President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%↑
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd
(D) Adam Frisch
50%
50%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
52%↑
48%↓
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
November 21, 2011 08:12 PM UTC
20 Comments
Attracting the interest of Gill Foundation donors and the Victory Fund to HD-52 will be very good for the district and eventually Fort Collins turnout–and will help Joann immensely.
Tom’s political ineptitude has made him into a local legend. But using Judy Solano’s name without her permission is simply inexcusable as well as pathetic.
Tom Griggs has excellent credentials in his values. His education issue credentials are second to none. He has dedicated his professional career to multilingual education. He has good name recognition fromh his previous campaigns.
He may have made some errors in previous campaigns, but I see no reason that he shouldn’t pursue this seat. Non-professional politicians fair very well in Northern Colorado.
I am so relieved to learn about Joann, and to see she has such a strong base of support already.
I’ve heard A LOT of concern from my Larimer friends about Tom Griggs’ candidacy. He would put a good Dem seat in serious danger of a Republican takeover. Sometimes candidates run campaigns and lose, but they distinguish themselves and earn a lot of respect, which helps them run for something else in the future. Tom is not one of those candidates.
that I am breathing a huge sigh of relief and feeling mighty grateful at this point. Tom’s a nice guy who has run twice and done it badly both times. I was feeling pretty low about our chances of keeping this seat with him as the candidate.
With Joann, I’m suddenly feeling energized and ready to spend some time and dime down in Fort Collins–she is going to raise some serious money for this race and will work overtime to keep this seat in Dem hands. And HD52 needs a candidate with that level of commitment if we intend to hold this seat.
Not my district, but I’m curious to hear what the concern was — looks like he raised almost 10K in a few weeks:
http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov…
who the contributors are and the amounts being given.
From your link:
Tom has been in the race for nearly two months (he declared September 26) and raised $9,715.24…of which over $1,030.00 of that is his own leftover money from his failed State Board of Education campaign in 2006.
Ginal has been in for 72 hours and raised $2k, that we are aware of, on her Act Blue page.
Perhaps that comparison will give you some idea of the level of support for Tom and for Joann.
Also, note the names and amounts for Tom Griggs. $400 is the max for an individual running for the State House/$800 max for a couple. Many of his contributions are in the $15 to $35 range–not exactly a raging vote of confidence. I recognize a great many of the names of his donors and those are pretty small amounts coming from them…and at a time when he was the sole Democrat running for this seat.
Tom ran for mayor of Fort Collins in 2009 and got a measly 32% of the vote, which means he couldn’t even get his own Democratic base to consolidate behind him and vote for him. That’s why folks in Larimer County have privately and publicly expressed their concern about his candidacy and viability to win this district.
Your comment about 2 months is disingenuous — that filing was mid October. You say he filed his campaign in late September, and the report shows that the filing period ends in September. Based on that, the 8K (removing the 1K he has from another race), was raised very quickly — actually much better than the candidate you support.
So either you don’t realize that new $$$ doesn’t show up or you are intentionally trying to mislead people. Given that you have some basis of knowledge about these things, I’m inclined to assume it’s the second.
Now that we have that out of the way, I am curious about the Mayor’s race. Any actual commentary on why he didn’t do better?
so let’s give this another go, shall we?
I would implore you to read the dates given next to the donors names. They go back as far as August 6, 2011, before he had his official roll out at Avogadro’s in September.
I would implore you to look at the amounts given next to those donors’ names. Do you know the donors? I do and those are pittances compared to what they normally give to House races. Particularly when Tom was the only candidate in the race at the tie. Doesn’t exactly scream confidence, does it? Well, except to maybe you.
So now, according to you, Tom’s raising awesome funds since he brought in $8,600 since his first donation on August 6th through September 30th and doing better than a candidate that has raised one quarter of that amount–$2K (that we know of since all we have is the Act Blue page to go by)–in 72 hours.
And yes, I grant you, he may have raised significant cash since October 1st through today. I have no idea. I have no idea what Joann is raising outside of her Actblue page, either. I do know that what I see him raising in 2 months versus 72 hours leaves me less than impressed.
And in your world, that equals Tom doing “much better” than the candidate I support. Okey dokey. I want to live in your world. It must be fun there.
Now that we have that one out of the way, I’ll let someone else school your ass on why Tom can’t get Democrats to back him, in mayoral races or anywhere else, for that matter.
Then do it in a way that you don’t just sound like a press release shilling for a candidate. BlueBoulder does so below. You may want to take note.
Given that most of your comments have the intellectual depth of a dry lake and you give your opinion as fact on a regular basis, I assume diaries you right have the same fangirl level of analysis as most of what Cronk writes.
As to what you do actually manage to get out in between frothing bits of nonsense, I’m glad to see there are two candidates who show an ability to raise money up there.
