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Comments

[beth backer]

As someone highly involved in the Beth McCann campaign, I can tell you that the statements you made about Chafee and his involvement in Beth’s campaign are completely false. He may have volunteered for her a few times but that is about it. A simple check of Beth’s campaign filings would show she never paid him and a few phone calls would have cleared up the rest of your claims.

You guys have a bad “source” and it makes me wonder about the accuracy of other statements in this post. Seems like you or your “donor” have something against Rutt and/or his staff.

[Loki]

Thank you, beth backer. Alva, MAYBE YOU SHOULD FACT CHECK LIKE A REAL REPORTER NEXT TIME!!

[Ter Ducken]

Chafee was on the Bighorn staff. He didn't need a salary from mccann.

[native]

OK, then why don't we examine Bob Beauprez's potential staffers? A little balance would be nice.

[Loki]

So sorry to question the great Alva, whom we all should believe because he says so. I'll make sure not to question any more facts that are clearly inaccurate.

Why hasn't anyone thrown your name out there for Beauprez' campaign manager? You're doing a great job!!

[native]

come on Loki, don't be dissin' Alva... what would we do without this website? work?

[Rural Waif]

The Democratic campaigns were won because of grassroots efforts--trench warfare we call it on the West Slope. Unfortunately, the top brand consultants have gotten too far from the real action on the street and many of their campaign plans don't make sense in the real world.

They had John Salazar going door to door on a Saturday in Rifle during hunting season, finding no one home, of course. We stepped in and had John go all the local coffee shops instead, where he met "hundreds" of eligible voters.

Another example is a past consultant for the state house members who ordered campaign literature from a national catalog. (He once sent a gun control piece to voters in Rifle for a Dem state senate candidate.)Needless to say, last year we convinced many targeted West Slope Dem legislative candidates to take over their campaigns and design their own literature...and they won!

The ground troops on the West Slope had the best successes working with the young Victory2004 staff that listened, not with the consultants who probably haven't knocked on a door for years. Especially in the rural areas.

My advice to any serious Dem gov candidate: surround yourself with Democratic workers that have won commissioner races, can relate to the "common folk" and have a good dose of reality (plus, "ego" is not in their vocabulary.) Drop the trolls that worried about Strickland's cowboy boots or John Salazar's mustache.

[kate]

Rural Waif, it's clear that you have never actually "worked" on a race in your life -- or at least gotten a paycheck from one. You're one of those people who thinks they have all the answers and, after doing whatever you people do all day, come in to campaign headquarters for free donuts and to question the staff on why the candidate wasn't at the Mesa Rotary Club Bake Sale because that would have locked up his chances for sure.
You mention that "commissioner races" produce "workers" with real world experience. That's interesting since I have worked (like actually got paid) in politics all my life and am not really sure what a commissioner does aside from perpetuate mind numbing bureaucratic bullshit.
This is not to say that those with a real connection to the common folk are not useful in a political race, they come in real handy at the voting booth. But I think I speak for all campaign, political, workers (again, the paid kind) when I say that the "overzealous volunteer, a.k.a. Rural Waif") is a real pain in the collective ass and is about as valuable to the strategy of a campaign team as a fat sports fan is to the Brett Favre.
Your comment on the Victory 2004 staff who pretended really well to listen to you and the consultants who didn't knock on doors, I just want to clarify to you that the reason they weren't handing out doo dads and trinkets door-to-door and/or listening to you, volunteer of the year, was because it just seemed silly to John Salazar to pay $500 an hour for another doorwalker when there are millions upon millions of people just like you!

[Envy]

Kate, did you really mean $500 bucks an hour to walk precincts? I thought it was the superior candidate, message and values that won the 3rd, not professional-Denverite-hitmen, sorry, and hitwomen.

[bloated]

Sometimes it is the candidate that makes and other times it is the staff that pulls a race across - regardless of who Bridges hires it will be a question of his ego getting in the way. Not to mention his past..........

[mountain punditry]

tyler chaffee sticks his nose in a lot of races (mccann's included) at the behest of bridges. bridges, rather than coming out to support candidates himself, will send chaffee in to do the behind-the-scenes work in order to have a stake in a particular race that may very well pose a conflict for bridges directly.

while i'm not the biggest tyler chaffee fan myself, i think labor's stake in the gov's race is minimal at best. i remember WAY back when, chaffee was preaching that the denver mayor's race couldn't be won without labor's support. well, hick won and without labor lifting a finger. i've assumed that chaffee learned his lesson here and winning statewide is not entirely contingent upon labor's support. labor makes themselves out to be more relevant than they really are in colorado politics and with good reason. if it caught on that candidates really didn't need labor's help, then why would anyone want to be beholden to this political dinosaur?

[bill p]

What Dem campaign people won big races in 2004, something at least as big as a city-wide race or congressional race?

[Bob]

that's a good question bill. obviously John Salazars campaign was successful. Mitch Morrissey won a citywide race. Who did that campaign? What about Ken Salazar people who didn't get a job in the senate? did dems win any other races that covered a large area in 2004? i think a state senate campaign is too big a jump to a governor campaign. you'd need to have run a bigger race.

[ColoBLT]

I take it that the complete lack of alternative suggestions for Bridges' staff means that he has the best staff a Colorado Dem can assemble. Remember, until last year we didn't have many staffers that had won a big race.

So unless this "big donor" has some good ideas, I hereby declare this post DOA.

[Lester Nieves]

One, if "big donor" is going to badmouth one of his own, then "big donor" should have the backbone to give his/her name.
Two, does "big donor" really exist? Is he /she a republican?
Three, rumor mongering is really a pathetic thing to do. If someone has an issue with Rutt Bridges staff, have the cojones to call him and discuss it with him.
Four, when are we going to learn not to eat our own!
Five, Rutt Bridges is intelligent, articulate, hard working, dedicated, compassionate and has a wonderful life story. All democrats shoul consider themselves lucky to have him as a candidate.
Lester Nieves