U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
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30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
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State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
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CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
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2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
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80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
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90%
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CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
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CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
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CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
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CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
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State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
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State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
June 06, 2007 03:26 PM UTC
29 Comments
I know Carla Madison worked really hard and has the experience to do the job, but I really didn’t think she’d win in a runoff. I’m glad she did she totally earned it, does any one here have a take on what turned this race around for her?
Word is that the government is blocking the merger between Wild Oats and Whole Foods on anti-trust grounds (http://www.thedailyg…
Uh, since when have we had anti-trust laws?
Wasn’t the Sherman Act passed in about 1890?
I think it was around 1905 or something, when Teddy Roosevelt was president.
With Wal-Mart entering the organic food business and Safeway doing a credible job of introducing a selection of organic foods, along with Vitamin Cottage and other smaller stores, I would have thought that the Wild Oats/Whole Foods deal was a shoe-in.
Can’t have those real organic food stores competing with Wal-Mart, I guess.
When it comes to the so-called Natural Foods market those two are the only major players, which I assume is the reason for opposing the merger; they’re planning on fighting it based on the notion that they’re grocers like Kroger, Safeway, and the current #2 nationwide, Walmart.
In Colorado their merger would be kind of a monopoly on the natural foods front but in other places there’s other competition. When I lived in Seattle they had PCC (Puget Consumer’s Co-Op) which, despite the name, basically operated much like Wild Oats. The difference was that you could join it as a Co-op member and occasionally get members-only deals. They’re holding their own against Whole Foods, and there are no Wild Oats markets in the area, so the merger won’t change a thing in that market. I imagine a lot of other cities have home grown businesses like this.
I don’t quite see the value in comparing Whole Foods and Wild Oats to each other only. Kroger, Wal-mart, Safeway, etc., are aggressively joining the organic/healthy foods market. Some are modeling new stores entirely on this concept. Kroger, in fact, may open a “Fresh Fare” King Soopers in Denver’s Central Platte Valley within the next few years.
Indeed, it is my understanding the reason for the WF-WO merger was the increasing competition from the big grocery chains.
and I bet WF and WO’s lawyers are working on making such a case as we speak. I was giving more of a consumer’s viewpoint – I’ve been shopping at these kinds of stores for 20 years and have marveled at how mainstream they’ve become. (I can recall when Wild Oats was only one store in Boulder, and that city had dozens of little health food stores as they were called back then.)
…still plucking along!
But at the same time, WF moreso than WO is really the only dominate player in the natural/organic food business. Sure, there are smaller players, Trader Joes in CA and AZ; Aristotle mentions the Puget Co-op; vitamin cottage etc. Really though, WF is the largest and most successful, strictly natural/organic grocer (I am glossing over the massive differences between organic and natural foods, but that is for another debate).
Marketing a natural product at Wal-Mart is not as easy as marketing one at Whole Foods. Branding is a major issue. Go through a wal-mart, or a meijer if you happen to find yourself in the midwest, and notice in the meat case that there is little difference between the packaging of meat. It serves no purpose for a natural/organic beef company, 80% processed by four companies (mostly not natural), to sell to Wal-Mart consumers if they get no recognition for their products advantages, and if they sell at a slightly higher price point.
Wild Oats has always seemed dirty to me. Much like the way Wal-Mart feels cheap to me. Whole Foods, on the other hand, has always seemed clean, friendly, clean, great product selection, clean, knowledgable…did I mention clean?
As a total aside, did anyone read about Coldwater Creek case? A judge is allowing them to test every single cow for Mad Cow disease. With Japan starting to allow some of our beef back into their country it is really a smart move on their part to initiate this process. There have only been three cases of Mad Cow in the US.
The old standard was something like 1/10 of 1% of the cattle had to be tested, so who knows if there weren’t other cases that weren’t caught.
There is a big push from the feds to get adequate ID and tracking capability in place so that we are able to protect our industry from BCE or other diseases.
There’s also a big push back on the idea from ranchers who don’t want anything to do with more government.
Modern beef is quite the industry. Most head of cattle end up in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations) which is where most of the likely problems of disease (not just BSE, aka Mad Cow) will happen since it’s still permissible to feed cattle the remnants of other animals (including cows, although excluding brains, spinal cords, and whatever else was specifically linked to BSE) in the United States. (In the UK they outlawed all such remnant feeding, which means their beef is probably the safest in the world.)
It would be safer (let alone much more natural) to adopt such a ban then test every single cow IMHO.
That the FDA is responsible for testing.
I think the Dept of Health and Environment and the Dept of Agriculture do testing as well for various diseases.
There was a law this last session that brought CO into line with federal guidlines for BSE prevention with the feed. CAFOs and other producers voluntarily stopped the the harmful practices awhile ago, but the statute made it official.
The idea is if there’s a good way of tracking the feed and a good way of tracking the animals, CO will be able to protect ourselves if another case of BSE or another disease breaks out in another state.
