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May 27, 2008 08:55 PM UTC

Getting Stupid With Dick Wadhams

  • 14 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Five years ago, Congressman Mark Udall and his family packed up and moved six miles and 11 minutes down the road.

In the process, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, became U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs.

But does he really hail from Eldorado Springs?

Yes, says the Boulder County Assessor’s Office and the Rocky Mountain Fire Protection District.

No, says Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams, who has made Udall’s address an issue in the U.S. Senate campaign between Udall and former Congressman Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins.

Wadhams, who also is Schaffer’s campaign manager, never misses a chance to attach “Boulder liberal” to Udall’s name…

Apparently, here are the “shocking details.”

In a Wikipedia entry on Eldorado Springs, Udall is listed under “notable residents.”

Wadhams dismissed that, noting that Udall’s 80303 ZIP code is Boulder.

“The Eldorado Springs ZIP code is 80025,” said Wadhams, who accused Udall of “lying and misrepresenting his residency.”

The Udalls live 11/2 miles from the Eldorado Springs post office. There is no mail delivery in the tiny town, but the post office rents 270 boxes, said postmaster Melba Yeck.

She lives near the Udalls and, like them, has a Boulder mailing address and an 80303 ZIP code. Where does she tell people she lives? “I tell them I’m from Eldorado Springs,” she said.

With months left in the campaign, Schaffer has taken damage from his ties to Jack Abramoff, oil companies in Iraq, dubious charter school operators, and that’s just for starters. And then there’s the mistaken mountain thing.

Wadhams was obviously thinking this ZIP code nonsense was the perfect foil for the mountain thing. A few dozen press calls later (that being Wadhams’ style), he found the Rocky’s Lynn Bartels more than happy to assist him in making a bloody ass of himself in the newspaper of record. On the bright side, Wadhams was able to say the word “Boulder” an impressive four times in one sentence:

“The real significance here is that Boulder liberal Mark Udall is a man who is apparently ashamed of his Boulder roots because he has gone to great lengths to try to distance himself from Boulder, to the point of almost acting like he’s never heard of Boulder, Colorado,” [Wadhams] said.

Sometimes – we’re not ready to say for sure in this case – but sometimes, this is how the once-mighty realize it was over a long time before, after the merely pathetic crosses over into truly funny. As the Rocky concludes helpfully:

The ZIP code for Pikes Peak, by the way, is 80809. The ZIP code for Mount McKinley is 99755.

A poll follows.

Is Dick Wadhams a joke?

View Results

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14 thoughts on “Getting Stupid With Dick Wadhams”

  2. Bartels points out that Udall has never lived inside Boulder city limits. He lived just across the eastern boundary when he was in the legislature, representing eastern unincorporated Boulder County, Louisville, Superior and part of Broomfield. Then, in 2003, he moved to the base of Eldorado Canyon. Both addresses have a Boulder mailing address.

    But Wadhams suggested the real reason Udall moved was to attempt to say he was from somewhere else.

    OK, no offense to the Gunbarrel area, but has Wadhams ever seen Eldorado Canyon? I can think of about a hundred reasons to move from one to the other, and place name isn’t one of them.

    Wadhams is tone deaf when it comes to Colorado and its charms (“pick a mountain, just make sure it’s big”).

    The story continues, still quoting Wadhams:

    “The real significance here is that Boulder liberal Mark Udall is a man who is apparently ashamed of his Boulder roots because he has gone to great lengths to try to distance himself from Boulder, to the point of almost acting like he’s never heard of Boulder, Colorado,” he said.

    It’d be a shame if Wadhams can’t make BoulderliberalMarkUdall into a household phrase, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee has its site up now, filled with “video press releases” and old press clips.

    http://www.boulderliberalmarku…

    This didn’t work in Mississippi or Louisiana. Do Wadhams and his NRSC cronies think it’ll work here, where Obama beats McCain in general election matchups?

    1. and hoping they can get their old tactics to work because, if not, they’ve got nothing.  Wadham’s and Rove’s and DeLay’s day has come and gone. Next time the Republicans are in power it will be without the likes of these pathetic old generals fighting the last war, unable to accept that the old tried and true is now obsolete.  

      For one thing, they just can’t believe it actually MAY be possible to under-estimate the intelligence of the electorate after all. That goes against the very essence of their core beliefs.

      1.   From the party that brought forth statesmen like Ike, powerful and focused messages (whether you agree with them or not) like Goldwater, Reagan, even Gingrich–and now they’ve got what?  Operation Chaos?  “Boulder Liberal” Udall?

          This is a party that is running on empty, intellectually, politically, ethically.

          There will be no end to conservatism because the themes of control by the Haves, respecting established authority, etc, are innate to human society.  And there is no guaranteeing anything with this election–we are forever away from the outcome (aarrgghh).  But the Republicans have had their chance at leadership, their ideas have been disastrous and unpopular, and they got nothing left.  

          Natural systems are adapted to the 100-year flood, the forest fire, to re-start the cycle to new growth.  The Dems lost power because they lost sight of their core principles and lost touch with the people (and they aren’t out of the woods yet).  We’ll see how the Repubs deal.      

  3. I am not a fan of Schaffer or Wadhams, and I think Bartels is a good reporter, but …

    I am I the only one that is bothered by the last couple of sentences of the article, about Pike’s Peak and McKinley’s zip codes.  It is a funny add in, but it has no place in a news article.  If the point she was tring to make is that the whole subject is stupid, then why write the article?  The campaigns can take all the shots they want at each other, cheap and otherwise, and she is free to quote them, but she not join in on the “fun.”  It opens her, and the Rocky to accusations of playing favorites.

  4. After a long weekend filled with news about Coloradans staying close to home because of record fuel prices — and the usual gas price hike, bringing us ever closer to $4 a gallon — the jurors in the Bill Orr trial in Federal District Court are “still deliberating” at 1:00 p.m. Monday, according to the Court Clerk’s office.

    Think the break will make the jurors more or less likely to convict the flim-flam artist who took millions from the EPA (and hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors) for his alternative fuel?

  6. I wonder if Dick Wadhams still lives in the Leawood subdivision of unincorporated Jefferson County.  In the phone book under he and his deceased wife’s name, he is still listed with their old telephone number, but no address.  When he lived in unincorporated Jeffco, he had a mailing address of Littleton, 80123, so I suppose this means he lived in Littleton, rather than unincorporated Jefferson County.  Not!! This is really to the point of silly.  Come on Wadhams, I hate you, but you are not this stupid.  Also, has anyone checked on Bob Schaeffer’s home.  He could be in unincorporated Larimer County with a Ft. Collins address too?  Where’s the follow up by the reporters?  Do we bloggers have to give you everything????

  8. One of the peculiarities of Pueblo is that many grown men have ie or y added to thier names, such as Mikie or Bobby. Mr Wadhams went to high school in  Pueblo County–I don’t know which one. On those occasions that anyone refers to him, he is inveriably called Dickie.

    His civics teacher says he was very bright and that he–the teacher– feels that he should do some penance. He’s just uncertain whether he taught him too well or not nearly well enough.

    Here’s to Dickie Wadhams.

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