20 May, 2006

And The Dust Settles... Mostly

Time to turn the camera towards local politics, I'd say. For now, at week's end, a vast majority of the state-level races here in Colorado have been finalized.

Except for a little office sitting eight miles away from me.

After the folderol of the Republican State Assembly, Bob Beauprez (Who happens to be my current Congressman, by the by.) captured the sole endorsement for the Governor's Office by a good 44 points. His opponent for the primary ballot, Marc Holtzman, refuses to bow out and will go via the petition system to gain a slot on the ballot. This, to my analysis, goes true to form with an organization that would publicly announce that "[w]e're sorry that the girls from our campaign beat up the boys from their campaign." (Note to NewMexiKen: Use that for one of your best lines of the day posts. Double-dog-dare ya!) Of course, I find it highly doubtful that, even if they do make the primary ballot, there will be much better of a result for the Holtzman/Spradley ticket. I'd give odds of 21-1 that those two will see their names on the ballot on November 7th.

On my own side of the double-yellow-line, Bill Ritter is cruising along with absolutely zero opposition on Primary Day. And to improve the Ritter campaign's mood must be the master odds-makers over at ColoradoPols, who put him at 5-1 to win the whole thing. (Personally, I'd put it at 4-1, but that's just my opinion.)

And that's not the only hot race I need concern myself with this year.

Here in CO-7 land, there's still a three-way race for the Democratic primary, while the GOP have gotten in line behind Rick O'Donnell. Contrary to what most pundits have said earlier in the year, it looks like both Peggy Lamm and Herb Rubenstein will make it through the petition process and join Ed Perlmutter on the ballot. And for my thoughts...

I haven't really been a fan of Peggy Lamm, mostly because of my disdain for political dynasties. (She's the daughter-in-law of former Colorado governor Richard Lamm.) Trust me, you've never seen my eyes roll whenever someone mentions Hillary '08 in their blog posts. Or hear me start swearing when I read about a rumor that Jeb Bush might be considering a run for the White House. So while I might agree with Lamm over 35% of the time (And also give her a better shot at beating Rick O'Donnell in November than the other two enjoy.), she still suffers from my formal dislike of political families. However, I will say that she definitely has the personal charisma to meet O'Donnell head-to-head.

Perlmutter, on the other hand, is someone that most folks on the left-hand-side of the road would love to see as their congressman. However, it's been a while since I've read anything about/by/for/regarding him that would help me see him doing the difficult: beating O'Donnell in the first place. He doesn't do anything about taking one of the Three G's (Namely God, Guns, and Gays.) away from the sole contender for the GOP nomination. And without that, especially here in an evenly split district (33% Rep, 32% Dem, 30% Libertarian, 7% mixed Independents, IIRC.), there's few chances he can win out.

Rubenstein, however, does take one of those three away. Or at least makes a serious effort at it. There are very few extremely religious people in the Democratic Party, and Rubenstein is one of them. And while he's strongly religious (Jewish, to be precise.), he's also reads to me to be smack dab in the center-left. His policies are more thought out than most would produce in a primary race, and his views are so well-described that only someone from the extreme end of the GOP spectrum would call him a screaming liberal. Sure, he's on the short end of the stick, at least where the polls are concerned. But I've always had a soft spot for the dark horse, particularly when that horse makes things extremely uncomfortable for those in the lead. If he can keep it close until August, then it'll be a horse-race in truth all the way to the finish line.

Keep running, Herb. I've got ten bucks on you to win. (Of course, to hedge my bet, I've got $30 on Rubenstein to place. Dumb bookie gave me 30-1 odds, and I took those in a flash.) (Oh, and just guess what his odds to win were... I should go to Republican bookies more often.)

[Disclaimer: The author and this blog are in no way connected with any political campaign. Should such status change, the author will make the appropriate announcement.]

And on a side note, I've been wondering about the history of Colfax Avenue, the same street I take my nom de blog from. I've been saying to myself that I'd sit down and do some research one of these days. But now, the Denver Post has beat me to the punch. (The bastages!) Even worse, they do so with a nifty Flash presentation. Clink the link for a bit of education in completely useless, but pretty darned neat, information.

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