What a day

Some days, it seems like nothing really happens in the world of Colorado politics. And then there's today.

First Tovah Dancer emails me to let me know that Gary Lindstrom announced his withdrawal from the governor's race this morning on Jay Marvin's show. Then Progress Now Action tells me that Littleton residents have formally requested an ethics investigation of Republican Joe Stengel. Then SAFER dares (no pun intended) Owens and Hickenlooper to sign their petition on the steps of the Capitol at noon tomorrow.

The State Senate passed the smoking ban with some extra exemptions. The Marc Holtzman campaign says it is being stalked by a mystery photographer from the Bob Beauprez camp.

And then Alice Madden collapses on the House floor.

So what day did my hosting company decide to do some software maintenance that messed up my FTP service? Today.

Supposedly Alice is feeling better. Best wishes to her. Hope she is back on her feet tomorrow.

Stengel petition online

I have devoted a lot of words to Republican Joe Stengel. Now, thanks to Progress Now Action, you can devote some of your own.

Ritter endorsed by Local 720

Today, Laborer's Local 720 endorsed Democrat Bill Ritter for governor. That's the same union Ritter belonged to when he was working his way through college as a pipe layer. How do you respond?

1. "Yawn. That barely qualifies as news."

2. "Wow! That's a symmetry that would appeal to Borges."

3. "Huh-huh. You just said 'pipe layer.'"

4. "Oh, c'mon, Matt! You're only mentioning this so you can give Ritter another link!"

Complacency Watch 2006

According to Coloradopols , not only is Democratic candidate for governor Bill Ritter polling better than Republicans Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman, so is Gary Lindstrom. (And sometimes Lindstrom doesn't even seem to be running.)

So what's the problem?

While Ritter's months of campaigning have driven his numbers up, the poll also reflects a general anti-Republican sentiment. And Both Ways Bob, given his nickname, will probably try to run away from his "Yes, sir, Mr. President sir!" voting record after the caucuses.

Will he be able to confuse Colorado voters into thinking he is an independent thinker with a spine of his own and our state's best interests at heart? It's up to you to stop him.

Republican blasts Tancredo

File this one in the "Hell yeah!" category. From the Rocky Mountain News:

"Tom Tancredo is an irrational, one-trick pony obsessed with the issue of immigration," Botero said. "Many in his own party can't stand him and wish he would just go away." Botero said the people of Colorado's 6th Congressional District have been poorly served by Tancredo. "Tom Tancredo is an embarrassment not only to himself but to his party."

Botero is opposing Tancredo for the Republican nomination. Whoever wins will have to face Democrat Bill Winter.

Fawcett, Winter live from 1 to 3 p.m.

If you hit Coloradolib this afternoon, you are in the wrong place. Jay Fawcett and Bill Winter, two Fighting Dems, are live blogging over at DailyKos from 1 to 3 p.m. This link should take you there.

Same stuff, different Sunday

What's in the Sunday Denver Post? Republicans acting nutty, same as always.

Tancredo made some hysterical statement. Stengel wants the Republicans to regain control of the State House. Mitchell humorously introduced himself to the executive director or NARAL as "the devil." Dyer was the only state senator to vote against what Fred Brown called "the let's-be-pals push in the legislature."

I know. Yawn.

But if you ever feel like the political process in Colorado is vicious and partisan, I urge you to watch Lord of War. In some countries, the political parties thin voter rolls by hacking opponents to death with machetes. Suddenly, having the righties call me names doesn't seem so bad.

HD38 a race to watch

The Sunday Denver Post called HD38 a "race to watch," as Democrats Lt. Col. Joe Rice and Glen Emerson fight it out with Republican attorney Candy Figa.

UPDATE: The Post has it wrong. Glen Emerson is running for county assessor.

Musgrave and "Mexican shacks"

Republican Marilyn Musgrave has a charming way of referring to low-income farm housing. See Soapblox for more. Go Angie Paccione, go!

CD7 and the expectations game

It always drives me crazy when I turn on the business news and hear something like, "Megacorp Incorporated reports record earnings, massive hiring, and productivity gains. But since their earnings were one-twelveth of a point below expectations, their stock has tanked."

The expectations game. It's a tough one to win.

Prior to Senator John Kerry's visit to Denver, the Ed Perlmutter team was telling everyone they expected the Senator's endorsement. And they sort of got it. But all the Rocky Mountain News and Coloradopols are talking about is how, yeah, Kerry wants Perlmutter to win, but it's not like the Senator jogged around 16th Street in a fluorescent Perlmutter 2006 T-shirt.

