Colorado

[cschwab]

Tell us what is happening in your state when it comes to publicly funded campaigns.

[cschwab]

Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of the state house of representatives is running for a federal senator's seat against Michael Bennett, the current holder of the seat.

Mr. Romanoff has decided to make the taking of special interest and PAC money a campaign issue in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=464Ckd0xBdU

It would be great to see the taking of special interest and PAC money actually start to hurt some of these politicians! 

[cschwab]

We also have a 'Citizen Funded Campaigns ballot initiative' we are trying to get going here:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2010/01/14/campaigns-let-the-people-pay/

website:
http://cleancampaignscolorado.com/

[cschwab]

We also have a bill in the statehouse that would require candidates to raise contributions from a number of small donors ($5 up to a limit) before they would be considered for public funds:

http://dialysisethics2.org/index.php/Solutions/campaign-finance-reform.html

[cschwab]

Andrew Romanoff wins Colorado caucuses!  He maybe proving NOT taking special interest money might a political advantage:

http://www.andrewromanoff.com/pages/news-alert-romanoff-swamps-bennet-statewide

[cschwab]

Who needs money when you have friends - a lot of friends:

"Last week, the opposition decided to distort my record on a number of important issues.  They waited until a few hours before the caucuses to distribute this disinformation, perhaps to deprive us of an effective opportunity to respond.

Fortunately, their tactic did not work.  We won the caucuses by nearly 10 points, despite being outspent by a margin of roughly 10-1."

http://www.andrewromanoff.com/blog/entry/just-the-facts

[angieskidney]

Who needs money when you have friends - a lot of friends:

"Last week, the opposition decided to distort my record on a number of important issues.  They waited until a few hours before the caucuses to distribute this disinformation, perhaps to deprive us of an effective opportunity to respond.

Fortunately, their tactic did not work.  We won the caucuses by nearly 10 points, despite being outspent by a margin of roughly 10-1."

http://www.andrewromanoff.com/blog/entry/just-the-facts

Nice

[cschwab]

The story gets better!  Andrew Romanoff, the Federal Senate candidate supporting single-payer health care and NOT taking money from the special interests gains momentum:

"ROMANOFF GAINS STRENGTH IN COUNTY ASSEMBLIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MAR. 27, 2010 | ROMANOFF FOR COLORADO
 
Drawing the lion's share of previously undecided delegates and making inroads among supporters of his primary opponent, U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff gained strength in the first round of county Democratic assemblies held today in Colorado.

Romanoff, an 8-point winner in the straw poll conducted in statewide precinct caucuses on March 16, increased his lead over Sen. Michael Bennet as the counting of delegates began today.

In Adams County, Romanoff turned a 4-percentage-point win in the caucuses into a 260-162 lead in delegates, a 23-percentage-point victory.

The trend was the same in the other large counties holding their assemblies today. In Weld County, Romanoff turned a virtual dead heat into a 77-70 lead in delegates, a 5-point swing. In Larimer County, Romanoff closed a 19-point caucus loss to only 3 points in the delegate count, a 16-point swing.

Romanoff also increased his support in San Miguel, Delta, Lake, Morgan and Crowley counties. Romanoff's campaign manager, Bill Romjue, called the trend "great news for us and a sign of fading support for Bennet."

Democratic assemblies were also being held today in Kiowa, Clear Creek and Conejos counties. Assemblies in the other 53 counties are scheduled through mid-April. Delegates selected in the county assemblies will gather in the state Democratic assembly in Broomfield on May 22."

http://www.andrewromanoff.com/news/entry/romanoff-gains-strength-in-county-assemblies/

[cschwab]

Here in Colorado the state is going to allow a chance to get Initiative #53 to get on the November ballot.  This initiative will allow public financing of our state candidates.  We might have to scramble though, we have until July to get ~100,000 signatures to finish the process.

Participation is voluntary, and recent history shows that public funding is becoming very popular in the states that have adopted it. In Maine, about 30% of candidates ran for state offices as publicly-financed candidates in 2000. Eight years later over 90% of those running for the State Senate and the State House were publicly financed candidates. In Arizona, candidate participation increased from 25% to 61% from 2000 to 2008. In addition, in Arizona, voter turn out is the highest it has been since 1982 and 85% of the voters surveyed support the current program. And, in Connecticut, over 75% of all candidates running for office the first year (2008) of their program

[cschwab]

(Andrew Romanoff, candidate for US Senate, is sending a message to the special interests)

 Andrew Romanoff captured more than 60 percent of the vote at today's Democratic State Assembly, leaving our opposition with little more than 39 percent to show for its multi-million-dollar advertising spree.

