Josh Penry’s latest fundraising pitch

Gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry sure must be proud of the comically over-edited video included in our blog about his campaign yesterday — and he’s equally fond of a poll showing him 17 points ahead of challenger Scott McInnis, even though Sean Duffy, McInnis’ spokesman, dismisses it as an unscientific poll…

Glenn Beck-target Yosi Sergant’s DNC bash

The latest sport among the right-wing loonocracy involves targeting minor members of the Obama administration and hammering away at them relentlessly until they’re given the boot. Among the latest folks to get such treatment: National Endowment for the Arts communication director Yosi Sergant, who was reassigned after Fox News’ Glenn…

Scott McInnis is so still the frontrunner!

Don’t accuse Scott McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy of letting his guy get battered without mounting a rapid defense. Shortly after the publication of a blog about an informal, unscientific survey showing Josh Penry ahead of McInnis in the Republican race for governor, Duffy rang up to dismiss the poll as…

The Douglas Bruce-Costco battle limps on

Is there a more high-maintenance public figure in Colorado than Douglas Bruce? Doubt it. Yesterday, Bruce went to court over a trespassing charge leveled against him in August, when he was collecting signatures for a ballot measure outside a Costco store. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the judge tossed…

New survey charts Josh Penry’s rise

Governor Bill Ritter may be trying to establish his fiscal conservatism amid the necessity to make even deeper budget cuts — a strategy that closely echoes the one being used right now by Josh Penry, who seems to be emerging as Ritter’s likely Republican opponent in the 2010 election. The…

Bill Ritter touts his conservatism

At yesterday’s press conference discussing the need to make up for an additional $240 million shortfall in 2009-2010 state revenue, Governor Bill Ritter immediately emphasized fiscal caution. “As is our practice,” he said, “we will be balancing our budget with the more conservative of the forecasts.” That’s a shot across…

Police union blinks in faceoff with Hickenlooper

“John Hickenlooper’s Budget-Cut Pitch,” a blog published last Wednesday, pointed out that Denver’s mayor had cannily put the onus on unions representing police officers when it came to trimming costs. The key line in a letter to Denver residents read: “There will be no wage increase for police, fire and…

Andrew Romanoff looking for support in unlikely places

Andrew Romanoff’s got more than an uphill battle when it comes to winning the 2010 Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. His angle of ascent’s as vertical as it can be, what with the White House throwing its support behind Bill Ritter nominee Michael Bennet. With that in mind, he’s…

Mike Coffman launches YouTube channel

Right now, Democrat Jared Polis is the Colorado congressional leader when it comes to using new media, sometimes to excess; note that last week, Polis’ staff uploaded more than twenty healthcare stories about his constituents to YouTube. But Republican Mike Coffman seems ready to give JP a run for his…

The rebirth of the Dick Lamm duty-to-die controversy

Our own Joe Tone thinks the Newsweek cover headline “The Case for Killing Granny” is evidence that the folks at the mag have lost it, and maybe they have. After all, author Evan Thomas makes a Colorado reference in illustrating the healthcare disparities (according to him, the average cost of…

Denver Blogs: I need fuel!

We read local blogs so you don’t have to, although you should, ’cause many of them don’t suck. Turning trash into electricity: Yet another way that life imitates Back to the Future. (Colorado Independent) Malcom Glenn doesn’t think you should be surprised by Obama’s endorsement of Michael Bennet. (Which you…

Dave Schultheis tries to grow ACORN scandal in Colorado

Senator Dave Schultheis doesn’t do anything by half measures — which is why he’s a multiple-time Shmuck of the Week, as opposed to being a single termer. (Watch out, Brandon Marshall.) Still, he’s a sharp enough operator to understand that national stories can still be used to damage local politicians…

Obama’s Michael Bennet endorsement: What a shock!

The local media is making a big deal out of President Barack Obama endorsing Bill Ritter appointee Michael Bennet in the 2010 U.S. Senate race, even though the timing of his supportive statement — one day after Andrew Romanoff formally announced a challenge to MFB — was as predictable as…

Ken Salazar pulls the plug on a boneheaded royalty scheme

One of Ken Salazar’s first moves as Secretary of the Interior was to visit the Lakewood office of the Minerals Management Service, an obscure agency responsible for collecting billions in oil and gas royalties from companies drilling on federal lands, and vow to clean up the place. As detailed in…

Jared Polis criticized for “medical tourism” investment

Representative Jared Polis has staged as many if not more healthcare town halls in recent weeks than any of his Colorado congressional colleagues. But the conservative CompleteColorado.com site questions his private investment in another healthcare-related enterprise: BridgeHealth International. The company’s approach is typically shorthanded as “medical tourism,” a term defined…

Andrew Romanoff more than a “nice Russian boy”

During U.S. senatorial hopeful Andrew Romanoff’s first official campaign event in Denver yesterday afternoon, he told a story related by Ken Gordon, the man he succeeded in the Colorado House. One of Gordon’s constituents thought he was retiring from politics instead of moving to the Senate — and when he…