Kerry is naturally reserved. Personally, I like that about him. I would have been shocked and disturbed if he'd jumped on top of a bench and started chanting, "Ed Perlmutter! Like a knife through butter! Straight to DC! It's Ed and me!"

Colorado's most conservative

Hat-tip to DemNotes for pointing out the National Journal's ratings of all U.S. representatives.

Stengel works, hulas simultaneously

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Republican minority leader Joe Stengel "billed taxpayers last year for working while he was on a five-day vacation in Hawaii." Is this possible? Maybe. I know that I worked while I was on vacation in Costa Rica.

But, as I have written before, I find it extremely unlikely that Stengel worked "240 days out of 247 when the legislature was out of session" in addition to working all the in session days.

Democrats asked for Stengel's records on February 16. By law, he had to turn them over within 72 hours. Anybody know what day it is?

The Friday night post

I was offline for most of the day. I guess my boy John Kerry endorsed Ed Perlmutter in CD7. I guess my other boy Bill Ritter will be in Steamboat Springs tomorrow. I guess SAFER passed for challenging the language of their Colorado marijuana legalization initiative.

Tancredo gets Republican challenger

Apparently, even Republicans suspect Tom Tancredo is about to drive their party off a cliff. Mad Tom will get a Republican primary challenger.

Winter, Fawcett live blogging Sunday

Excuse this linkless, cut-and-paste job:

Fighting Dems CD6 candidate Bill Winter and CD5 candidate Jay Fawcett will be live blogging on DailyKos from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. this Sunday.

Kerry coming to D-town

2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is doing something he didn't do nearly enough of two years ago. He's visiting Denver.

Kerry will be here to fundraise for CD7 Democratic nominee Ed Perlmutter. The Rocky Mountain News reports that Perlmutter expects Kerry to endorse his candidacy.

Kerry will spend the majority of his day downtown, so if I catch a glimpse of a limo, I'll wave and shout something like, "John Kerry is a superstar!"

Internal polling shows Lamm with lead

Well, here are those numbers I made a cryptic reference to a couple posts back. From a Peggy Lamm for Congress press release that just popped up in my inbox:

"Arvada, CO - A survey released today shows Peggy Lamm holding a double-digit lead over her competitors in the Democratic primary for Colorado's 7th Congressional District. Lamm's history of fighting for reform - as Co-Chair of the CU recruiting investigation, as a leading proponent of the do-not-call list, and as a concerned citizen fighting against a taxpayer subsidized Wal-Mart in Westminster - is attracting Democratic primary voters to her campaign."

The survey of 400 likely primary voters was conducted for the Lamm campaign by RBI Strategy and Research. The margin of error is just under 5%.

Lamm took the opportunity to blast the current administration, which I always think is fun. "President Bush and Congress are taking us in the exact wrong direction, and we need Democrats who will stand up for their beliefs, and focus on real issues - affordable health care, scrapping the Republican Medicaid plan, and investing in renewable energy sources that will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and even lower our home heating costs."

The numbers shake out like this:

Peggy Lamm - 33%
Leaning Lamm - 11%
Herb Rubenstein - 1%
Leaning Rubenstein - 1%
Ed Perlmutter - 17%
Leaning Perlmutter - 6%

The Lamm folks are, understandably, pretty happy. Especially considering that they just got a staff on the ground a couple weeks ago. I am sure the Perlmutter and Rubenstein supporters have their own views and they are more than welcome to post them on this thread.

I want to see the Democrats sweep the country and recapture the House of Representatives. (I originally wrote "take back the house," but I rephrased and a couple people out there know why. Ha ha.) So I'm anxious for the people in CD7 to get behind a candidate after the March caucuses. And I think Lamm would match up well against Republican nominee-apparent Rick O'Donnell.

Holtzman returns to hysterical rhetoric

For awhile there, I was worried Republican candidate for governor Marc Holtzman had gone sane on me. Fortunately, I was alerted to this article in the Steamboat Pilot by Progress Now Action. Holtzman "said Colorado is in 'a state of emergency'" because of the immigration threat. I would like to blog more about this, but I have to go buy some flares, a roll of duct tape and a month's supply of drinking water.

Drinking with Angie, part 3

It seems my stalling has paid off. TakeBackTheHouse has posted his usual detailed report on the night's proceedings. So, you know, I second what he said.

