As dawn broke on Republican debate day in the liberal bastion of Boulder, Bobby Andrews, 50, was delighting the cooks and customers at the Village Coffee Shop with political humor.
“This year we’re having Republican Halloween,” he said, reading off Facebook. “We give the first 1 percent of kids to our door all the candy and trust that they’ll give adequate shares to all the others.”
Andrews didn’t like any of the candidates in the Republican field set to debate later Wednesday at the University of Colorado’s Coors Event Center, and that was coming from a native of southwest Virginia, which he called “the Republican religious right of the world.”
“I just hope when it all comes out of the wash, Bernie is on top,”said Andrews of Democrat Bernie Sanders, as Neil Young’s “Old Man” played on the diner’s speakers.
Added waitress Fiona Kennedy, “We love Bobby.”
Andrews has lived in Boulder eight years, leaving the Appalachia reflected in his accent when the jobs there in the furniture industry moved out of the country.
“Every job back there died,” he said.
Andrews echoed other typically left-leaning Boulderites skeptical of GOP economic policy early Wednesday. The night’s debate is expected to focus on economic policy.
“I don’t think they have a message anybody’s buying around here,” said Ellen Kleghorn, 40, as she filled her tank of her Subaru at a 7-Eleven on Valmont Road a half hour earlier. “Maybe that’s why they came here — to see how it would fly in the toughest crowd they could find to audition their ideas.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch
