State Republican ideas.

[coloradodem2005]

Make sure we can counter:

Dos and Don'ts for Bob Martinez
Last weekend, the Colorado Republican Party held officer elections with little of the hand-wringing, angst and circular firing squad mentality we saw with the Democrat party elections a few weeks back.


The vote was not without controversy. Most contentious was Bob Schaffer's candidacy for National Committeeman. Republicans angered over his role in Ramey Johnson's defeat used party loyalty as an issue against Schaffer. However, at the end of the day, for a party that got hammered in the last election the reorganization seemed to go pretty smooth.


In fact, Pete Blake's column this weekend gives us word that Martinez has already hired an Executive Director and Communications Director at party headquarters (see Red Hawk's latest post for more info). This transition offers an interesting juxtaposition with the Democrats as Blake's lead item concerns Ken Salazar's attempts to mediate (first reported here at Colorado Pols) and bring to an end the rancor that is the Waak-Gates election. Attempts that Pat Waak has rebuffed. Publicly rebuffed.





We'd point out to Waak that Ken Salazar is the only Democrat to hold statewide office, is arguably the most popular politician with voters (calm down lefties, we know you're mad at him) and someone it doesn't make a lot of sense for a party chair to publicly slap around or humiliate. Dear Pat: Don't forget your place on the totem pole (hint: it's not at the top). But, we digress.

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http://coloradopoliticalnews.blogs.com/

[MissMarple]

1. Well, the Republicans have winning as their top priority.

It trumps everything else, including morality, values, and representing their constituents. Maybe the Dems should take a hint, working together gets us farther than infighting. We just don't need to sacrifice all for a national power grab. We can play honorably, ethically and still win.

I can understand, however, the irritation those who are part of the grassroots side of the party feel toward the state people. They ignored Miles like the DLC& the DNC ignored Dean, and it hurt at the polls. It is so obvious we do have to grow the grassroots, but that still doesn't trump working together. We need for them to do both, and the contentiousness has to end. The Gates and Waak factions need to shake hands and get to work....and build support across the state. Bickering helps build nothing but a losing cause.

Quite frankly, it looks as if there is enough work for everyone. And everyone has their individual strengths to contribute.

:-)

[DaveinMD]

2. the party didn't ignore Miles

it saw that he was in the race for 2 years and barely raised $200,000. He had no chance to win, so they recruited a candidate who could win. It didn't hurt us at the polls. We won that election.