Free Republic

PPP's newest Colorado poll finds very close races for both Governor and the Senate. Cory Gardner is up 46/43 on Mark Udall in the Senate race, while John Hickenlooper has a 45/44 advantage over Bob Beauprez in the Governor's race. Both Democrats are doing well with the groups Democrats tend to do well with in Colorado. Hickenlooper is up 49/39 with women, 60/28 with Hispanics, and 59/31 with young voters. Udall is similarly ahead 46/42 with women, 64/24 with Hispanics, and 59/22 with young voters. The problem for the Democrats is that they are down by significant margins with men-...

Perhaps the most hard-fought Senate race this year will be ColoradoÂ’s showdown between Democratic senator Mark Udall and Republican congressman Cory Gardner. The RealClearPolitics average of polls in the race shows Gardner holding a lead of 1.3 percentage points. The outcome may determine control of the U.S. Senate, and the margin of victory could be less than the 11,000-vote margin by which Democratic senator Michael Bennet was reelected in Colorado in 2010. But there is a significant difference in this yearÂ’s Senate race. In 2013, a new Democratic state legislature rammed through a sweeping and highly controversial election law and...

Consistent: The topline results — Republicans are ahead. Inconsistent: The margins. NPR measures Obama’s job approval at (41/56) in states with contested Senate races, and an abysmal (29/67) among independents. But on the generic Senate ballot, the GOP leads by just three, fueled by a 16-point advantage among those aforementioned independents: In case you’re curious, NPR’s partisan sample is a reasonable, if slightly generous, D+4. Fox News’ pollster included two more states in their survey, but excluded Alaska. Results: Unless I’m missing something glaringly obvious (Fox’s poll sample is D+0, in line with 2010), I can’t quite wrap my...

In the story, it is clear that the dog that attacked was unsecured and in violation of the law.   The family had been gently warned that their dog might escape.  The  CCW carrier's fears were realized, and he had to use deadly force to save his own, legally restrained, dog.   The dog is referred to as a "lab" but it is clear that it is a mix of some kind.   It was an adopted dog, so its ancestry is not certain.  Most dogs are very territorial; it is not surprising that they will attack other dogs that they view...

Castle Rock, Colorado sits on the urban corridor from Denver to Colorado Springs.  It is primarily a bedroom community to Denver that has had explosive growth in the last 30 years, form 3,921 in 1980 to 51,348 in 2012. In 2003 the Town Council gave the Town Manager, who is appointed by the Council, the authority to ban the open carry of firearms on town property.  In  2014, the Council voted to remove that authority.    The current Town Manager, Mark Stevens, had prohibited open carry on Town property.  What resulted were two initiatives; one to approve of the action...

An armed woman in Denver chased two intruders from her home, only to have them drive off in her SUV.  From kdvr.com: About 2:30 a.m., two burglars broke into a woman’s home, then stole her blue Toyota Highlander, last seen going east on Exposition Avenue. She got in a gunfight with the intruders as they took the vehicle.  From cbslocal.com: The woman apparently got scared and fired at them while they were still outside. “Obviously she felt threatened so she took some measures,” said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman. The suspects fired back, and one of the bullets ended...

U.S. Air Force Academy cadet athletes flouted the sacred honor code by committing sexual assaults, taking drugs, cheating and engaging in other misconduct at wild parties while the service academy focused on winning bowl games and attracting money from alumni and private sources in recent years, a Gazette investigation has found. The findings are egregious enough that academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson told The Gazette that she has called for an Inspector General's investigation of the athletic department.

On Independence day, in Colorado, there was an open carry contingent in the parade.   The popularity of open carry in the area can be judged by the size of the contingent, which was an estimated 250 participants.   It was the most popular part of the parade.   From gazette.com: But the largest group of participants - and the one that got some of the most enthusiastic response from the crowd - were the estimated 250 advocates, many clad in red, white and blue, marching openly with guns holstered on their hips or slung over their shoulders. They carried everything from...

Three more people in Colorado have been diagnosed with the plague after coming in contact with an infected dog whose owner contracted a life-threatening form of the disease, state health officials said on Friday. In all, four people were infected with the disease from the same source, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement.

Two more investigative videos from pro-life organization Live Action show Planned Parenthood facilities in Denver, Colorado offering disturbing and dangerous advice to what staffers think are underage girls. The counselors lay out in graphic detail a spectrum of sadistic sexual behaviors to the investigators, including "whipping," "tying up," and "asphyxiation." As one of the Live Action videos shows, a gruesome crime involving asphyxiation recently captured media interest.  Police discovered 16-year-old Jessica Burlew this past January with the corpse of 43-year-old Jason Ash, whom Burlew had strangled to death and mutilated with razor blades in the midst of "a sex game." "Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains...

– Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) expressed opposition Friday to a proposed plan to allow women to buy birth control without a prescription, saying the proposal would put “more barriers between women and contraceptives.”"I believe it would put more barriers to women's health and contraception," Udall said at a July 11 press conference, according to the Associated Press.The plan proposed by the man challenging Udall for his Senate seat – Rep. Cory Gardener (R-Colo.) - would give women over-the-counter access to birth control, but customers would have to pay the cost charged by drug stores and other retailers for contraceptives.At the press...

RIFLE, Colo. — Many stores and restaurants are telling people not to bring their guns inside, but one western Colorado restaurant not only embraces the practice of packing heat, it encourages its customers to carry openly — and its waitresses do, too. As she takes your order at Shooters Grill in the town of Rifle — yes, Rifle — waitress Ashlee Saenz carries a pad, pen and a loaded Ruger .357 Blackhawk revolver holstered on her leg, Old West style. It's loaded, and she knows how to use it

After the immense amount of money, old media airtime, and Obama administration political capital was spent on enacting restrictive gun legislation in Colorado last year, the electorate rebelled. Grassroots campaigns led by people who had never been involved in politics beat the establishment. Two legislators were recalled. A third, thought to be in a safe Democratic district, resigned under pressure at the last instant, in order to save the Democrat majority in the State Senate. The political establishment was shaken. That political earthquake continues to reverberate. As part of the establishment push to disarm the population, an organization was...

Jack Phillips A Colorado bakery owned by a Christian family is refusing to comply with orders from the state of Colorado that they change their policies and attend mandatory “training sessions” after refusing to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples.Todd Starnes of Fox News is reporting that Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, is being pressured by the state to undergo comprehensive training on the state’s anti-discrimination laws after losing a lawsuit brought by a same-sex couple who accused him of discrimination when he refused to bake a cake for their “wedding” reception.In addition to the...

Same-sex marriage is still illegal in Colorado but the state's civil rights commission ruled Friday that Jack Phillips has to bake a cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. The Daily Caller reports:In 2012, Jack Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakes in Lakewood, refused to sell cakes to Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, a same-sex couple. Mullin and Craig were to be married in Massachusetts but wanted a cake for a reception at their home in a Denver suburb. As he had done with other same-sex couples in the past Phillips refused to sell the goods, saying that he is a devout...

Rep. Jared Polis will gladly visit a marijuana dispensary in his home state of Colorado. He’ll stand in a fluorescent-lit room with hundreds of skunky plants, discuss the different types of high someone gets from Willie’s Wonder versus Super Lemon Haze (one’s a “creative upper,” the other “uplifting and euphoric”) and ruminate on the local ban on edibles. Just don’t try to take his picture in the grow room. “It’s like, that could go viral,” Polis says, leaving Choice Organics in Fort Collins. “I don’t shy away from the issue; we talk about it, whatever. But the problem is, we...

Oil companies say a weeks-old Obama administration ruling that protects a Southwestern prairie bird has already halted oil-drilling operations in Kansas and is costing the U.S. economy tens of millions of dollars, as a GOP congressmen suggests the move is another “job-killing” attack on fossil fuel. The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that was announced in late March and took effect May 1 includes a provision that should allow federal officials and landowners in the five impacted states -- Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas -- to manage conservation efforts. But oil producers say the interim...

A Quinnipiac University poll released April 23rd shows Colorado voters oppose the stricter gun control Democrats instituted last year and support arming school teachers. According to the poll, Colorado voters oppose last year's gun control by a margin of 56 to 39 percent.

"PeakNation™ time to put the chocolate bunny down and get back to work. On a day when many across the country were celebrating a resurrection, well-known and well-respected prognosticator Stu Rothenberg stated one thing that won’t be resurrected come November is liberal Senator Mark Udall’s political career." Rothenberg on CNN. 12 second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylz5G_f-XIM

A group of armed militia and protesters, some sporting nametags reading "domestic terrorist," remain camped out on a cattle ranch in Nevada, where they have been purportedly defending the property since a tense showdown ended with the federal government last week. A 20-year struggle between rancher Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management over decades of alleged illegal cattle grazing on public land ended last Sunday, with the government backing down from a controversial week-long cattle round-up. The BLM defused the standoff, citing safety concerns for its employees and the protesters, some of whom were on horseback and others...