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Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet is dodging responsibility for his role in provoking a student walkout at a vigil for victims of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting. Bennet, who has represented Colorado in the Senate since 2009, responded to criticism that a vigil organized by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence on Wednesday was unduly politicized. The vigil drew national attention after a mass of students walked out in protest because numerous speakers, including Bennett, chose to argue in favor of gun-control while honoring the victims. "Last night should have been about Kendrick Castillo and the STEM School...

Michael Bennet, the moderate, studious Democratic senator from Colorado known for his work on education and immigration reform, announced his candidacy for president on Thursday. He joins a field so packed with candidates that it now includes six of his colleagues in the Senate and his former boss, John Hickenlooper, a past governor of Colorado. “My plan is to run for president,” he said in an interview on “CBS This Morning.”

The federal government faces a partisan budget showdown and possible shutdown at the end of April. Posturing and game playing are thick in the air. But Colorado’s senior and junior senators have a bipartisan solution to cut through the gamesmanship…by upping the ante of gamesmanship. Their proposal as reported by Ernest Luning in the Colorado Statesman, is, in the event of a shutdown, to impose an hourly quorum call between 8:00 a.m. and midnight. Senators not dutifully appearing in the chamber could be subject to arrest by Senate Sergeants.

The Republican Senate candidate in Colorado has been trailing Sen. Michael Bennet in recent polls but he is hoping for some "Labor Day magic." Darryl Glenn has consistently lagged behind Bennet by double digits in one of the few competitive Senate seats that Democrats are defending this cycle. Glenn won his five-way primary race in June after the campaign of former state Rep. Jon Keyser imploded. “I’m just not sure what happened here,” veteran Republican communications consultant Sean Duffy told The Denver Post. “You would think that a gentleman with his oratorical skills and background … you would think there...

Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn says he was defending his mother against an abusive father in a 1983 altercation that led to a misdemeanor assault charge against Glenn. Glenn, the Republican challenger to Democrat Michael Bennet, had previously denied he was arrested when asked about the charge by The Denver Post, which reported his statement on Thursday. The charge against the then-18-year-old Glenn was dropped. Glenn said he did not remember the incident until he spoke this week to his mother about it.

Darryl Glenn, a tea party favorite, on Tuesday secured the Republican nomination for Senate in Colorado, one of the only places where the GOP thought it had a real chance to pick up a seat in 2016. But as the El Paso County commissioner makes his first run for statewide office – a challenging feat for even the most seasoned and well-financed politician in a purple state like Colorado – it is not clear that the Republican establishment is willing to give him a hand against Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet. Senate Republican leaders instead appear to be focusing the...

After the establishment National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) showed favor to John Keyser in the GOP primary for Colorado’s Senate race, not many thought Lt. Daryl Glenn had a shot, except for conservatives. But he easily won the primary and now he’s within striking distance of taking down liberal Sen. Michael Bennet, all without aid from Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party establishment. The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) backed Glenn recently calling him a “truly exceptional candidate that will be a game changer for the country.” Now, in an email to supporters, the SCF says they’re internal polling has Glenn...

According to a new poll by former Colorado Democratic Party Chair and pollster Floyd Ciruli (yes, Floyd, we know, you’re an independent now), embattled Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is flopping with Denver Metro voters. In fact, his approval numbers are at 49%. Ouch. ... The metro area produces more than half (56%) of the state’s vote and about 65 percent of the statewide vote for Democrats, so rolling out of those seven counties with a big margin is a Bennet priority.” If Bennet can’t even close the deal with the metro Denver voters – where he needs a large...

Democrat under fire from supporters in own party. Sen. Michael Bennet was the only Democrat in Colorado not to be endorsed by the largest union in the state. The incumbent will not have the help of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) this fall, as the union’s 130,000 members voted to not support the candidate over his positions on trade. ... many union members were unhappy with Bennet’s support of a measure last year that gives the White House more power to cut international trade deals. Bennet has already come under fire from Democrats for...

Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet’s first ad of the election cycle touts one of his campaign donors, the New Belgium Brewing Company. Bennet released his first television spot Thursday, which features the senator talking about beer and farmers. “They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or sometimes, these guys’ treasure,” Bennet says, pointing to a herd of cows. The ad then cuts to Bryan Simpson, who is only introduced as a “brewery worker” in Fort Collins. Simpson praises Bennet for working against a federal regulation of how breweries can sell spent grain, or leftover malt beer makers can...

