February 2010
NEWS ARTICLES
North Denver CandidateSearch2010 Event a Success
February 21, 2010 by Jack Ott
Conservative
political activists in the Denver area probably got more than they expected in a four-hour
“Meet-the-Candidates” forum this afternoon at the Pinnacle Events Center in Federal
Heights. The event, sponsored by a coalition of conservative groups, featured
introductions and questions and answers from congressional and gubernatorial candidates
running for office in this year’s elections. While most of the candidates were
Republicans, the Libertarian Party and the Colorado Unity party were also represented.
Invitations were extended to all Democrat candidates as well, but none had the courage to
appear.
After
introductory remarks by Jon caldera of the Independence
Institute and Matt Arnold of Clear the Bench
Colorado, the first group of candidates to appear were five candidates from the
Seventh Congressional District (Mike Deming, Ryan Frazier, Jimmy Lakey, Mike Sheely, and
Lang Sias.) Each candidate was given three minutes to introduce himself, then each took
turns with one minute responses to questions posed by the event moderator, Krista Kafer. At the conclusion of the round, members of
the audience were asked to text-message in to a number to indicate who they thought had
done the best. In the first round, Frazier (1st) and Lakey (2nd) were chosen as being the
winners.
The
second round featured candidates running in the Second Congressional District (Stephen
Bailey, Bob Brancato, Bill Hammons of the Unity Party, and Curtis Harris of the
Libertarian Party.) The audience selected Bailey and Hammons as the winners of this round.
Then
followed four candidates and a representative for a fifth candidate running for Michael
Bennet’s Senate seat. They were Steve Barton, Ken Buck, Cleve Tidwell, and Tom Wiens,
plus a representative for Jane Norton. The highlight of this round occurred when Ken Buck
jibed Jane Norton for not appearing in person at this event. The audience ratings of the
candidates in this round are not available at this time, but Ken Buck seemed to draw the
widest applause and cheering. Tom Wiens also performed very well, and no doubt helped his
cause.
The
fourth and final round had three gubernatorial candidates on stage; Rich Hand, Dan Maes,
and Scott McGinnis. Hand’s inexperience was quickly evident. Maes and McGinnis both
did very well, but Maes clearly appeared to be the audience favorite.
_________
(Followup)
Results of audience responses posted:
(February
22)
The final results
of the audience reaction to the candidates’ performance were released today. The
percentages shown are the percent of voting participants who felt that the specific
candidate had done the best job in each round.
The only major change from the preliminary
results listed in the article, above, were in the 7th CD, where Jimmy Lakey received more
votes than Ryan Frazier.
7th
Congressional District
| Jimmy Lakey |
38.57% |
| Ryan Frazier |
28.57% |
| Lang Sias |
24.29% |
| Michael Sheely |
5.71% |
| Michael Deming |
2.86% |
| Total Votes Cast |
70 |
|
2nd
Congressional District
| Stephen Bailey |
54.72% |
| Curtis Harris |
39.62% |
| Bill Hammons |
3.77% |
| Bob Brancato |
1.89% |
| Total votes cast |
53 |
|
|
|
U.S. Senate candidates
| Ken Buck |
47.13% |
| Tom Wiens |
27.59% |
| Cleve Tidwell |
22.99% |
| (Jane Norton)* |
2.30% |
| Steve Barton |
0.00% |
| Total votes cast |
87 |
* stand-in for candidate
|
State Governor
candidates
| Dan Maes |
61.90% |
| Scott McInnis |
33.33% |
| Rich Hand |
4.76% |
| Total votes cast |
63 |
|
***********************
The President Comes
to Denver
February 18, 2010
by Jack Ott
With falling
temperatures and falling snow, perhaps 100 shivering people lined the parking lot across Colfax
Avenue from the Fillmore Auditorium this afternoon. They were waiting for the President of
the United States to arriveto host a rally in support of embattled Colorado Senator
Michael Bennet. It was a rare situation, in which activists with widely differing
political agendas inter-
mingled and debated each other while they waited for the president’s motorcade to
arrive from Buckley Air Force base. There were almost equal numbers of 9.12/Tea Party
adherents, Andrew Romanoff supporters (Bennet’s Democrat Primary opponent), and
promoters of the national “Medicare for All” issue. The motorcade finally
arrived about fifteen minutes late, but with the usual flair that one would expect from
such an event. The presidential party quickly disappeared into the auditorium, and the
greatly relieved crowd disintegrated and participants made their way back to their cars to
get warm.
