On Hot-Button Election-Reform Bill, It’s Gessler Versus the Clerks

DENVER — Colorado’s Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler arrived late to testify at the Senate committee hearing, but he came prepared. A practiced courtroom lawyer, he began slowly. He threw in folksy asides. He answered his own rhetorical questions. And he smiled at the majority-Democratic committee members as he railed against the election-reform bill they all support and that he wants desperately to derail. It was a dramatic moment in Colorado politics that had been building since Gessler took office two years ago.

Patrick Kennedy Looking to Restart Colorado Dialog on Legalizing Weed

You might think the issue of marijuana legalization had been settled, at least as far as Coloradans were concerned. Turns out some people aren’t so sure, and one of them is former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

Anti-Abortion Activists Refine Messaging in Wake of Electoral Defeats

After two GOP Senate candidates saw their campaigns implode when they made controversial comments about abortion and rape, Republicans like Sen. John McCain have been asking their party to just shut up about abortion.

U.S. selling tens of billions in war machinery to turbulent Middle East

American arms deals didn’t come up in the “foreign policy debate” held during the presidential campaign just ended. Yet it’s hard not to view them as a major plank in U.S. foreign policy.

DU citizen panel wades into campaign-finance swamplands

DENVER– The University of Denver’s “strategic issues panel of accomplished citizens” tasked with examining campaign finance regulations and making recommendations on how to improve those regulations or their enforcement got a dose of the miserably complicated task ahead of…

Churches in Boulder and around the country called out for political messaging near polling places

In South Saint Paul, Minn., on Election Day, residents showed up at St. John Vianney Catholic Church to vote and were greeted with a banner outside the polling place entrance that read, “Strengthen Marriage, Don’t Redefine It.”

Minnesota was voting on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and the Catholic Church had been the most vocal proponent of the ballot measure.

Coffman backs move to force feds to respect states’ rights on marijuana

Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette introduced legislation today that would exempt states from federal laws banning the sale, possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by adults. The bill so far is being co-sponsored by Colorado Democrat Jared Polis and Republican Mike Coffman.

Boulder County prosecutor dropping marijuana cases

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett announced today via Twitter that his office would drop all pending prosecutions of adults for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and/or possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

Colorado reps seek state exemption from federal pot prohibition laws

In the wake of this week’s historic vote to legalize marijuana in Colorado, the state’s three Democratic U.S. House members are drafting legislation aimed at easing the tension between the new state law and longstanding federal prohibition of the drug.

Pot advocates expect Hickenlooper, Suthers to lead on legalization implementation

As Governor John Hickenlooper prepares to speak today with United States Attorney General Eric Holder about how to proceed with implementing Amendment 64, which legalizes marijuana in Colorado, the measure’s supporters say they want to see the governor stand up for the measure that passed by a 10-point margin.