Karl Marx quipped: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
By that standard, Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, centered on staunchly conservative El Paso County, may be showing a Marxist streak that could end up sending Democrat Jay Fawcett to Washington.
Whether such an upset would be tragedy, farce or a gift from the gods depends on your political perspective. But today’s bitter infighting among 5th CD Republicans evokes memories of similar fratricide among Denver Democrats in 1970 that resulted in the equally unlikely act of electing Republican Mike McKevitt to Congress from heavily Democratic Denver.
In 1970, Denver had been represented for 20 years by folksy Byron G. Rogers, best known for his campaign tactic of handing out baby books to his constituents. Rogers was a conventional liberal and a strong supporter of civil rights. Like most Democrats who came of age in the era when American isolationism encouraged the march of tyrants like Hitler and Tojo, Rogers joined other liberals like Sens. Henry Jackson and Hubert Humphrey in supporting a strong U.S. foreign policy – including then-President Lyndon B. Johnson’s policy in Vietnam.
Rogers’ hawkish brand of liberalism led to a primary challenge by anti-war Democrats who gave Craig Barnes the top line at their party assembly. In one of the closest elections in Colorado history, Barnes beat the 10-term incumbent by just 30 votes, 27,218 to 27,188.
Rogers didn’t take his defeat gracefully. As former state Rep. Jerry Kopel recalls, “Rogers claimed ‘foul,’ alleging that Barnes’ workers had registered University of Denver students who were non-residents from other states.”
Rogers was so embittered that he threatened to ask the House of Representatives, which is the final judge of the qualifications of its members, not to seat Barnes if the anti-war Democrat had won the general election. The state was spared that particular display of sore-loserdom by Mike McKevitt, who had first been appointed Denver district attorney by Republican Gov. John A. Love in 1967 and won the office in his own right in 1968 before seeking the congressional seat in 1970.
Outnumbered Republicans rallied behind McKevitt while traditional Democrats, especially in north Denver, either backed the Republican or just refused to vote in the congressional race. McKevitt won in November by a vote of 84,643 to 74,444.
It was, of course, a short-term triumph. Pat Schroeder won the Democratic nomination in 1972 and reunited the fractured Democrats enough to edge out McKevitt and embark on a 24-year suzerainty over the seat. McKevitt’s one term did, however, inspire a gerrymander by the then-Republican-controlled legislature that proved to be one of Colorado’s all-time boomerangs. The GOP mapmakers spun off a heavily Democratic section of North Denver to Republican incumbent Don Brotzman’s old 2nd District in an effort to protect McKevitt.
The gambit didn’t save McKevitt, but it did provide the margin of victory for Democrat Tim Wirth in 1974, who used that influx of Democratic voters and the Watergate scandal to topple the supposedly invincible Brotzman.
The key point about the 1970 election in Denver is that the normally dominant Democrats had split, briefly turning Denver into a three-party system. The same may now be occurring in the 5th, where social conservative Doug Lamborn beat pro-business conservative Jeff Crank in a bitter six-way duel – with the help of some gratuitous gay-bashing by his supporters.
Retiring 20-year incumbent Rep. Joel Hefley has refused to endorse Lamborn and denounced his campaign as “dishonest” and “sleazy.” The criticism has special force coming from Hefley, who set a high standard as chairman of the House ethics committee.
Hefley has stopped short of endorsing Fawcett, but hasn’t ruled out voting for the Democrat. He’s also mused that, “It would be easier, if a Democrat were to win this race, to knock him off in two years” than it would be to defeat Lamborn in a primary in 2008 if he’s the Republican incumbent.
On the surface, the history of the 1970 and 1972 Denver elections suggests Hefley is right. But history can be misleading. Schroeder defeated McKevitt fairly narrowly in 1972, by about 52 percent to 48 percent. And in the 34 years since, the power of incumbency has grown even stronger. Incumbents can use the franking privilege to flood the district with materials casting them in a favorable light. They can command news media attention. And if by some miracle Fawcett is elected, he’d be guaranteed renomination without a primary while Republicans could have another bitter battle in 2008.
As Mike McKevitt’s 1970 victory proves, anything can happen in Colorado politics.
Bob Ewegen (bewegen@denverpost.com) is deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post. He has written on state and local government since 1963.
