In debate, Romanoff seeks to highlight differences Bennet calls ‘vanishingly small’

COLORADO SPRINGS– The Democratic primary debate here Friday pitting U.S. Senate candidate and former state House speaker Andrew Romanoff against Sen. Michael Bennet was an odd tug of war. Romanoff argued that there were significant differences between the two candidates but Bennet argued that those differences were “vanishingly small” and suggested Romanoff was stooping to petty attacks to gain traction.

Obama outraises McCain in GOP stronghold Colorado Springs

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has raised tens of thousands of dollars more than his Republican counterpart, John McCain, in the heavily Republican Colorado Springs region, according to an analysis of campaign finance records by The Gazette. Even though the area boasts twice as many registered Republicans as Democrats, Obama raised $265,920 vs. McCain’s $202,626 from the start of the campaign through August.

Effort helps eligible Colorado inmates vote from jail

Hundreds of thousands of Colorado voters are sending their mail-in ballots back to county clerks this week, and among them are several dozen jail inmates who successfully registered to vote this year.

The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition recently launched a vigorous vote-from-jail campaign. And while some counties have been more receptive than others, in Denver alone the number of voting inmates quadrupled from 20 people in 2004 to 80 this year.

Balink, GOP-backed student voter disenfranchisement rages anew

An ominous-sounding letter that El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink sent to a journalism student at Colorado College has reignited a three-week old controversy over his past erroneous assertion that out-of-state college students are not eligible to vote in Colorado.

Springs editor beseeches Gov. Ritter to intervene in election ‘crisis’

Amid growing concerns of voter suppression in El Paso County, Ralph Routon, the editor of the Colorado Springs Independent altweekly newspaper, has published an open letter to Gov. Bill Ritter “strongly encouraging him to step in and do something about Colorado’s worsening election crisis.”

Lawmaker calls out El Paso Clerk Balink for ’12-point strategy’ on voter suppression

El Paso County is Colorado’s most-populated county. It’s also, undeniably, a GOP stronghold with a rich legacy of political hijinks and shenanigans — usually inspired by Republicans. And that leaves plenty of progressives leery that, come Election Day, Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink will do everything he can to make it difficult, or at least unpleasant, for non-Republicans to vote.

Which leads us to Democrat state Sen. John Morse’s claims of Balink’s 12-point strategy to suppress the vote.

El Paso County Democrats claim voter disenfranchisement

Colorado College, a liberal arts school in Colorado Springs, is oft seen as a cradle of progressive thought in one of the most conservative cities in the United States. In recent years, that designation has caused some tension in the greater community. This week, the antagonism came to a head with a prominent State Sen. John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) accusing Republican Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink of deliberately trying to stop Colorado College students, many of whom come from out-of-state, from voting.

Bruce Wins House Seat to Replace Cadman

El Paso County Commissioner and acid-tongued political gadfly Douglas Bruce was appointed to fill the remaining term of Rep. Bill Cadman (R-Colorado Springs) in a landslide victory against two opponents at a Saturday afternoon meeting of the district’s Republican vacancy…

Hunter Says She’ll Take On Doug Bruce – Even If GOP Won’t

The thought of the cantankerous Douglas Bruce sauntering into the Colorado legislature has some longtime Republican activists shuddering at the prospect – and beating the bushes for a challenger.

Sans Bride, Doug Bruce Returns Ready To Sue

Douglas Bruce, the county commissioner from Colorado Springs whose anti-tax stance and nasty name-calling of public officials and activists is legendary — and who has sponsored quite possibly more lawsuits against government agencies than anyone in the history of…