Democrats control the state Senate by only one seat, but some Republicans think it might be easier to win back the House this year, even though Democrats have a five-seat advantage.
Here’s how they figure it:
Colorful former Sen. Ken Chlouber, the Leadville Republican, is expected to scratch his political itch again with a run at first-term Democrat Gary Lindstrom‘s House seat. Lindstrom, who wants to run for governor, can’t run for both seats and Chlouber’s tell-it-like-it-is style is popular.
Term-limited state Sen. Dave Owen, a well-regarded straight shooter, filed last month to run for the House seat now held by freshman Democrat Rep. Jim Riesberg.
And Republican Ramey Johnson, who was narrowly ousted from her House seat in 2004 by Democrat Gywn Green, is running to reclaim her old seat. She’ll face a primary challenge from former Jeffco commissioner Pat Holloway. Johnson was targeted by voucher proponents in her last race, and insiders figure pro-voucher money will help fund Holloway’s bid.
A three-seat shift would be enough to swing the House back to Republicans, but first they’d have to keep all of their existing seats, which hasn’t been easy lately. (In 2004, the GOP lost seven House seats.)
McInnis cleared for takeoff
Former Congressman Scott McInnis recently cleared one of the hurdles that may have been keeping him out of the governor’s race when the Federal Election Commission dismissed an ethics complaint against him. Yet, the Draft McInnis movement that fired up last year is all but dead.
McInnis last year told supporters that he was confident the claim, filed by Democrats alleging he illegally paid his wife a campaign salary and benefits after he announced he was leaving Congress, would be dropped. But his would-be race for governor, which supporters last year considered a sure thing, shows no movement. Plus, many of the people he may look to for financial and organizational support already are aligning with candidates, primarily U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez.
Natalie Meyer, former secretary of state who had signed on last year to trumpet McInnis’ arrival to the race, has been “almost assured” by people close to him that he won’t be running.
Hurry up and vote
Expect to see Democrats pushing bills they consider to be important early in the session. They believe they waited too long last year to approve important bills and thus didn’t have enough time to vote and try to override a Gov. Bill Owens veto. “We won’t make that mistake again,” said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Movin’ on up?
U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar could land a plum committee spot after this year’s elections. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he wants Colorado’s junior senator on the all-important appropriations committee, where he would join Sen. Wayne Allard. That would put both senators in positions beneficial for Colorado.
Super-sized secretary
The newly redesigned website for Colorado’s secretary of state (www.sos.state.co.us) might end any speculation over whether Gigi Dennis, appointed to the position in September, plans to run for the job in November. Visitors to the new site are greeted by a super-sized photo of Dennis. It’s about three times the size of comparable photos of other, shall we say, less photogenic statewide office-holders, such as Gov. Owens, Mark Hillman and John Suthers.
Campaigning from Iraq
Speaking of secretary of state, politicos have been speculating over whether Mike Coffman will run for the position when he returns from his stint with the Marines in Iraq this spring, especially if he has a primary opponent.
But even though he’s half a world away, he remains one of the more high-profile candidates. His Iraq work has been featured on local TV, and he may be the only candidate already running newspaper ads. A half-page ad, complete with his photo, ran weekly in the Colorado Statesman over the holidays.
And he recently retained Politically Direct, a firm run by former House member Rob Fairbank, to direct campaign fund-raising, media efforts and voter outreach.
Dan Haley (dhaley@
denverpost.com) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
