Despite the sharp political barbs being thrown out in the waning days of the campaign, Colorado’s three gubernatorial candidates remained civil to one another and underscored their credentials for the job during their final debate tonight.
They also addressed what they would do to lure businesses to Colorado, including the use of financial incentives.
“I’m really leary about government picking winners and losers in any field,” said third-party candidate and former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo at the KCNC-TV debate. “I don’t say it’s wrong in every case. I’m just saying be very judicious.”
Democrat John Hickenlooper and Republican Dan Maes also said incentives should be used carefully on a case-by-case basis, and Hickenlooper said he would consider using them for companies who already call Colorado home.
“They don’t solve everything, but the right use of tax incentives is a great advantage,” said the Denver mayor. “What sometimes gets lost is that we have to retain businesses that are already here and help them expand.”
With only a three days left in the race, Tancredo is within a few percentage points of Hickenlooper, according to numerous polls, while Maes is lagging with around 10 percent of support from voters.
“It’s extremely close,” Tancredo said after the debate.
He said he believed he could win the race if the current voting pattern continues. Colorado Secretary of State data shows thousands more Republicans have early voted than Democrats.
During the hour-long debate, the candidates stood at lecturns without an audience and gave stock answers as to how they would approach the state budget, health care and higher education.
The small tidbit of news that slipped out was Hickenlooper saying, if elected governor, he would appoint Roxane White, his chief of staff at the city, as his chief of staff at the statehouse.
Tancredo and Maes both said they do not support gay marriage and do back Amendment 63, which asks Colorado voters to reject the individual insurance coverage mandate in the federal health care law.
Hickenlooper said he supports gay marriage and is against the ballot measure.
All three candidates refused to pledge that they would not make further budget cuts to K-12 education
“I can’t make a promise I can’t be sure I can keep,” Hickenlooper said.
The mayor made a point of telling voters that he had been repeatedly attacked by outside groups and Tancredo and said his own campaign chose not to run attack ads.
Tancredo made no apologies for going after Hickenlooper on illegal immigration and other issues.
“The mayor is running a kinder and gentler campaign. But this really is an election for governor and not student body president and the reality is that he has many of the same ideas as the current governor,” he said.
Maes, who has been plagued by numerous campaign missteps in the past few months, made a final plea to voters.
“We can repeat history or continue making history,” he said. “This is no time for politics. We need bold leadership.”
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
