Bob Beauprez.

[coloradodem2005]

I went to a meeting of former Jeffco Kerry Krew members and were talking about what to do in 2006 for congress. We talked about Colorado CD 7. Beauprez is more of a threat than we may have realized. While he barely won in 2002, he is amasssing political capital and may be more popular than we realize. Partly because he knows how to personalize messages to the people in his district who email him. In essence he knows how to talk to people so he seems more endearing. We lost this race in 2004 because we underestimated Beauprez and picked a candidate who was unwilling to speak to voters. Thomas did not know how to reach out to the community in the 7th CD whereas Beauprez did. Thomas had other weaknesses besides that obviously but this leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths about Democrats in the 7th congressional district. Beauprez partly won on his dirtbag attacks on Thomas, but he also won because he knows how to reach out. Appearently in 2002, Mike Feeley was out knocking on doors. He lost but by only 121 votes. But someone who is able to reach people and communicate with them is what we need for that district. We are going to have a challenge taking on Beauprez now. We need to find a way to do it, but we need to do it right. We need a really good candidate to do it.

[mckara]

1. Beauprez Is a Disgusting Puke!

Good luck getting rid of that jerk!

[curlyred]

2. he's never replied to me with anything other than a form letter

I do think that he is perceived as a "moderate" republican when he is anything but that. Frankly, I was surprised that Dave Thomas did as well as he did, with Columbine hanging over his head. As far as reaching out, I think Dave did a pretty good job based on the contact our family had.

As a resident of the 7th district, I don't think anyone has a bad taste in their mouth about Democrats. I think the attack ads did the job they were supposed to do.

[coloradodem2005]

3. Well, he did not respond very well to the ads and he had Columbine.

SOmeone said the Search Warrant thing was debunked but I never heard that at all. From what I know it is true. THe thing is, they need someone who is relatively clean and THomas had his hands dirty and Beauprez took advantage of that.

[DonMeyer]

4. Beauprez will be a tough nut to crack

I see him often in the community and he even reads at our church.

I think Musgrave & Tancredo are much more vulnerable.

[coloradodem2005]

5. Musgrave, yes. Tancredo, no.

Joanna Conti was the best candidate we have run against Tancredo so far and Tancredo beat her by 22%. It was quite disgusting. He is not vulnerable. I would figure that Beauprez would be vulnerable if we could get a Democrat who was not involved with Columbine against him.

[Damien]

9. Conti's ads killed her

Conti ran in my parent's district. She looked really good, but came off really strange on ads. The whole "cherise your vote" thing struck people as strange. As with anything, it's not what you say but how you look on T.V.

As for Musgrave, I'm honestly suprised she won again -- she totally screwed over the whole region for federal road funding and literally didn't work on anything but the gay marriage ban. I thought Matsunaka was going to cream her this time around; he offered a lot of really new, creative solutions (I live in Musgrave's district).

Again, it just goes to show you that it ultimately doesn't matter if candidates actually have good ideas -- people just arn't informed enough.

[CODem]

10. The 4th and 6th CDs

Musgrave and Tancredo continue to be re-elected because of the voter registration numbers in their respective districts, and not because of their voting records or abilities. Both districts are so overwhelmingly Republican that it is nearly impossible for any Democrat to win those seats -- even if the Republican candidates are weak and the Democrats are stellar. No Democrat has represented the 4th C.D. since 1973 and no Democrat has ever been elected from the 6th C.D., which was created following the 1980 census.

The only way to defeat Musgrave or Tancredo may well be to assist a moderate Republican primary challenger to the incumbent.

[Damien]

14. colleges

The 6th district includes UNC (and I believe CSU). Both of these vote democratic. What keeps the republicans winning is the rural areas in the region (which are quite large). Last year, universtities did turn out an amazing number of voters, but it still wasn't enough. If those numbers increased more, I believe we could actually win the 6th. Musgrave didn't win by much of a margin this time around.

[leftofthedial]

6. Beauprez is a piece of repuke excrement

but he has the dough and the statewide machine

[coloradodem2005]

7. Then I guess we need to get a candidate with the statewide machine.

Then we can work on taking Beauprez down. We were so confident last time. The problem was Thomas' involvement with Columbine. We can find someone with no connection to Columbine for starters.

[CODem]

8. Convince Mike Feeley to Run

Our best hope of defeating Bob Beauprez is to convince Mike Feeley to run again.

[pastorfreud]

12. Not Feeley

I didn't care for Feeley. He came across as a madman and had his share of dirty laundry.

[CODem]

13. Mike Feeley

Mike Feeley is a brilliant politician. Virtually single-handedly, he helped the Colorado Dems win the State Senate in 2000 through candidate recruitment and targeting of races. Plus, I liked his courage and honesty in attacking "chicken hawks" like Dick Cheney who avoided service in Vietnam but who now do not hesistate to send young people to war.

The negative hits against Feeley during the 2000 campaign were unfair and unwarranted. Beauprez would have demonized any Democrat who ran against him. Feeley should have responded immediately to Beauprez's attacks, but he ran out of money at the end of the campaign and could not effectively blunt the false charges against him.

Columbine was not the only reason why Thomas lost. Don't forget that Beauprez attacked Thomas for plea bargaining, among other things, which is a charge that could be levelled against any prosecutor. Thomas, like Feeley, did not respond swiftly when attacked. Thomas had a mediocre campaign staff at best and run a lackluster campaign. There is a reason why Thomas lost two Congressional primaries prior to 2004.

So who do you think should run against Beauprez in 2006?

[leftofthedial]

11. yep

Thomas had so much Columbine baggage (and much of it deserved from what I can tell), that he lost every borderline vote.

Plus, he wasn't part of the "team" until late in the game.