Governors race. Beauprez loses ground because of DeLay connections.

[coloradodem2005]

DU President Marc Holtzman is now the Republican favorite. We bumped Holtzman above Congressman Bob Beauprez because while Beauprez gets beat up over his connections with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Holtzman just keeps raising money and cruising along around the state. It's still early, and Holtzman and Beauprez will likely flip-flop for the next 14 months, but right now Holtzman has just had a better couple of months than Beauprez -- and nobody is attacking him.

Of course, the big news in the governor's race this week was Democrat Rutt Bridges' "announcement" that he was officially in the race. Bridges' campaign foibles associated with his announcement were a big topic among Democrats on Thursday and Friday, and whether or not you agree that his announcement was a major gaffe, there's no denying that it prevented Bridges from enjoying the positive momentum a candidate should get with an announcement. This should have been his couple of days to stand up and beat his chest as a candidate, and it just didn't work out that way.

Nevertheless, Bridges is the top Democrat by a hair (excluding Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper) but may be in for a fight to hold off Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald from taking that title. Momentum for Fitz-Gerald is growing and may have only increased with Bridges' announcement. There are those, including Party Chair Pat Waak, who are quietly pushing her towards running. Given how well Fitz-Gerald performed in the 2005 legislative session, she's clearly a threat for the nomination without Hickenlooper.

The Denver Mayor, for his part, has apparently decided to watch from the sidelines for awhile to see how the Democratic field performs, but he has not ruled out getting in the race should it appear as though the current field of Democratic candidates aren't looking good. We're not backing off from what we've said from the beginning on Hick; until he says he is definitely not running, he's still the top candidate in either party. And from what we hear, the calls for him to run have been growing in the last week.

<snip>
http://coloradopoliticalnews.blogs.com/colorado_political_news/2005/06/significant_lin.html#more

[paulk]

1. any thoughts on Fitz Gerald?

I don't know that much about her.

[Joebert]

2. Weird note about Beauprez

There is apparently some fundraiser tomorrow night.

They asked for a guitarist that looked like an old cowboy to walk the room and play for the big donors.

A guy I work with is going to be there doing just that.

I told him that whatever he does, not to say that DeLay eats babies. He said, would they get a kick out of that? I said they would skin you alive, and hang you from the rafters.

He will keep that in mind.

I've never been to a political fundraiser dinner. Are they always strange with all kinds of things going on around you? I figured there would be repetitive speeches to their already convinced donors, some applause, dinner, and that's it.

Weird.