While the
activists were holding their flags and signs on one side of the street, an estimated 2,700
people lined up on the other side to be admitted to the rally inside the auditorium. Many
of them waited for over two hours to get in.
Perhaps may be
the most interesting aspect of the whole event was the relatively small crowd that was
drawn to the event. Whether it was the blistery weather (no doubt caused by global
warming) or the president’s fallen approval ratings, the scene was far different from
that which took place in Denver about a year and a half ago at the conclusion of the
Democratic National Convention. There were no Greek columns this time.
***********************
February 2010 Denver Chapter Meeting
February 18, 2010 by Jack Ott
The Coalition for
a Conservative Majority – Denver Chapter held its monthly meeting on February 16,
2010 at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood. The meeting was called to order at 7:00
pm and the formal Opening Ceremony took place.
Chapter President
JACK OTT called for an introduction of the evening’s special guests and asked them to
address the participants. The first to do so was MAX BREWSTER, organizer and
Co-leader of the Denver/Front Range 912 Project. This group is an active member of the
statewide conservative coalition “Operation Avalanche”, of which CCM is also a
member. MAX described his organization and its activities, emphasizing its “Candidate
Search Project” that brings conservative candidates for elected office together for
face-to-face meetings with voters throughout the Denver metropolitan area.
The second guest
was MEGAN BROPHY, a freshman student at CCU and organizer of the College Republican
group on campus. It was discovered during her introduction that MEGAN is the daughter of
State Senator GREG BROPHY, and we later learned that she had also served as a volunteer on
the staff of this month’s Guest Speaker, State Senator MIKE KOPP.
The third guest
was BILL LONGAKER, who is a staff volunteer for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District
Candidate RYAN FRAZIER. After BILL introduced himself, he gave an impromptu campaign
speech for his candidate.
Senator KOPP was
then introduced and proceeded to discuss the major activities that are currently taking
place in the State Legislature. He emphasized the activities surrounding the notorious
“dirty-dozen” tax bills, nine of which were passed by the Legislature on
straight party-line votes. The bills called for the removal of tax exemptions in several
controversial areas, all designed to boost state revenues to fill budget shortfalls. He
also discussed the controversy surrounding the retention of four Colorado Supreme Court
Justices that will be on this year’s ballot. Sen. KOPP finished his presentation by
answering questions from the audience.
The meeting then
progressed to the routine items on the Agenda. JACK OTT reported on recent developments
within the OPERATION AVALANCHE coalition, and focused on the group’s planning efforts
for the March 16 precinct caucuses. Members were asked to provide information that would
allow the tracking of precinct coverage, and all present stated that they would not only
attend their precinct caucus, but volunteer to serve as delegates to their county
assemblies as well. The collected data will be aggregated with similar data from other
coalition groups to maximize coverage throughout Colorado.
A brief
discussion followed, during which members were informed by experienced caucus participants
as to what to expect during the caucuses. More detailed information will be provided at
the March meeting, which is expected to be rescheduled to take place one week before the
caucuses are held. Members were reminded to bring their calendars and their checkbooks
with them to the caucuses, to mark the announced assembly dates and to pay for the
costs of holding the assemblies. The approximate cost to delegates who would attend all
three assemblies (County, District, and State) will be approximately $50.00.
A schedule of
upcoming “Candidate Search” events was also presented, with emphasis placed on
the North Denver Candidate Search Forum on Sunday, Feb. 21 and the South Denver Candidate
Forum on Saturday, Mar. 6. (See this website’s “EVENTS” page for
details). It was also announced that the chapter would be joining with the Colorado
Springs chapter of CCM in setting up a table or booth promoting CCM at the South Denver
Forum in Castle Rock. Members were asked to assist in this effort.
Because precinct
caucuses are scheduled for March 16, which would normally be the night of our chapter
meeting, it was rescheduled for a week earlier. This will allow for more detailed precinct
caucus training and provide an opportunity to answer questions from first time caucus
attendees. Therefore, our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 9, at 7:00pm. We
will meet at the regular location.
The final item on
the agenda was the election of chapter officers for 2010. Originally scheduled for
January, the election was postponed because of low member turnout. JACK OTT retained the
office of President, KAREN LECK was again elected as Vice-President, and BRENDA FISCHER
was re-elected as Treasurer. John Bennett declined the nomination for Chapter Secretary,
and no other nominations were made. That position remains vacant.
The meeting
adjourned at 8:40pm.
***********************
Pulling Together
The Birth of Operation Avalanche
December
3, 2009 by Jack Ott
(Moved to the December
2009 Archive Page)
***********************
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