Free Republic

...[I]t's immediately apparent that Senate Republicans did an outstanding job of recruiting this cycle. Capito ran one of the best campaigns in a non-competitive race in the country. McConnell was, as usual, outstanding. Gillespie came from nowhere to almost upset the single most popular politician in Virginia. And Ernst is a rising national star. But, when you look at the totality of the campaign, it's clear that Cory Gardner was the single best candidate of the 2014 election.

A Colorado reader digests the latest early voting numbers: Dems had better get a huge turnout advantage on election day. If the election were based on the votes through yesterday afternoon, they would need to carry Independents by 65-35 to make up the difference (now, I realize that some GOP voters will go Dem, and Dem voters will go GOP, so this might not be completely accurate, but it’s close). To put this in perspective, according to the SoS numbers as of the end of October, here is what voter registration looks like: Total: 2,986,362 GOP 966,082 (32.3%) Dem: 913,246...

The state of Colorado has embarked on a far-reaching experiment this campaign season: Its 2014 election, featuring a high-profile contest between incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Republican challenger Rep. Cory Gardner, is being conducted exclusively with mail-in ballots. Every voter in the state has received a ballot; if a person wants to vote on Election Day, he or she will have to take that ballot to what is called a voter service center, present it to officials and then vote. It's expected most will opt to mail their ballots. And each day, as the ballots arrive, the Colorado secretary...

Republican Cory Gardner has opened a four-point lead in the Colorado Senate race that’s key in determining whether Democrats can hold onto their majority... Gardner held a 50 percent to 46 percent edge on first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in the survey of 665 likely voters, conducted Oct. 9-13. ... Udall is getting clobbered in the all-important suburbs, as well as in rural areas, and his lead in Colorado cities is not enough to overcome that ... Hurting Udall is an underwater favorability rating of 45 percent — with 51 percent of those surveyed saying they have an unfavorable opinion...

Republican frontrunner Bob Beauprez is gaining unexpected ground in Colorado’s gubernatorial race, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The former U.S. Rep. holds a double-digit lead over Democratic incumbent Gov. John Hickenlooper. Additionally Beauprez slid into the lead among one key demographic: women. According to Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll: "Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is behind the challenger on the key qualities voters want in a leader: honesty, caring and leadership. "Pundits were predicting that Gov. Hickenlooper faced a close race for reelection. Instead, he's got a mad dash to make up a double-digit deficit. The Democrat...

Another surprising Quinnipiac poll out this morning puts Republican Bob Beauprez up 10 points over Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper among likely voters, 50 percent to 40 percent. The Democratic incumbent is badly underwater in the Q poll, viewed unfavorably by 51 percent and favorably by 43 percent. Beauprez, a former congressman, is viewed positively by 49 percent and negatively by 31 percent. Beauprez leads by 13 among independents, 50-37. And he’s neck-and-neck with Hickenlooper among women, edging him out 47-46, while carrying men by 20 points, 54-34. No one in the game really believes that Beauprez is ahead by double...

For the first time this entire election cycle The New York Times Senate forecast at The Upshot predicts Udall has a greater chance of losing reelection than winning (53%-47%). This is a huge deal, as The Upshot tries to go beyond just the polls and factor in other intangibles about a race, such as, incumbency, fundraising, a state’s past election history among others, who the liberals at the NYT want to win. All those factors in The Upshot model lean heavily Udall’s way. Yet, despite this inherent, built-in advantage, Udall can’t overcome one thing: the people of Colorado feel he...

President Barack Obama will speak in Denver's Cheesman Park on July 9, and Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D), and congressional candidate Andrew Romanoff (D-CO), will not be there. All three will be on the ballot this November and all three say "prior commitments" will prevent them from attending the event with Obama. According to The Denver Post, Udall, Hickenlooper, and Romanoff are all three "in the fight of their political careers."

$19 million in new tax revenue. Marijuana-related arrests, which make up 50% of all drug-related crimes, have plummeted in Colorado, freeing up law enforcement to focus on other criminal activity. By removing marijuana penalties, the state saved somewhere between $12 million and $40 million in 2012, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. According to government data, the Denver city- and county-wide murder rate has dropped 52.9% since recreational marijuana use was legalized in January. This is compared to the same period last year, a time frame encompassing Jan. 1 through April 30.

DENVER—Mario Nicolais is the kind of candidate who could help the Republican Party win back the suburban voters it has lost. He's fiscally conservative but socially moderate, a member of the NRA but also a founder of a Republican group that champions gay rights. And on this afternoon at a local bar, he's clearly at ease chatting up the fans who've turned out to watch Mexico play Brazil in the World Cup. Hispanics make up 23 percent of his state Senate district, and Nicolais knows that Republicans will need to peel off some of them to have any hope of...

