This Thursday opens more than a month of chaotic presidential primaries and caucuses, starting in Iowa and ending with “Tsunami Tuesday” on Feb. 5. On that day, voters in Colorado, New Mexico and some 20 other states will be picking the Democrat or Republican they want to see occupy the White House.
Some of the biggest states will be voting that day — California, Illinois and New York among them. That means Colorado, New Mexico and the five other states holding caucuses are unlikely to make much of a splash in the political waters, given the attention that will be focused on the primary states.
It’s possible neither party will know the nominee after the Feb. 5 madness. Plenty of analysts are saying that with so many candidates among which to spread the votes (eight Democrats, seven Republicans), the nation might be in for an extended primary fight. It could take until at least March 4, when Texas and Ohio cast ballots, to know the nominees. We shall see.
Politicking on the agenda
The 2008 session of the Colorado legislature convenes on Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. with election-year politics guaranteed to make for lively theater.
The musical chairs played by both parties will mean new faces in both chambers and, in some cases, inexperience to match. Former Rep. Bill Cadman is moving to the Senate to take the seat of retired Sen. Ron May. Douglas Bruce, of TABOR fame, is taking Cadman’s place in the House. Former Rep. Dan Gibbs is filling the seat of former Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, now running for Congress. Christine Scanlon of Dillon is taking Gibbs’ House seat. And Mark Farrandino is replacing former Rep. Mike Cerbo, who became the director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. Rep. Debbie Stafford will serve her first — and last — session as a Democrat, boosting the Democratic numbers in the House to 40 and leaving Republicans with just 25 members.
On top of all that, Gov. Bill Ritter has a huge agenda, with big-ticket items like health care reform, more money for transportation and transit and restoring money to higher education.
Meanwhile, some 16 term-limited lawmakers will be eyeing the exits and perhaps seeking a final hurrah — or a new job. Either goal could make for some interesting distractions.
PUC leaning Republican
Now that Gov. Bill Ritter has tapped Republican Jim Tarpey to fill the seat of retiring Democrat Carl Miller on the Public Utilities Commission, political observers are waiting to see if the governor replaces outgoing commissioner Polly Page, also a Republican, with a Democrat. Page’s term expires in January.
Ritter’s appointment of Tarpey, an attorney and former FBI special agent, gives Republicans a majority on the three-member panel. Of course, it might not much matter since PUC chairman Ron Binz, a Democrat, runs the show.
Another honor for “Tank”
Tom Tancredo’s decision to run for president has won him an entry in the Rothenberg Political Report’s “Worst Political Idea of 2007.” It ranks alongside Bill Clinton’s assertion that he opposed the Iraq war from the start and the House’s Armenian Genocide Resolution.
Tancredo ended the year with a sound political idea, though. He pulled out of the presidential contest five days before Christmas. Good show.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of the Denver Post editorial board.
