Um, you may need to re-think that big outdoor New Year’s Eve party you have been planning; temperatures in the Denver area may dip well below zero tomorrow evening. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).
► The Iowa caucuses are just five weeks away, which means it’s time for the massive field of Republican Presidential candidates to get serious about beating on each other. From the Washington Post:
The tactical shift on the part of the candidates and their allies reflects a long-standing assumption as to how this crowded nomination battle is likely to play out.
Many believe the race will come down to a one-on-one contest between an “outsider” who channels the angry Republican base and a candidate more in line with the wishes of the party hierarchy. The establishment pick has almost always prevailed in the past, though it is far from certain that will be the case in 2016.
The insurgent faction of the party appears likely to rally around either front-runner Donald Trump or the ascendant Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). The leading possibilities on the establishment side include three sitting or former governors and a Florida senator — all of whom are running far behind Trump. But before any of them can get a shot at taking him on, they must deal with one another.
Part-time Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is taking the brunt of the early attacks, with critics focusing on his lax attendance record in Washington D.C. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are also getting schlonged by the Jeb! Bush-friendly “Right to Rise” PAC.
► How do you make Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) disappear? Easy — just ask him a question about Donald Trump. Though he is at no risk of attracting a Republican Primary opponent of his own — and even though he has publicly endorsed Marco Rubio for President — Coffman continues to go (far, far) out of his way to avoid saying anything about His Hairness. Perhaps Coffman is just part of Trump’s “Silent Majority.”
► Remember, friends: If you want to participate in party caucuses coming to Colorado in March, you must declare your party affiliation by January 4th, 2016 (we’ll keep this reminder near the top of the list for the next few days). For a complete list of election-year deadlines, check out this handy guide from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Has legal marijuana made Colorado roads more dangerous for drivers? No. Maybe. Yes? No. As the Denver Post reports, nobody knows nothin’:
Three years after Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, little is known about whether the state’s roads are less safe — and law enforcement efforts remain largely focused on alcohol, not pot…
…From a lack of statistics to laws that haven’t been updated to disagreements over how to measure whether a person is stoned, there is a lot to be discussed and learned about marijuana and driving.
“There’s a lot of gray area,” Denver defense attorney Collin McCallin said.
In Colorado, DUI laws don’t distinguish between drivers who are drunk on booze, high on pot or even reeling from oxycodone.
► A New Mexico state legislator plans to introduce a bill to legalize marijuana that closely follows the “Colorado model.” When reached for comment, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez was still drunk.
► Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump tweeted that former President Bill Clinton was racist. Then, Trump went on “The Today Show” to clarify that he does not believe Clinton was racist. Tomorrow, watch for Trump to demand an apology from himself.
► Apparently there is some sort of end-of-year fundraising deadline for political candidates. That’s what our email tells us, anyway.
► The Mississippi River is rising to dangerous levels — perhaps unprecedented — and an entire swath of the Midwest is bracing for catastrophic flooding. Climate change is probably just a coincidence.
► Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio says that none of his fellow candidates “understands immigration better than I do.” Rubio is almost correct here; he should have said that nobody understands his actual position on immigration.
► The Denver Post complied a list of its “most-clicked politics articles of 2015,” which is a weird sentence. Here’s the Top 5:
Well, crap. We suppose we need to report back on the “most-clicked stories” on Colorado Pols in 2015, don’t we?
► Politico takes a look at the considerable size and wealth built up by the Republican Party Koch Brothers.
► Submit your caption for this bizarre fundraising picture featuring Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley). Then, watch this awesome video promo of an old TV show called “Supertrain.”
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Do Dr. Ben Carson's campaign leaders hate baby Jesus, or are they just decamping to build some fancy new grain elevators?
Chaos in Carson campaign as top aides resign
They're just hoping to fnd real jobs in real campaigns, I suppose.