I love the Democratic Party. I love the neo-luddites who yearn for some non-existant pre-consumerist past. I love the energetic volunteers who so wholeheartedly pour their hopes and dreams into this candidate or that issue. And I love the preachers, who can stand in the middle of a strange room and speak about education and healthcare in words so inspiring that atheists amen.

Angie is a preacher. Testify, people. Testify.

Drinking with Angie, part 2

There ain't nothing like linking to make you really super popular. So besides CD4 Democratic candidate Angie Paccione, I was glad to see Karen Middleton, Larry Beer, Mike Weissman, CD7 candidate Herb Rubenstein, Pam Steadman, SAFER honcho Mason Tvert, and Kathryn Poindexter from CD7 candidate Peggy Lamm's campaign. And of course the bloggers behind Soapblox, Heading Left, Ed Perlmutter's blog, Tovah Dancer, Marshall V. Collins, and if I forgot you, that's because aliens erased my memory on the way home.

There is a fundraiser going on for CD6 candidate Bill Winter on First Friday. Soapblox should have more details at some point. And someone gave me a scoop on some numbers which I can't exploit because I am not going to be blogging at precisely 9 a.m. tomorrow.

I will, however blog about meeting Angie at the earliest opportunity. The earliest opportunity - tomorrow.

Drinking with Angie, part 1

I'm going to blog about Angie Paccione's appearance at Drinking Liberally. I really, really am. But not tonight.

Still, Angie was nice enough to come talk to a roomful of folks who can not vote in CD4. So I at least I wanted to get a link up to her site as soon as possible. Here that link is. Along with a photo that'd be completely usless for identification purposes, but which has some charm nonetheless.

The other Salazar endorses Ritter

Democratic Representative John Salazar joined his brother Ken in endorsing Bill Ritter for governor. According to a release, Salazar praised "Ritter as a native Coloradan who understands the issues most important to the state's rural areas."

Why am I including a photo of HD38 Democratic candidate Lt. Colo. Joe Rice with this story? Just to see if you are paying attention.

Beauprez and Holtzman love the Post

Coloradopols says that Republicans Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman are having a woo-off over who'll get the love of the Denver Post. The owner of the Post is already buddies with Holtzman. But Beauprez and the Post's editor got chummy at yesterday's Jefferson County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner. So, um, where is the liberal media, again?

Martinis with Angie

See you and CD4 Democratic candidate Angie Paccione tonight at 7:30 p.m. for Drinking Liberally at Double Daughters.

Martinis with Mason

Hit 1: Avenue Grill makes the best martinis in Denver. I should know. I managed to drink two as I listened to Mason Tvert, director of SAFER , explain why marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.

Hit 2: Have you ever seen Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical? Not only is it hilarious, it gives you the chance to watch Kristen Bell get jiggy with it.

Hit 3: Our waiter asked Mason if he was that guy behind the whole marijuana thing. The waiter had the same giddy look on his face that I would get if Katherine Heigl endorsed Bill Winter.

Hit 4: I have to read The Tipping Point.

Hit 5: How the hell is marijuana legalization ever going to get a serious hearing in America? The right-wing libertarians who might champion it are too indebted to the religious right to ever consider it. The left-wing privacy-rights people are too afraid of enraging soccer moms to mention it. And people like me don't want to touch it because we don't our candidates to get sucked into a culture war with the armies of the night. But Mason is a convincing guy. He is sure that the issue will bring out voters for whichever side picks it up first.

Hit 6: As I drank my second martini, I thought about how many people I know who have almost died drinking. At least five or six guys. And then I thought about how many people I know who have almost died getting high. Not a single person.

Hm.

Joe Rice touches down

HD38 Democratic candidate Lt. Col. Joe Rice is back in Colorado after serving in Iraq. His plane touched down about two hours ago. My spies tell me he was greeted by a cheering crowd of Democrats, veterans, and Democratic veterans. Supposedly Channel 7 was there as well. You can get info on Rice's campaign kickoff at this link.

Tancredo vs. the church

Mad Tom Tancredo blasted "the U.S. Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society for lobbying against a border-enforcement bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year."

You know, if Tancredo isn't careful, even the religious right will vote for Democratic CD6 candidate Bill Winter.

SCOTUS rules on Colorado redistricting

The Supreme Court has ruled on a case that could have a big effect on the boundaries of CD6 and CD7. You can read more at Coloradopols or Wash Park Prophet.

What has Joe Stengel been up to?

