In a year in which Republicans are having trouble fielding exciting candidates for U.S. Senate or Governor, it should come as little surprise that they aren't going to put up a strong candidate against incumbent Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter in CD-7. As Lynn Bartels noted in "The Spot," Republican Don "Can I Buy a Vowel" Ytterberg will kick off his campaign for CD-7 on Wednesday.
Ytterberg, the CEO of a metal finishing company in Arvada, lost a bid for State Senate in 2008 to Democrat Dan Gibbs of Summit County. Most recently, Ytterberg served as the Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, a position he resigned late last year. Ytterberg isn't a terrible candidate, but he's definitely more of a ballot filler than a true challenger; he's not dynamic or interesting enough to pose a real threat to Perlmutter, which has a lot to do with Perlmutter himself.
Since first winning election to CD-7 in 2006, Perlmutter has cruised to re-election every two years no matter the opponent. In the Tea Party wave year of 2010, Perlmutter crushed Republican Ryan Frazier 53-42. Even after redistricting made CD-7 more competitive in 2012, and with a wealthy, well-known opponent in Joe Coors, Perlmutter still won by a 53-41 margin.
Given Perlmutter's obvious hold on the district, we've been wondering when Republicans would finally give up trying to make a serious run at the Jeffco native — and it appears 2014 is that year.
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Whether you agree with every one of Ed's votes or not he sets the standard for constituent service and it's pretty clear he does it so well because he really cares. I know someone who worked in his law office years ago who just raves about how kind and considerate he was to everyone including the most lowly employee and how different that was from most lawyer/bosses. Glad CD7 folks appreciate the rare treasure they have in Ed.
Also glad, his seat being judged so secure even by Rs, there will be that much more available money and energy for the fight in my own CD6. Reelecting Ed and kicking out Coffman would be really, really great.
It took a while for Republicans to figure it out, but they just don't have a good shot with Ed holding this seat.
The NRCC has some tough races this year, and they're going to have to pick and choose their races. They have problems like extremist candidates that part of the party doesn't really want to support. They also have donor issues: two of their top four donors died last year and apparently their estates won't continue to contribute. In addition, a lot of rich donors have been staying away because they don't like the Tea Party line and disable-the-government attitude – turns out businessmen who fund the GOP like functioning countries and economies…
I have heard as well that he is also a really good guy.
Do we really need nicknames for everyone? "Can I Buy A Vowel"? Really?
In this case, it helps to clarify the spelling of his name — that we didn't just leave out an 'e.'
Anyone familiar with the Lanthanide elements, in particular element # 70, knows there's no vowel missing.
Ya know, in some places, them's fightin' words. Just sayin'.
It is an uphill battle for Ytterberg but he is a real class act and I hope for the best for him in this race.
That's scary: clicking on a ColoradoPols link and finding myself, all of a sudden, on JeffcoPols.
It's just a banner…
OK. I'm slightly relieved…
vote for the guy with the double-t in his last name