Colorado Politics, News and Inside Information

"LIVE" Q&A With Congressman Mark Udall

We are pleased to present a LIVE Q&A with Congressman Mark Udall. Congressman Udall has agreed to answer your questions live from Washington D.C. between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m.

Democratic Congressman Mark Udall is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1996 and served one term before running for Congress in 1998 in CD-2.

Congressman Udall was considered a top Democratic candidate for governor before he announced last spring that he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2008. We asked him about the pros and cons of such an early announcement, and you can see his answers below.

You can ask your own questions of Congressman Udall in the COMMENTS section, but remember -- he will only be answering questions between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. For a full hour, he'll be live and direct from Washington D.C.

Our only rule in these Q&As is the same as always: you may disagree, but you may not be disrespectful. Please be courteous and appreciative that Congressman Udall has taken time out of his day to take part in today's Q&A. And now, on with the show...

At Least They're Not Your Government

In another edition of "At Least They're Not Your Legislators," we head across the Atlantic Ocean, where more than 150 ships from three dozen nations are preparing to take part in a mock sea battle marking the 200 year anniversary of the victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Seventeen ships from five countries will take part in Tuesday's mock battle, which will be watched by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and thousands of spectators. The battle will involve 10 tons of gunpowder, state-of-the-art pyrotechnics and a replica of Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, where he died when a musket ball hit his spine during the famous battle that gave Britain supremacy of the seas for more than a century.

Obviously Britain isn't dealing with TABOR reforms.

Democrats Respond to Allard's Comments

Colorado Democrats responded yesterday to comments by Senator Wayne Allard that illegal immigrants are "all the same bad characters." From The Greeley Tribune:

In a statement released Monday, state Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak said Allard's comments were unacceptable. "Here is another example of Republican attitudes toward the Latino community," Waak said. "These generalizations do great harm to efforts to unify the citizens of this state. Senator Allard should not only apologize, but he should take some time to study the historical contributions immigrants have made to America."

Allard was out of the office Monday evening. His chief of staff Sean Conway said his office had yet to see the statement from the Democratic Party and Allard would respond after he'd read it.

Credit a Colorado Pols reader on this one. We didn't know about these comments until a reader pointed them out, and apparently nobody at the Colorado Democratic Party knew about them until we posted on it yesterday. Don't any Democrats read the paper in Greeley?

Tuesday Open Thread

Blah blah blah.

This Week's Q&As

We have two Q&As scheduled this week:

On Wednesday, June 29, Congressman (and 2008 Senate candidate) Mark Udall will join us LIVE from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. to answer your questions personally.

And on Thursday, June 30, we will post the complete Q&A for Senator Ken Salazar.

Last-Minute Scrambling Ahead

The June 30 reporting period for congressional candidates is fast approaching on Thursday, and with it comes a mad scramble by candidates to get every last-minute check they can. While we will have to wait until after July 15 (the filing date) for the official numbers, the publicity or lack thereof coming from the candidates will speak volumes.

In CD-7, Republican Rick O'Donnell will be looking to put distance between himself and any possible challengers, while on the Democratic side, a fundraising lead by Peggy Lamm will be a serious blow to Ed Perlmutter. We should get an idea of who has what at the end of this week or early next week.

If any of the three candidates have raised a lot of money, press releases will announce their cash supply well before the filing date. Barring that, the next step would be a press release near July 15 where a candidate reports how much money was raised in Q2, as well as how much money has been raised in the two weeks since. If we don't hear from any of these three before the actual figures are released by the FEC, that should be a sign that fundraising hasn't gone well.

Who has the most at stake? Perlmutter has the most to lose, without a doubt. One of his major purported strengths is that he is a great fundraiser, but if Lamm has raised more money it will be a serious blow to his frontrunner status. Conversely, Lamm has the most to gain by showing that despite early slip-ups she has been able to bring in the checks. As for O'Donnell, he doesn't have a lot of pressure on him, but he could help prevent a primary by reporting a strong Q2.

We'll let you know what we hear...and don't hear.

Hefley for Holtzman?

This may come as no surprise to those who watched Congressman Joel Hefley's removal from the House Ethics Committee in January, but it sounds like Hefley is leaning towards endorsing Marc Holtzman for governor over fellow Congressman Bob Beauprez.

Holtzman has been working hard on Hefley's endorsement, and having the backing of the popular El Paso Republican would certainly help Marc's gubernatorial candidacy. It would also be an unspoken knock on Beauprez, who was not outspoken on Hefley's behalf when he was removed from the Ethics Committee.

How People Get Here

And now, another edition of "How People Get Here." In "How People Get Here," we take a look at how readers find Colorado Pols through the mystery that is the Internet. The following key words in recent online searches directed users to Colorado Pols, for reasons we cannot explain:

• 2 pac the office lady is busy 8

• cartoon cloud blow 

• polish prince- lonely, im so lonely have nobody to call my own 

• wonderwomanperil 

• looneytunehavingsex

Thanks for the links, Internet!

Shakeup in Hickenlooper Cabinet

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is now on the lookout for a new chief of staff after Michael Bennet was named today as the new superintendent of Denver Public Schools.

Bennet's selection isn't a major surprise and could be the first step on his own political ladder (he is rumored to be interested in making a U.S. Senate run at some point). In the meantime, his departure means that Hickenlooper will need a new chief of staff. City Attorney Cole Finegan is probably the frontrunner for the job, though Deputy Chief of Staff Sarah Kendall could also be considered.

"Denver Three" Getting More National Press; What's Next?

The so-called "Denver Three" continue to get national press in their efforts to find out who kicked them out of a President Bush "town hall" event in Colorado in March. They got the big one this morning, getting a big story in The New York Times.

The three were also on CBS "Face the Nation" yesterday while the White House continues to act in denial mode, which is really all they can do at this point:

"It's clear that these three protesters are trying to advance their own political agenda," Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said in an interview Friday. Asked who the mystery man was, Mr. McClellan did not respond and then said he had no interest in going over yet again the events in Denver on March 21.

Of course they are trying to advance their own political agenda, just as President Bush was trying to do in the "town hall" meeting. This has become a staredown at this point, with the "Denver Three" trying to get more press and the White House trying to make it go away. The "Denver Three" have lasted much longer than we would have expected, so it will be fun to watch who blinks first and finally gives in.