Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, at left, listens to remarks from Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Beauprez during a debate in Grand Junction Saturday night. (William Woody, Special to The Denver Post.)
If the function in Grand Junction was a sign of the campaigns ahead, two things are clear after their first debate. Incumbent Gov. John Hickenlooper is an intellectual eager to work out solutions for the greater public good. And, secondly, Beauprez is a rough-cut rancher and political scrapper who will keep pounding his message of taking on what he sees as necessary fights with the federal government.
Hickenlooper’s strongest charge of the night was saying Beauprez, the former congressman, preferred the “Washington way” of combative politics to the “Colorado way” of compromise and solutions. Sunday, Team Beauprez fired back at the umbrage with federal lands as the tip of the rhetorical spear.
Enter Cliven Bundy, whose name was never said out loud in the one-hour debate. Before after he made remarks deemed racist in April, the Nevada rancher who ignited a national dialogue about giving states control of federal lands that sprawl across the West — including .
While Beauprez said he favored Colorado taking control of its federal holdings, Hickenlooper said the state would have to come up with an estimated $200 million a year just to maintain its 24 million acres of federal property.
The Beauprez campaign’s press release Sunday highlighted a Hickenlooper quote from the night before: “I think long-term we’re going to do a lot better by getting the federal government to take care of it.”
A fuller context of the governor’s position should include this quote, as well: “The real solution, I think, is to make sure the federal government does a better job of taking care of our lands, and that’s by joining together with the other Western states.”
Hickenlooper was last year.
As an example, the incumbent talked about how he and Republican Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming worked together to show how their to fend off tougher federal regulations.
“Rather than getting in a picked fight with Washington, let’s show them, clearly, how we’re doing this,” he said, spurring applause.
Beauprez responded toughly, “If this was private land and the federal government was the tenant, we’d cancel their lease.”
He raised the ante, “This is a fight we have to wage. If you believe in state sovereignty, if you believe in the way this republic is supposed to work, we need to stand up and push back on the federal government.”
The Beauprez camp also was heralding a new NBC News/Marist College poll that to 43 percent, down from . Beauprez still trailed in the latest poll at 39 percent. His support was down from 43 percent in July. Libertarian Matthew Hess polled at 5 percent, drawing a conservative bloc that might otherwise side with the Republican. If Hess voters decide to give up on his long-shot third-party bid, that could help Beauprez close the gap.