I’ve really enjoyed reading all of your deep wisdom and input on DPS, et al since you rejoined us in July under your latest sockpuppet. Believe me, it’s truly been a pleasure for many of us.
I probably should add that I’m only being about half way snarky here. I really do enjoy some of your comments and input around this joint. You make good points and often raise good questions. So, figured it would be dishonest of me not to admit as much.
I don’t know who you think I am, but I haven’t “rejoined” anything here.
Blogs weren’t made to be mutual admiration societies.
Funny indeed.
I have family in Northern Colorado.
Tom has a fine reputation. If there is going to be a primary, then civil debate of ideas should be the forum in which the people choose a nominee. It should not be a preemptive hit job on the blogs.
Most candidates run more than once. A base is built.Name recognition, along with campaign experience, makes for a better nominee in the general.
from my Larimer Democratic friends. This is kinda harsh, but lots of people asked Tom not to run. They think he’ll put HD-52 in jeopardy of a GOP takeover.
1. He’s run for office twice now and lost both times. The worst was his 2009 mayoral campaign. He only got 32% of the vote on his “I’m the progressive” message, which meant a huge of amount of Democrats didn’t vote for him. He’s just not an effective candidate.
2. And Tom’s created this reputation of a perennial candidate. Some people resent he goes around saying he’s a “Democratic leader,” when he’s never done anything except hang around waiting for something to run for.
3. He announced without the support of any major local elected official, while Ginal had a ton of them as well as Sue Schafer & Rhonda Fields. The fact that Joann is able to line up that support also shows that local elected Democrats are rejecting Tom’s candidacy.
4. If you look at the non-elected people on the endorsement list, you may see that most of them are really influential local Dems that other local voters and donors listen to. The message there is obvious.
5. Then there’s Tom’s flub using Judy Solano’s name without permission! It just shows he’s just not ready for prime time.
6. Put all that together, and local Dems are worried that Tom Griggs on the ballot not only puts the seat at risk because of because he turns off activists and voters in droves, but it will drag down John Kefalas and hurt the whole ticket in Fort Collins.
Tom got in early and did a good job raising a bunch of money (while claiming he had cleared the field), but a lot of that is going to dry up now that he’s picked the low hanging fruit and local activists are going to start taking a look at Joann to prove she’s a more viable candidate.
This are they types of things I was curious about and (more important than my curiosity) are what need to be explained if you want to make a claim about why an existing candidate should step out of the way for another candidate (as opposed to the situations where there are two good candidates and people should vote for whoever they believe in more).
As far as I’m concerned, the more LGBT candidates we can get in Colorado, the better. The LGBT community in northern Colorado is very strong, and it’s past time for NoCo (and FoCo) to have an strong leader like her.
From the sound of it, if Ginal can get in an make a big splash, there will be national money rolling in as well as the local support that she’s already gotten.
Tom has made two other errors. He should have backed out of the race for State BOE when Bob Schaffer got in. He would have saved himself a lot of time,aggrevation and money. Dem’s could have celebrated that they saved their powder for another day. Joann was smart to sit that one out.
Mistake #2: Running against a popular mayor who was up for one last term. Could have saved himself a whole lot of time, aggrevation and money by sitting that one out too. Progressives could have celebrated that they saved their powder for another day (the 2011 race!). Joann was smart to sit that one out too.
I imagine I will see Tom within the next 30 days somewhere, and I’ll advise him to get out of this race. It is clear the insiders don’t want him, and if he is lucky enough to get on a ballot, he’ll find the CSU connection in a low turnout primary too much to overcome. But I doubt he will listen to me. Tom believes there is work to be done that he can do, and until voters turn him out, he will keep running. This race will be about jobs, Colorado’s version of a state health care plan, public education and taxes. I am sure Joann will make a strong candidate but could someone fill me in again on her unique contributions in these areas?
BTW, why does anyone think the Repubs put this back in play? They are dispirited up here, have a shallow bench and are losing their Congressman (hopefully), whose money and influence keeps them feeling like they’re meaningful. Unless former Mayor Doug runs I can’t think of anyone they’ve got who could win, and I have heard no such talk.
It’s been a swing district that actually leans GOP, but John Kefalas was able to overcome that with his sterling character, highly amiable personality, and relentless work ethic. John earns votes from people who don’t even agree with his positions very much, but they like him and trust him to serve with honesty and integrity, and to genuinely listen to their dissent and engage them in real conversation about it.
And don’t write off the GOP bench in Larimer County. It’s not just Mayor Doug. Diggs Brown is still in the wings, and Ray Martinez has been acting like a potential candidate lately. Those are some formidable options for the Larimer GOP, especially if Diggs gets some better political advice than he’s received in the past (not mentioning any names other than “rhymes with douche-ay.”)