Fix blogger thinks — no, seriously — Beauprez most likely to take on Bennet

The question must be asked: Is Chris Cillizza high? At the very least, the prominent Washington Post political blogger, whose The Fix column is a must-read inside the Beltway, is cruising along at such an altitude as to call into question whether he knows what’s going on down here in fly-over country.

In Cillizza’s Friday Senate Line, he accurately frames next year’s Colorado Senate race, where appointed neophyte Michael Bennet is a virtual unknown who can’t dodge major issues, like the Employee Free Choice Act, forever. But there’s no sign of a credible Republican challenger, able to raise the big bucks and storm a state that’s been trending increasingly Blue. But Cillizza so clumsily blurs the details, we wonder whether whoever has been feeding him his Colorado scoop has been on vacation.

Buck makes it official: Weld County DA joins Senate race against Bennet

Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck became the first official Republican candidate aiming to unseat U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, the Democrat appointed to the seat in January after Ken Salazar stepped down to become secretary of Interior. Buck, who has been making noise about running for months, made the announcement on his BuckforColorado.com Web site Tuesday morning.

Poll: Ritter takes hit among Hispanic voters after Bennet appointment

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter “may have some fence-mending to do” with Hispanic voters after choosing Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, rather than picking another Hispanic politician, according to a survey released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling (PPP). Ritter saw his support among Hispanics tumble by 28 points since mid-December, when Salazar opened up the Senate vacancy by accepting a nod to be secretary of the interior.

GOP contenders line up, ‘wait and see’ whether to challenge Bennet in 2010

With Monday’s withdrawal from the Senate race by Attorney General John Suthers, state Republicans lack a clear front-runner to take on newly appointed Democrat Michael Bennet in 2010. Other top GOP prospects have hesitated to enter the race, weighing both their own fortunes and the emerging profile of Bennet, the former Denver Public Schools chief, who lacks a voting record and has never before run for office.

It’s a markedly different tone than state Republicans sounded last month when contenders jostled for the chance to take on an appointed senator.

Janet Rowland already proved that sheep and man don’t mix

Man on sheep marriage alert! Colorado’s Janet Rowland didn’t get too far with her dread warning about how gay marriage could ultimately result in nephews marrying their aunts or three women getting married. But this way of thinking has made it into the pages of the University of Washington’s student newspaper, which this week published a column denouncing gay marriage, and comes complete with an illustration of a man standing next to a sheep.

Who knew Rowland, Colorado’s erstwhile candidate for lieutenant governor, was so far ahead of her time?

Pollster says Colorado not so Blue after all, despite shift to Democrats

Despite sweeping electoral victories and dramatic shifts in party registration, Colorado hasn’t really shifted allegiance to the ruling Democrats, pollster Floyd Ciruli told a gathering of the state’s county commissioners Wednesday. “People are saying, ‘Go ahead, we’ll give you a year or two.’ And then they might pull the franchise if it doesn’t work out,” Ciruli told a gathering of Colorado Counties, Inc., according to Politics West’s John Ingold.

Colorado tops Politico’s 2010 Senate ‘races to watch’; Salazar sitting pretty

Democrats stand to increase the party’s majority in the Senate in the next election, Politico reported Wednesday, pointing to several vulnerable Republican-held seats and a lack of serious challengers to incumbent Democrats, including Colorado’s Sen. Ken Salazar. While Colorado tops the political news site’s list of 10 “races to watch,” Salazar’s prospects are bright because “the GOP talent pool is shallow,” Politico’s Josh Kraushaar wrote.

Schaffer Ignores History In March Forward

“The only thing man has learned from history is that man has learned nothing from history.”
  – George Bernard Shaw

Republican Bob Schaffer has said he’s running for the U.S. Senate in 2008, but that…

Kernels of Truth: CD-6, SD-29 and Beauprez’s Legacy

“Kernels of Truth” is back in business. Here’s today’s scuttlebutt:

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Both Ways Bob Supports Mixed Up Mitt

Wondering what Bob Beauprez is doing almost five months after getting trounced by Bill Ritter in the race for Colorado Governor?

For one, he is shilling for GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.  In an email fundraising solicitation sent out…