Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak says the 3rd Congressional District race between Republican Scott Tipton and incumbent Democrat John Salazar is still in play due to a large number of uncounted ballots throughout the sprawling district. Most news organizations have called the race 50-46 in favor or Tipton.
“We understand that thousands of Coloradans’ votes still have not been counted a day after the election. In Congressional District 3, Pueblo County votes are still being tabulated. We will work together with the Secretary of State’s office to ensure Colorado voters will be heard and that every vote is counted before victory is declared in CD3.”
President Barack Obama, in a post-mortem press conference this afternoon on Tuesday’s brutal midterm election that saw Democrats lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives and barely hold onto the Senate, praised so-called Blue Dog Democrats in largely Republican districts who took courageous votes for the administration agenda despite the possibility of being thrown out of office.
As of last night, it looked as if that’s exactly what happened to Salazar in CD3 and Betsy Markey in largely rural CD4. Markey, whom Obama just last week praised by name on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” for taking tough votes, definitely lost to Republican Cory Gardner Tuesday. Salazar, the brother of U.S. Interior Secretary and former Colorado senator Ken Salazar, appears headed for the same fate.
But while Markey voted for Obama’s climate change legislation, including cap and trade, Salazar – from an agrarian and energy rich district — did not. At his press conference today, Obama declared cap and trade all but dead. Asked if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should administratively regulate greenhouse gas emissions, Obama said the agency is under a court order compelling it to deal with the emissions in some way.
Saying the feds can’t ignore the science on climate change, he went on to explain that cap and trade was “just one way of skinning the cat,” suggesting the incoming Republican Congress will have to work hard with Democrats to look at other ways reduce heat-trapping emissions.
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