Our 21-point victory represented a bigger margin than we won at the county assemblies just a few weeks ago.  It's a far bigger margin than in any recent Senate contest in Colorado -- five times as big as the margin in 2004, when only four points separated the Democratic contenders.
We've almost tripled our lead since the precinct caucuses.  Our Romentum is growing!

As Andrew put it this morning, the stakes could not be higher.  "We're here not just to select a senator," he said.  "We're here to decide who we are, what kind of party and what kind of country we want to be.  You choose."

The choice is plain: "We can settle for the status quo, where we sell Senate seats to the highest bidder and turn Congress into a wholly owned subsidiary of the industries it's supposed to be regulating.  Or we can say no.  We can reject the politics of business as usual, the pay-to-play culture that corrupts our Congress and corrodes our country."

Today the voters of Colorado stood up to the powerbrokers in Washington and Wall Street and made their voices heard.  The message they sent to the party bosses in the U.S. Senate -- the same message our counterparts in Arkansas and Pennsylvania sent on Tuesday night -- was loud and clear: "Stiffen your spine -- or step out of the way."

[cschwab]

Decided it was time to help get to the root of many of our problems in politics in this country.  I've offered to help the "Clean Campaigns Colorado" effort here and gather signatures, plus I got a soapbox editoral in yesterday's local paper:

Just when I was beginning to despair of the world and politics. Just when a famous Idaho hermit's old haunts were looking pretty good (Dugout Dick), comes a ray of hope

[cschwab]

Bill Clinton supports the only Senate candidate not taking corporate PAC money:




http://www.andrewromanoff.com/news/entry/president-bill-clinton-supports-andrew-romanoff/

[cschwab]

(The Colorado Senate Candidate not taking the corporate money may just win the primary!)

Romanoff Surges in Colorado Senate Poll

8/1/2010 - CBS 4 Denver (AP) Democrat Andrew Romanoff has surged in his primary challenge against Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, according to a Denver Post poll.

The newspaper reported Sunday that Romanoff has closed a double-digit deficit to Bennet and now holds a narrow lead of 48 percent to 45 percent among 536 likely Democratic primary voters, with the rest undecided. The poll by Survey USA had a margin of error of 4.3 points.

In the Republican Senate primary, Weld County prosecutor Ken Buck maintained a lead over former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton. In the poll of 588 likely GOP primary voters, Buck led 50 percent to 41 percent, with a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

Survey USA conducted the telephone poll for the news outlets between July 27 and July 29. Some of the poll respondents had already voted. Most Colorado counties are holding mail-in-only balloting, with ballots due Aug. 10.

The poll seemed the verify GOP fears that former Rep. Tom Tancredo will split conservatives with his entry into the governor's race as a third-party candidate. It showed Tancredo splitting the Republican Party, where former Rep. Scott McInnis faces Dan Maes for the nomination.

The poll showed that Maes and McInnis neck-and-neck in the GOP gubernatorial primary, with 43 percent backing Maes and 39 percent of 588 likely primary voters backing McInnis. The margin of error was 4.1 percentage points.

McInnis' support has dropped considerably since the candidate acknowledged parts of essays he wrote for a foundation were plagiarized. More than one in five Republicans surveyed, or 21 percent, said they supported McInnis before the plagiarism reports but now support another candidate.

"Early on he was my choice, but things came to light, and I changed my mind," said Dave Sarton II, a 46-yar-old Republican from Colorado Springs. Sarton said he was voting for Maes.

Tancredo announced last week he's leaving the GOP and running for governor with the right-leaning American Constitution Party.

Tancredo's entry appeared to split conservatives in a general-election race against Democrat John Hickenlooper, who has no primary opposition.

Asked about hypothetical matchups in November, 1,015 likely voters gave Hickenlooper a plurality over either McInnis or Maes, with Tancredo drawing 24 percent. Hickenlooper also led Maes and McInnis in hypothetical matchups without Tancredo.

http://www.andrewromanoff.com/news/entry/romanoff-surges-in-colorado-senate-poll/

[cschwab]

(Andrew Romanoff makes the front page of Colorado's Coloradoan newspaper)

Romanoff rallies his troops

BY KIRSTEN SILVEIRA

[cschwab]

Looks like the big money has bought another election; Michael Bennett, Andrew Romanoff's opponent, has won the primary election.  Maybe all a candidate with a boatload of money has to do is stay at home, put their feet up, and let a lot of TV ads do their work for them - forget about issues and ideas.  Guess it doesn't matter a lick if a candidate has won all the caucuses and assemblies in the world.

http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_15737668