Posted on 11/04/2004 5:17:00 PM PST by cilbupeR_eerF
Ken Salazar's campaign plan put him in position to overcome a GOP voter-registration edge and beat out Republican Pete Coors for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat.
Coors, a political neophyte, entwined himself with the policies and rhetoric of President Bush, stressing tax cuts, a strong national defense and "conservative Colorado family values."
Salazar, the state attorney general, shunned most associations with John Kerry yet echoed his populist message, vowing to help the working class and rural communities.
"Coors needs Bush to win really big so he can ride on his coattails, and Salazar needs to look independent so he isn't pegged as a liberal like Kerry," said Jennifer Duffy, a Senate analyst with the Cook Political Report.
Additionally, both candidates needed to win over a significant number of unaffiliated voters.
Because registered Democrats trail Republicans by about 180,000 voters in the state, Coors had a built-in advantage. He also had tremendous name recognition and the benefit of presidential and vice-presidential visits. But his campaign said he needed more than a 20,000-vote edge coming out of Arapahoe and Jefferson counties to offset Salazar's numbers in Boulder.
Early exit polling, however, suggested Coors was significantly trailing Salazar in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties.
And Kerry, despite Salazar's arms-length attitude toward him, ultimately may have helped Salazar - by not hurting him.
Salazar only appeared with Kerry on one of the Massachusetts senator's six forays to Colorado. But on Election Day, it appeared that Kerry was staying competitive in the state, meaning that Salazar didn't have to rely on large numbers of Bush voters crossing over to help him.
Salazar needed not only the unaffiliated voters, but about 8 percent to 10 percent of moderate Republicans, according to his campaign. He also had to win big in metro Denver and win converts in rural communities that tend to vote Republican. As a result, he traveled throughout the state, talking to farmers and ranchers and portraying himself as a moderate.
Early exit polling showed Salazar way ahead of Coors among unaffiliated voters, as well as siphoning off some Republicans. He clearly made a dent in rural Colorado.
Additionally, despite Coors' attempts to emphasize his family in the last days of the campaign, Salazar clobbered the Republican among female voters.
James Dobson is from Colorado, Focus on the Family is based south of Denver in Colorado Springs.
saying you want to lower the drinking age to 18 when your
name is Coors may not be a wise tactical move...
The stealth campaign to upend Colorado politics began a year ago. Retired Colorado State University President Al Yates was the visionary behind it, said organizer Michael Huttner.
With financial backing from billionaire medical-equipment heiress Pat Stryker, Internet entrepreneur and state Board of Education Chairman Jared Polis, Quark founder Tim Gill and software entrepreneur Rutt Bridges, a broad coalition of political-interest groups joined together, said Huttner.
The groups - those concerned with social and educational issues, as well as environmentalists, working-family and pro-choice advocates, unions and teachers - felt their issues had been ignored by a Republican-dominated legislature concerned only with "God and gays," according to Huttner.
"We said, 'We've got to make the run of our lives because we cannot continue to have this right-wing leadership run this state into the ground,' " he said.
They raised $2 million, 80 percent of it from the four key backers, and took advantage of new campaign finance laws that have spawned big spending from independent political committees.
Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ted Halaby said a 3-to-1 Democratic spending advantage was the primary reason the Republicans lost.
"The Democrats figured out the new financing laws better than we did," Halaby said. "What they did is keep big money in this that was unaccountable and below the radar."
The targeted Democratic candidates pulled off their surprise wins Tuesday, turning a nine-seat deficit in the House into a majority of two, and possibly three, seats.
Rocky Mountain News, November 4, 2004
Salazar also had a brother running for another office. I don't know that a lot of people knew that their were two "Salazars". I believe the two sets of ads reinforced one another to an extent.
The state Republican Party was caught flatfooted with all the Democrat fat cat money poured into the statewide races. Hopefully that won't happen again in 2006.
Governor Owens will be catching some flack over this. But word is he's off to D.C.
Coors hired Mary Cheney to get the homosexual boycott of Coors stopped. She also has worked for the Colorado Rockies. The Cheney/Coors connection goes back a long way.
Coors' remarks were still stupid, IMO. He runs a beer company, for crying out loud, and he makes a beer-related statement?
And besides, 18-21 year-olds in the military can drink alcoholic beverages, in most cases. So Coors' point was moot.
Even more amusing is that Salazar probably received more gay votes than Coors anyway. Just goes to show you what happens when Republicans pander to the the unpanderable.
So, yes, I would say morality oriented people probable did not favor his profession.
True. Unfortunately for the Republicans I think Coors' campaign was very negatively influenced by his company...from the alcohol association to the company's pandering to minority groups.
He lost because he DIDN'T LISTEN TO 'OL FLAGG!!!!
((sorry))
I saw that as well. My opinion is that what we had there were a couple of real lightweights. And Coors was the lightest of the two. Very weak!
I'm not from Colorado so I could be totally off here but I think it's that he's a millionare from Denver. Being outside of Denver that's not terribly popular. They should have run Schaffer.
Owen supposedly is off to join the Bush administration at some level. A few of his people will be joining him, so this may be a Cabinet appointment. This is the semi-private word from one of his high ranking appointees. I don't think Owens will be running for President. He wasn't interested in running for Senator and he almost certainly would have won.
At least it seems like the dem we wound up with out of them is not a flaming left wing Michael Moore rumpswab ! We shall see...in time.
Thanks! That's great news.
But Moses supposes erroneously.
Not in the United States. Only overseas and at bases within 50 miles of Canada or Mexico. You can thank MADD for that.
Huh. It's usually these life-long parasites (aka "career in public service" people) who voters love to flush down the toilet.
I noted no "gay bashing" by the American voter. Main Street America affirmed the true definition of marriage in eleven states. There is no proof that this is based on hatred of homosexuals.
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