Currently, Republican state representative Joe Stengel is supposed to be turning over his records so lawmakers can figure out why he billed the taxpayers for $24,000 in per diem.

What has he actually been doing? Proposing anti-business legislation.

From the Rocky Mountain News: "The worst of the lot is House Bill 1082, by Minority Leader Joe Stengel. The bill would let companies that hire illegal immigrants be sued for civil damages if they break the law when not at work. Talk about a bonanza for the plaintiffs' bar."

"Uh, sorry about the whole 'firing you' thing"

"You're doing great work," Bush said today at NREL. Wisely, he did not take questions. According to an Associated Press release I received from Progress Now Action, "The president blamed the conflicting message on an appropriations mix-up."

More in the Denver Post, among other places.

Beauprez filled with waffly goodness, part 3

The rhetoric: "'I've worked hard to try to right this wrong, and I want to thank Secretary Bodman and his staff for helping us ensure NREL is able to go forward and fully carry on its mission as our country's premier renewable energy research facility,' Beauprez said."

The facts: "Beauprez voted for the president's 2006 budget which slashed key energy research funds, leading to a $28 million decrease in the budget for NREL and dozens of layoffs. Then Beauprez refused to join more than 100 representatives in signing a bipartisan letter urging the president to restore funding to NREL."

Two questions I have right now

1. Recently, Democratic Senator Ken Salazar asked the President to "restore, increase and protect funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory." Given what I wrote in my last post, will Salazar punch Bush in the kidneys tomorrow?

2. When Both Ways Bob says, "Innovations in renewable energies like solar, wind, biomass and hydrogen fuel cell technologies have given us a peek into a future where our country can slowly let go of our dependence on fossil fuels," how slowly does he mean? Like, glacially slowly? Slowly like "we're slowly hunting for Osama bin Laden"?

Bush, Beauprez enjoy jerking us around

The administration has made much hay out of the way it cut funding for the National Renewable Energy Labratory in Golden and then magically restored it the day before the President came to town.

But you knew it was a bunch of lies, right?

The Rocky Mountain News reports that the "National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden is getting only $5 million from the Department of Energy to offset its $28 million budget cut in fiscal 2006 - money that is barely sufficient to rehire the 32 employees it had laid off earlier this month."

Somewhere, our President is trying to rid himself of his pants, because they're on fire. The truth is that our President only cares about helping his Republican crony Bob Beauprez, who was embarrassed when it was disclosed that he voted for job cuts in his own district.

The President's visit is a great opportunity for Democrats. I sincerely hope that Democratic candidate for governor Bill Ritter points out Beauprez's wishy-washy obsequiousness to the administration. But right now, the only Democrat who is getting any press out of the whole thing is CD7 Democratic candidate Ed Perlmutter, who blasted the President and you can read all about that in the Rocky.

UPDATE: I posted this last night. By this morning, some of the Rocky's articles had been moved around or rewritten. I apologize for some of the innacuracies. I tried to fix most of my links.

Romanoff, the wit

If House Speaker Andrew Romanoff ever wants to leave politics, he ought to write for The Jon Stewart Show. Some of the lines from his latest newsletter are comedic gold:

"Judging from the emails I've received this month, I could sum up the legislature's work in a single proposal: to prohibit gay immigrants from driving without seat belts, smoking in pool halls, or building toll roads on private land. The law would not apply when shopping at Wal-Mart."

The Joe Stengel records watch

What's that sound? It's the ticking of the clock.

Anybody got an opinion?

Apparently my anarcho-liberal friends are beginning to rub off on me. The Rocky Mountain News article on the war between the unions and big business has got me all worked up. We, the people should have a bigger voice. Read the article. And then call your state legislators and tell them how you feel. You can find their contact information on vote-smart.org.

Beauprez filled with waffly goodness, part 2

Many of the jobs at the National Renewable Energy Labratory will be restored, thanks to a huge public outcry. The funniest thing has been watching Both Ways Bob Beauprez try to take credit for restoring the funding he voted to cut.

Beauprez filled with waffly goodness, part 1

Susan Barnes-Gelt has an excellent editorial in the Sunday Denver Post. Unfortunately, the headline, "Ritter not rigid in his abortion views," is, uh, unfortunate. Because it plays into the Republican-created stereotype about Democrats. We waffle. We're flexible. We're nuanced.

In other words, we're wussies.

We can't forget who the real flip-flopper is in the race for the Colorado governor's mansion. Republican Bob Beauprez has reversed field on Referendum C, on the military and on the National Renewable Energy Labratory.