DENVER — Hours before the polls closed Tuesday and Bob Beauprez was quickly declared the winner of Colorado’s GOP gubernatorial primary, he speculated that the Democratic effort to tip the race to Tom Tancredo may have backfired. A day later, it’s crystal clear that that is indeed the case

<p>On one tour we joined, smoke wafted out windows. Strangers shared pipes and exchanged samples of weed and wax, a concentrated form of marijuana. Canisters of buds bearing names like "tangerine haze" and "strawberry cough," were passed around to smell. Nutella pancakes came up in conversations at least three times.</p>

Jared Polis really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. If you saw the Colorado congressman speaking on the House floor last month wearing a clip-on bowtie with a polo shirt under his blazer, you know what I’m talking about. He’s been this way since he first emerged on the scene. About 10 years ago, when he was just 28, Polis was one of four wealthy Colorado Democrats who pooled their considerable personal resources to create a state-of-the-art political machine that was ruthlessly effective in turning this once-red heartland state a stunning shade of blue. But Polis wouldn’t run with that...

PPP's newest Colorado poll finds that the Senate race remains very competitive, although not that much closer with Cory Gardner in the race than it was with Ken Buck. Our last poll of the state, in early December, found Mark Udall leading Buck by 4 points. Udall starts out with a 2 point lead over Cory Gardner at 42/40. Gardner starts out the race with just under 50% name recognition, and voters with an opinion about him are pretty evenly divided. The close division mirrors how voters feel about Udall's job performance- 41% approve and 40% disapprove of him, almost...

Colorado Republican Rep. Cory Gardner’s entry into the race to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall tightened the margins to almost zero, according to a new Rasmussen poll. The two candidates are neck and neck, with 42 percent of respondents voting for Udall and 41 percent for Gardner. The margin of error is 4.5 percent. Five percent of those surveyed preferred some other candidate and 13 percent were undecided. The race is significantly narrowed from when Udall faced former frontrunner GOP candidate Ken Buck, the Weld County district attorney. The latest poll conducted before Buck moved into the race for...

The Republican National Committee began running ads in 40 media markets Tuesday mostly targeting incumbent senators who supported President Barack Obama’s health care program. Billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, gave $2.5 million to help Democrats defend their majority in the Senate. The early action suggests Republicans see the president’s signature domestic achievement as their way to keep control of the House and perhaps win the Senate. With more than 300 days remaining before Election Day, both sides are looking to set the agenda before voters start paying attention. “Obamacare is going to be the issue in 2014,”...

President Barack Obama's sinking approval numbers are hurting the re-election chances of Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in Colorado, where a new poll shows him in an ever-tougher fight in the swing state, The Hill reported Friday. Citing results from a Democratic survey firm Public Policy Polling, Udall leads former GOP Senate nominee and tea party Republican Ken Buck by 46 percent to 42 percent, a closer result than in earlier polls of the race, The Hill reported. Udall’s approval rating is in negative territory as well, with 41 percent disapproving and 40 percent approving, the poll showed. Obama's approval rating...

Colorado has been rocked by the surprise resignation of Democratic state Sen. Evie Hudak, and Republicans from Denver to Washington have begun to seriously discuss whether this is the latest sign that the Centennial State is again trending Republican. Hudak's Nov. 27 resignation — which puts Republicans in a stronger position to win control of the state Senate next year — occurred as the latest polls show Colorado's two top Democrats — Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall — highly vulnerable to Republican challengers in 2014. "Overreach" is a term Republicans in Colorado often use to characterize the major...

DENVER — After two successful recall elections in Colorado, there is a new effort under way. This one is to recall state Senator Evie Hudak because of her support for gun control during the last legislative session. Her district includes Westminster and Arvada in northwest metro Denver. Hudak issued a statement Friday night about the recall effort against her. “The approval of a recall petition will not change my focus on the 2014 legislative session, during which I will advocate for women and seniors, and for the best education we can provide our children – just as I have always...

At this very moment here in my home state of Colorado we are in the throes of a bitterly fought recall election campaign against two of our elected state representatives, senators John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Angela Giron (D-Pueblo). Those who have sought the state's constitutional remedy for out-of-touch and/or control legislators cite as their motivation these two senators' votes in the 2013 legislative session. The people spearheading the surprisingly bipartisan recall effort claim these senators stopped paying attention to the people they represent and voted in spite of rather than in accordance with the will of their constituents. At...