to put the hammer down on this scumbag. Expose him for the weasel he really truly is.
You miss the whole point, GG. A fighter who thinks he's ahead can slack off and get knocked out. A campaign that thinks it's ahead doesn't campaign in Wisconsin and loses the electoral college.
Always tell your fighter/ candidate that they're slightly behind but can win with one last, Herculean effort!
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Religious metaphor is appropriate on the day on which Barnett gets nominated.
Hick is delusional.
Doesn't Hick remember how his outreach to that douche bag, Frank McNulty, worked out when Hick was governor and McNulty was House speaker?
McNulty was bush league compared to Moscow Mitch.
Hopefully he will be cruelly disappointed early in his term. I do share his optimism that this polarization can't last. Too many must dos out there to spin our wheels in partisan games.
He'll fit in well in D.C., where standard practice is for Dems to play seniors mixed doubles lawn bowling while Republicans beat them about the head, shoulders and crotch with baseball bats and canoe paddles, then indignantly accuse the Dems of incivility when/if they complain.
Maybe Cory should drop out of the race, in favor of Cardboard Cory.
One of my favorite new variations … "it ain't over until the Fat Malady sings."
Here's hoping Mar a Lago has a piano in tune.
I suspect the Denver Post Mortem will endorse Hickenlooper. Will they add a mea culpa for their endorsement of Gardner over Udall?
I thought they did that when the unendorsed Gardner in 2019.
Yeah, I seem to remember something like that, too. Kind of a mea culpa. I still won't waste my money with a subscription to it.
The Post is good for a total of two things. Reading about the Broncos and seeing what American Furniture Warehouse has on sale. If I want to see the Broncos, I can watch them on TV. If I want to know what Jake has on sale, I check his website.
I've followed the Broncos since the days of vertically striped socks.
But I missed their last game. There is little reason to watch them, or indeed any team, in this dessicated pseudo season. Apparently, we're already reduced to hoping for a 1-15 season in hopes of drafting a hot shot quarterback.
Maybe we should bring back Tim Tebow. At least, he had enthusiasm.
The Donks shitting the bed twice to open the NFL season has been a bright spot in a dismal year. Here's hoping this freak show NFL-in-the-time-of-COVID-19 will wake us up a bit. The billionaire welfare queens who own NFL teams should never, ever see another penny of public money.