Next to Both Ways Bob, Bill Ritter is a model of consistency. A point Ms. Barnes-Gelt makes herself near the end of the editorial. Ritter "passes the authenticity test with flying colors - an exam that Bob Beauprez would surely fail."

Here's hoping that Post subscribers read the editorial and not just flip past the headline.

Question Bush at Progress Now Action

The President will visit Colorado Tuesday. Progress Now Action will greet him with one of 10 billboards. Learn more on progressnowaction.org.

Here's my favorite so far. Photo courtesy of Progress Now Action. Duh.

Bush to sell public land

The Denver Post reports that the Bush administration plans to sell 21,000 acres of public land "to raise money for rural schools in other states." The parcels include lands overlooking Rocky Mountain National Park, along the Mount Evans Highway, near Grays and Torreys peaks, west of Vail ski resort, and around St. Mary's Glacier.

This ought to enrage four types of people:

1. Environmentalists, for the obvious reason.
2. Local-government types, who resent DC control.
3. Small-government types, who resent big spending.
4. Me.

I first mentioned this story a couple days ago. But it deserved an update.

Gary for governor?

As a partisan hack, I try not to take sides in primaries. But it's hard not to support Bill Ritter when even his primary opponent tells you to.

The last two emails I have gotten from Gary Lindstrom for Governor have been about Alice Madden's endorsement of Ritter and Gary Hart's endorsement of Ritter.

I emailed Mr. Lindstrom to ask about his unique campaign strategy. I'll post his reply. In the meantime, is anybody who reads this blog on the Gary for Governor bus? If so, please post a comment on this thread.

UPDATE: Gary Lindstrom wrote, "I am as open as I can be about my campaign. Each time an article comes out I get more support." I appreciate his responsiveness. It will win him many supporters.

Troubleshooting coloradolib

Ever since I messed with my header graphics last Tuesday, coloradolib has been having all sorts of problems. Its latest bad habit is dumping posts off the frontpage. If you see anything less than 10 posts, can you please comment on this thread? Thanks.

UPDATE: Apparently this was happening all over Blogger today. Glad to know it wasn't just me.

Joe Stengel in a league of his own

How often will I write about this story? As many times as it takes.

Nation Journal ranks Colo. race for guv #6

From the National Journal:

"No poll result has had us more stunned in the last few weeks than the Mason-Dixon survey that showed Beauprez trailing Democrat Bill Ritter. Millions have been spent on Beauprez's behalf in the state's largest media market and he can't do better than a DA in a benchmark matchup? Is the GOP brand in this much trouble?"

Hat-tip to Soapblox.

Elementary school vs. the real world

The latest newsletter from State Senator Ken Gordon shares this story:

"Earlier today I spoke to a group of 4th, 5th and 6th graders from Denison Elementary school. I asked them if they had any ideas for legislation. These are the bills they suggested.

"1. Stop everyone from smoking anything.
"2. Protect the national parks.
"3. Make drug use illegal.
"4. Stop hunting, especially during mating season.
"5. Use more renewable sources of energy.
"6. Stop child abuse.

"It is hard to come up with a better agenda."

Unfortunately, the kids at Denison don't have a whole lot of pull on Capitol Hill. The Rocky Mountain News reports that "the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee will hold a marathon hearing Tuesday on 10 Republican bills and perhaps one or two Democratic bills, all of which relate to illegal immigration."

Citizens Healthcare Working Group meets 2/27

From the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative: "Congress and the President created the Citizens Healthcare Working Group to hear public input about the most pressing issues facing consumers attempting to access medical care... The hearings will be held on February 27th, 2006 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Colorado History Museum... Visit citizenshealthcare.gov to register."

SAFER not funded by Soros. (But Safer was.)

I found this paragraph in the latest SAFER Choice email interesting:

"One of the lies spread by the drug czar while he was in town was that billionaire George Soros is funding our 'million-dollar campaign.' This is utterly false. We have never received a penny from George Soros. I am not sure George Soros even knows we exist."

Soros has been linked to the Campaign for New Drug Policies. But I wondered why the White House drug czar would have thought Soros was involved with SAFER. And by gosh, after a whole two seconds of Googling, I think I have it. In 2003, Soros was involved with an after-prison initiative called the Safer Foundation.

SAFER Choice. Safer Foundation. Hey it's a mistake anyone could make, right? Except you'd think John Walters would have checked his facts. I mean, he works for the government, and the government is never wrong.