Well, there’s some totally useless knowledge for most you for this blustry Thursday night.
http://en.wikipedia….
Of course, ever since the Corporatist’s hero RR, we haven’t had much enforcement of them. Clinton didn’t do any better.
I’m a lot less worried about the WF-WO merger – although not happy – than I am about all the Exxon/Mobil’s, Public Service/Xcel, Sony/Disney or what it is.
Read a sci-fi about 15 years ago, set about a thousand years hence. Everyone was an employee of Microsoft-Disney, the only remaining corporation.
Having done several large mergers that required Hart-Scott-Rodino work, I sympathize with the folks at Wild Oats and Whole Foods. I think they are insane to merge with one another.
The HSR process — cynically viewed — is that if the firms who want to merge exceed the HSR thresholds, then they must copy every piece of paper in their possession and send it to the Department of Justice’s antitrust unit (no joke). The purpose of the exercise is to pre-emptively provide the discovery the DOJ might have to do if they object to the merger.
What the DOJ does with that paper is anybody’s guess. When I visited the DOJ’s antitrust unit in years past, their halls were completely FULL of boxes of paper from mergers.
The DOJ then decides whether the proposed merger passes antitrust scrutiny using arcane formulas. If you’ve hired good lawyers and have not pissed anyone off in DC, then the merger will likely proceed smoothly. Typically, the DOJ requires some concessions in markets that might have some unique factor (e.g., spin off stores in areas where there are no other competitors). So, merging firms usually have expenses associated with spinning off offending portions of their companies.
Even after DOJ approval is secured, large firms typically have to get permission from the European Union’s version of the DOJ’s antitrust unit. In my experience, the EU folks are tougher.
Large mergers also often require approval and concessions to various federal and state regulatory agencies.
Mergers usually require approval of the stockholders, and typically result in the immediate vesting of future stock options and a rush to the door by execs cashing in on those options. That either results in a “brain drain” of good execs or “good riddance” of execs who would not have otherwise fit in in the combined company.
Then there are the “You’re-fired-’cause-you’re-not-from- around-here” events that result in employment lawsuits and more severance packages.
The final step: write a blank check to your lawyer, ’cause you really don’t want to know how much you spent on lawyers pursuing the merger.
In many cases, the expenses of doing a merger are often grossly underestimated, and not surprizingly, merged firms stop being the darlings of Wall Street and take years to recover.
These organic corporate monopolies have to be stopped. I need cheap and plentiful lentils, nuts, and bamboo shoots!
“Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has told a gay rights organization that she supports the repeal of one provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law signed by her husband that says states and the federal government do not have to recognize gay marriages and unions from other states. On the questionnaire for the Human Rights Campaign, Mrs. Clinton said she opposed the part of the law that would prohibit the federal government from recognizing same-sex relationships. Her advisers said that she continued to oppose gay marriage. Her response on the questionnaire puts her in line with her rivals for her party’s nomination.”
http://www.nytimes.c…
…..while still opposing what Massachusetts has done
Does anyone..anyone…truly believe that Hillary Rodham Clinton does not support gay marriage? I’ll bet she gags involuntarily every time she says that.
(Digg’s Top story)
As with Hillary when a citizen asked her why she supported and still supports Bush’s War…
Son of a mob boss Giuliani’s press secretary ran like a rabbid dog for the nearest ‘Jackboot’ brown shirt he could find the second reporter Lepacek (who had official CNN press credentials for the Republican debate) asked about Giuliani’s ‘Self Admited’ prior knowledge that Towers 1, 2 and 7 where going to collaps.http://www.metacafe….
The prior knowledge question is an appropriate question to ask son of a mob boss Giuliani considering NO 08 candidate has financially benefited more from 911 then him. http://www.rawstory…. It’s Also an appropriate question to ask considering these $100s of thousands in 911 speaking fees (there are reports he has made up to a million to speak) are fueling his campaign.
Though CNN staff members tried to persuade police not to arrest the accredited reporter– in violation of the First Amendment, Lepacek was taken to jail. http://www.infowars….
Reorganize the republic? Yeah…
As far as the etablishment and their constitution violating jackboots are concerned there is NO First Amendment when asking these establishment puppets questions ‘OUTSIDE’ the box.
Is this part of 9-11 conspiracy theory that the US government was responsible for the attacks?
The question was about Giuliani’s comment to Peter Jennings that he “knew” the towers were coming down. So, yes, it relates to the conspiracy theory; but, IMHO, it’s a valid question since it was part of an interview or otherwise substantial conversation.
Just as an aside, the posters on dKos point out that reporter Eric Alterman was arrested for the same thing at the Dem debate. Same police unit, same charges. Something smells of jackboot leather up in NH…
What you think about the “9/11 Truth Movement” and Alex Jones is quite beside the point. We’re having journalists arrested for answering questions. We don’t have the standing to whine about Hugo Chavez’ or Vlad Putin’s press crackdowns when we’re doing the same damn thing.