While everyone was voting in Colorado elections Tuesday, scant attention was paid to how our U.S. Senators voted on a measure that is extremely important to our entire way of life. We'll give you a hint - it's water. A bill by our Wyoming neighbor, Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, would have required the EPA to rewrite the egregious Waters of the United States rule to give states and the agriculture industry more protection. WOTUS, as it's known, is the latest and worstest regulation issued by the Obama administration to regulate ponds and ditches in neighborhoods and farms as navigable...

Republican attempts to recruit a well-known challenger for a Colorado Senate race suffered a setback Wednesday when a prominent prosecutor said he wouldn’t run against Democrat Michael Bennet. George Brauchler, lead prosecutor in the case against convicted Colorado theater shooter James Holmes, responds to questions during an interview Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, in Centennial, Colo. Brauchler said that the jury's refusal to sentence Holmes to die for one of the worst massacres in the country's history does not mean the public is growing wary of capital punishment because only a single juror blocked the execution. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)Arapahoe County District...

ime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett were engaged in a game of chicken Tuesday night, with Bennett demanding a more prominent role for his party in the next coalition, and Netanyahu knowing that he has to tell the president by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday that he has formed a majority government. Bennett was said to be demanding the job of foreign minister or defense minister, and the post of justice minister for colleague Ayelet Shaked, with Uri Ariel also getting a substantive ministerial post. Reports throughout Tuesday said Bennett had “put his cellphone on Airplane Mode,”...

Already pegged by The Hill as one of the most vulnerable U.S. Senators facing re-election in 2016, and the only Democrat on that list now that Sen. Harry Reid has decided to retire, Michael Bennet is still scrambling to consolidate his base. With his polling numbers hovering just above the 50% mark among Democrats and Democrat activists actively protesting his fundraisers, we cannot blame him one bit. Bennet’s latest pander was an amendment he introduced last week that effectively declared climate change to be a national security issue. While this might mollify the environmental extremists who comprise a meaningful spot...

Senate Republicans will have to work hard to retain their recently won majority as they face a tough 2016 electoral map. They have 24 seats up compared to Democrats' 10, including seven in states resident Obama carried twice. Democrats won't have any red-state senators facing reelection and could be buoyed by a favorable presidential-year electorate. ... 1. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) 3. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) 7. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) 10. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

“The United States administration is planning to throw Israel under the bus,” Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday night, responding to harsh words against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu which were attributed to senior officials in the Obama administration. “Israel is stronger than all those who curse it,” said Bennett, after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic quoted officials in Washington as having described Netanyahu as “chickens**t”, among other things. “The prime minister is not a private individual, but the leader of the Jewish State and the Jewish world as a whole. Serious curses such as these against the Israeli...

Key members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressed outrage at revelations made in newly released emails showing ex-IRS official Lois Lerner coordinating with the Department of Justice on prosecuting nonprofit groups. One committee member said the emails prove why the IRS is “scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails.” IRS commissioner John Koskinen was recently threatened with contempt for stonewalling the committee’s investigation. Koskinen claimed in a hearing that it could take years to provide the documents requested by Oversight. “The release of new documents underscores the political nature of IRS Tea Party...

The Jewish Home party responded coolly Sunday to a thinly veiled threat by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, to remove the Jewish Home from the Coalition and replace it with another party if negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) make progress. "The person who assembles the Coalition is the prime minister," said Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked, "and he will decide who will be in the Coalition." When she was asked by Channel 2's reporter about the negotiations with the PA, Shaked replied, "As we have already said in the past, as long as...

The White House is playing a larger role in developing the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill than its supporters publicly admit, according to a forthcoming article in The New Yorker. “‘No decisions are being made without talking to us about it,’ the official said of the Gang of Eight negotiations … ‘This does not fly if we’re not O.K. with it,’” a senior Obama official told author Ryan Lizza for the pending article. White House officials also believe the emerging bill will be a huge success for President Barack Obama.

Nine senators, congressman follow pattern of S&L scandal: contributions and intervention. So here’s the formula. An independent agency of the U.S. government. United States Senators. A powerful campaign contributor to said United States Senators. A powerful campaign contributor who wants something from said independent agency. Add it all together and what you get is — The Keating Five. And the IRS Ten. Let’s start, by way of illustrating how the game worked, with The Keating Five.