Thank you, Morgan Carroll

Today's news seemed to be all about the various ways in which greed is ruining our state. Bush is selling off Colorado public land to pay for his six year spending spree. Beauprez and Tancredo are gushing about their donors on the House floor. Steve Farber is cozying up to Both Ways Bob. Everybody knows my opinion of Joe Stengel by now. And the folks on my side of the aisle aren't doing much better.

Just as I was about to hit the Jack Daniels, I happened across a story on Progress Now Action. The story points to an editorial in the Rocky Mountain News that details how Aurora Democrat Morgan Carroll took an unpopular stand purely on principle.

Ms. Carroll, you rock. Maybe there's hope for Colorado after all.

Dueling conventions in 2008?

If politics is showbusiness for ugly people, Denver may look awful in 2008, according to the Denver Post.

Democrats request Stengel's records

I have written about Joe Stengel a lot recently. I wrote this post. And this post. And this post. And now the Colorado Democrats have written this post:

"Today, Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, sent a letter to Rep. Joe Stengel of Littleton, CO requesting copies of all time sheets, notes, memos and requests for reimbursement on behalf of his work with the Colorado General Assembly in 2005. The request was made under Colorado's Open Records Law. Rep. Stengel is required to respond within 72 hours."

Hope Stengel has a comfortable couch at home. Because he might be spending a lot more time there.

Hat-tip to Democracy for Colorado.

UPDATE: Here is the Denver Post's story.

Hefley will retire

In rapid succession, I learned from Progress Now Action, the Rocky Mountain News, and Coloradopols that CD5 Republican representative Joel Hefley will not seek re-election in 2006.

This sets up a crowded Republican primary in uber-conservative Colorado Springs. But the big winner here is Democratic CD5 candidate Jay Fawcett. Fawcett is an Air Force Academy graduate who earned a Bronze Star in the 1991 Gulf War.

While I didn't agree with Hefley much, he was one of the last Republicans left in Washington DC who had some sort of spine. As the Rocky's story reads:

"Although Hefley is as conservative as any member of Congress, Democrats and liberal interest groups rushed to his defense when GOP leaders removed him from the Ethics Committee chairmanship... He was the lone Republican to speak loudly against proposed ethics rule changes that critics saw as an attempt to shield DeLay from further scrutiny."

UPDATE: Fawcett's statement: "Congressman Hefley is a public servant in the truest sense of the word. One of the most dignified and respected members of congress, his decades of service to the people of Colorado and the United States will be recognized for years to come. We owe the Congressman a debt of gratitude and wish him the best in his retirement. I believe with change comes opportunity, the opportunity for growth and meeting the expectations of a thriving society. I am personally excited to be a part of that change."

Help welcome home Joe Rice

Democratic state house candidate Lt. Col. Joe Rice has left Iraq. Next up, a week of debriefing and checkout activities in Kuwait, Fort Leavenworth and Fort Bliss.

Joe will be stateside in time for the Vote Joe Rice kickoff party on March 11 at 4 p.m. at Littleton's Riverfront Center. The event will be hosted by Colorado Veterans for America.

Joe is campaigning for the seat Republican per diem addict Joe Stengel is vacating in HD38.

Photo courtesy of Citizens for Joe Rice.

Hart endorses Ritter

Now it's like there's some giant race to endorse Democratic candidate for governor Bill Ritter:

"Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart has endorsed leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter, joining many other influential Coloradans who are backing Ritter's candidacy... 'Bill Ritter has a strong sense of where Colorado needs to go,' Hart said. 'He's a progressive thinker who isn't bound by old, traditional ways of doing things... Bill understands the desperate need we face as a state to invest in our educational base as a means of stimulating economic growth in Colorado.'"

Three questions I'm asking this morning

Republican candidate for governor Marc Holtzman was in Larimer County yesterday. Will he ever set foot inside Denver?

According to the Rocky Mountain News, Tom Tancredo is trying to give his campaign money away to an anti-immigration group. Does he not realize he is going to need every penny to fight off Democratic CD6 candidate Bill Winter?

And why, oh why did Democratic candidate for governor Gary Lindstrom just send me an email to tell me that Alice Madden has endorsed Lindstrom's opponent, Bill Ritter?

Colorado is the new Iowa

Early presidential front runners like Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator George Allen will be visiting Colorado next week, according to the Denver Post.

Kerry will be here to support CD7 Democratic candidate Ed Perlmutter. Allen will be answering questions like "Who are you?" and "What are you doing here?"