Free Republic

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s war chest in his bid to be governor has zero dollars. Meanwhile, the leading Republican candidate to be the Grand Old Party’s nominee topped $1 million, Scott McInnis’ campaign announced Friday. At the same time, Gov. Bill Ritter’s campaign contributions for the fourth quarter of 2009 swelled his coffers to more than $2.5 million. Unfortunately for Hickenlooper, though, state law bars the Democratic governor who dropped his re-election bid earlier this month from giving that money to his fellow party member. But that’s all right, Hickenlooper said in a telephone interview... “I’ve got a steep hill...

Combing through Colorado GOP Senate candidate Jane Norton’s campaign filings this week, Congressional Quarterly finds Rick Davis among the many notables on the impressive Norton donor list, a collection of interested parties that generated a cool half million dollars in 16 days. Who is Rick Davis? Grassroots Colorado Republicans not in the know already will be interested to learn he was an adviser to John McCain during last year’s failed presidential bid. Davis is yet another McCain connection for Norton, who has been taking heat from state conservatives as a doomed McCain-driven national party pick since even before she announced...

Next year’s U.S. Senate race in Colorado is a lot more crowded this week, and incumbent Michael Bennet has some serious competition on hand. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Colorado voters finds Bennet trailing former Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton 45% to 36%. Norton formally announced her candidacy on Tuesday. In that contest, seven percent (7%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided. Another newcomer, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, is expected to announce his candidacy today (Wednesday), challenging Bennet for the Democratic Senate nomination next year. In a match-up with Norton, the highest profile Republican...

Saying she was "alarmed about the direction our nation is headed," former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton officially launched her bid today as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Surrounded by hundreds of supporters in a ballroom at the Marriott Tech Center, Norton, who has been serving as the executive director of the Denver Police Foundation, said she wanted to stop what she saw as an out-of-control government in the nation's capital. "At every turn, Washington's giant hand seems to be grabbing everything in sight," said Norton, who served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Bill Owens. "Seizing control of...

Jane Norton is now officially a Republican candidate for Colorado's 2010 U.S. Senate race, in which Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet is defending the seat to which he was appointed in January. "I'm running for the United States Senate for one simple reason: the federal government is out of control," Norton said in a video posted on her campaign Web site. Norton, who was elected in 2002 to a four-year term as Colorado's lieutenant governor, planned formal announcement stops Tuesday in Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. She will run as an opponent of the economic stimulus law enacted in February...

Former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton will announce her candidacy for U.S. Senate in a series of visits to Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction next week. Norton has filed federal campaign papers and set up a campaign Web site. Norton will face a crowded pack of five other Republicans for the nomination to challenge freshman Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

Prominent conservative blogger Ben DeGrow writes Monday afternoon that former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez won’t be taking on Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet next year. But that doesn’t mean the crowded field of GOP challengers won’t be growing. Former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton has decided to join the race and will announce her plans next month, writes DeGrow, a policy analyst at the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute, in his Mount Virtus blog. “I have received word from a reliable source or two that Jane Norton is definitely going to announce her candidacy for U.S. Senate,” DeGrow wrote Saturday. “My guess is...

Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton ended speculation that she would run for governor in 2006, saying today she had no plans to do so. Norton, a Republican who served as executive director of the state Department of Public Health and Environment for four years before joining Gov. Bill Owens' ticket in 2002, had been mentioned as a possible candidate. She did not elaborate on her decision. Republican state Treasurer Mike Coffman has formed an exploratory committee for the office, and University of Denver President Marc Holtzman, a Republican, has said he will leave the school by the end of this...

DENVER, CO – Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R-CO) today issued the following statement: “Coloradans aren’t going to believe John Kerry’s misleading campaign trail promises on health care in light of his pledge to repeal the President’s Medicare reforms, which save seniors money on prescription drugs. By wanting to turn back the President’s guarantee of affordable prescription drugs, Kerry is ignoring the priorities of Colorado seniors for the sake of his own political advantage. “Kerry’s out of the mainstream Senate record includes votes against additional funding for state Medicaid programs--including more than $1 billion for Colorado--and votes against a $25...

Schaffer, Salazar in, Norton out.

DENVER (AP) - Forecasting a tight presidential contest in Colorado, Gov. Bill Owens and other state GOP leaders said Saturday they will focus on promoting their view that President Bush is the country's best leader during difficult times. Owens will serve as the campaign's Colorado chairman, campaign officials said Saturday. Co-chairs include Sens. Wayne Allard and Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Lt. Gov. Jane Norton. Bush defeated Democratic Vice President Al Gore in Colorado in the 2000 presidential election by 51 percent to 42 percent, continuing a GOP tradition. Only twice since 1952 has Colorado supported a Democrat for president, including...