COLORADO | 8 Electoral Votes |
Bush-Cheney | Gore-Lieberman |
Campaign | Campaign |
Bush-Cheney
Chairman: Gov. Bill Owens
Bush-Cheney State Director: Sean Tonner ...deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens; organizational director for Owens' 1998 campaign; organizational director for Dole for President in 1996. Victory 2000: Sean Murphy (CO Rep. Party) Colorado Republican Party
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Gore-Lieberman
Co-Chairs: Attorney General Ken Salazar and Denver Mayor Wellington
Webb
Gore-Lieberman State Director: Tom Downey ...from Aug. 2000; on leave of absence from position as Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Ken Salazar; previously in private practice in Denver and DC. [Downey's wife, who formerly worked for Ben Nighthorse Campbell, was the initial choice to head the campaign but she was working on an initiative campaign]. Office: 1405 Curtis Street, Denver Coordinated Campaign Director: Beth Ganz (CO Dem. Party) Colorado Democratic Party
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Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7) | Candidate Travel (Aug. 1-Nov. 7) |
Gov.
Bush did not visit Colorado during the fall campaign.
Sec. Cheney visited once: Sept. 15 -- 1. DC and LC fly to Aspen, DC speaks at Forstmann Little and Company annual luncheon at the Maroon Creek Club in Aspen. 2. DC and LC participate in airport welcome and salute to POWs and MIAs at Jeffco Airport in Broomfield (Denver area). 3. DC and LC visit the Mexican Consulate's Independence celebration at Lakewood Cultural Center. 4. DC and LC attend Colorado Victory 2000 evening reception at the Hyatt Regency in Denver ($). Note: Cheney's schedule underwent late changes--initial plans for DC and LC education remarks at Denver Arts & Technology Academy (public charter school) in Denver were cancelled. In the revised schedule, DC was supposed to appear at The Delectable Egg in Denver, but that too was cancelled. Interviews with local media were also cancelled. Democrats saw a connection between the pared-down public schedule and the recent embarrassing news that Cheney had voted in just two of the past sixteen elections held in Dallas County over the previous five years (reported by the Dallas Morning News on Sept. 8). |
Vice
Pres. Gore did not visit Colorado during the fall campaign.
Sen. Lieberman visited once: Sept. 17 -- 1. JL meets with supporters, watches Broncos - Raiders football game, Pipefitters Local Union #208, Westminster. 2. JL DNC reception, Denver Hyatt Regency, Denver ($). 3. JL holds a number of constituency group meetings at the hotel. |
A Sampling of More Campaign Activity | A Sampling of More Campaign Activity |
Oct. 10 -- Secretary
of Energy Bill Richardson speaks to seniors at Windsor Gardens in east
Denver.
Sept. 23-24. Sept. 23 -- Kristin Gore breakfast with Democratic women at a private home in Boulder, does a coffee at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder, stops in at Casa de Cafe in Denver, speaks at Arapahoe County Democrats' Adlai Stevenson Dinner in Aurora and at the Jefferson County Democrats' Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner in Golden. Sept. 24 -- Stops in at Mile High Stadium Denver in advance of Broncos-KC Chiefs football game. A planned stop in Fort Collins on Sept. 24 was cancelled due to snow. week of Sept. 22 -- Jim Frush, the guide who led Gore and his son up Mt. Ranier in 1999, tours southern and western Colorado (Durango, Telluride...Sept. 22 stops included Edwards and Aspen). also
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Television | Television |
None, however some of the southern parts of the state did get ads spilling over from New Mexico. | None, however some of the southern parts of the state did get ads spilling over from New Mexico. |
Some Newspaper Endorsements | Some Newspaper Endorsements |
Denver
Rocky Mountain News --10/29/00 EWS
Greeley Tribune Boulder Daily Camera --10/29/00 EWS |
Denver
Post --10/29/00
Fort Collins Coloradoan Durango Herald --10/29/00 |
Miscellaneous Notes | Miscellaneous Notes | |||||||||||||||
Assessing the
Gore effort, Sean Tonner, who directed Bush's campaign in the state, said
bluntly, "They basically turned out the lights in Colorado; they didn't
even try to make a fight of it." "They just walked away," he said.
The Bush exploratory committee started organizing in March 1999 and announced county chairmen in all 63 counties on Nov. 4, 1999. By contrast, Tonner said he saw no evidence of the Gore campaign until April or May of 2000. The absence of competition made for a quiet campaign; other than Cheney's visit there weren't noteworthy visits. Colorado became a net donor state, shipping people to help in battleground states such as New Mexico, Washington, Iowa and Missouri. Republicans did make a substantial effort to encourage early and absentee voting, which started on Oct. 23,using phone calls and mail. Looking at the 3 largest counties, Bush carried Jefferson (adjacent to Denver) by about 20,000 votes. Gore swamped Bush in Denver County, but that was more than offset by Bush's showing in El Paso County (encompasses Colorado Springs and the U.S. Air Force Academy).
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While the Gore
campaign had been relatively quiet leading up to the convention, the pace
picked up in August with Tom Downey starting as the full-time paid state
director. The campaign opened a full-fledged office, consisting of
three rooms in a hotel undergoing renovations, and
had a dedicated volunteer staff.
Colorado was not a targeted state for the national campaign. "Because we didn't have a budget, it was all earned media," Downey said. Roughly sixty percent of Colorado's electorate is in the Denver metro media, but Downey, in his travels on behalf of the campaign, found it easier to break in to the media outside the Denver metro market. Radio, TV and newspapers in outlying areas were more receptive. Debate watch parties provided another opportunity to make news; at a couple of the parties Lieberman-Cheney and Gore-Bush look-alike contests drew some attention. Other than the presidential race, there were no top of the ticket contests, but a number of initiatives tending to favor Democratic turnout were on the ballot including a moderate gun control measure, Amendment 22 (Background Checks - Gun Shows), an education funding measure, Amendment 23 (Providing Additional K-12 Funding), which Gov. Owens opposed, and Amendment 24 (Citizen Management of Growth) which was defeated by a coalition of developers and low income housing advocates. Surprisingly, exit polls on Election Day morning showed that Gore had a chance. The national campaign called and said they were going to start phone banking out of Nashville. "We had worked very hard with no resources," Downey said later; "It was a nice pat on the back." (In fact, the Republicans put resources into getting their supporters to do early and absentee voting, and these voters are not reflected well in exit polls). Assessing the results, Downey noted that Bush's 8-percent margin wasn't a blow-out, and that the campaign did far better in outlying areas than expected. The 13 counties Gore won in: Adams, Boulder, Costilla, Denver, Gilpin, Huerfano, Lake, Las Animas, Pitkin, Pueblo, Saguache, San Miguel, Summit. |
Nader.
Ralph Nader visited Colorado twice in the fall, on Sept. 8-10 and
on Nov. 2. On Sept. 8 he did a lecture and Q&A on "Environment
and Activism" at Fort Lewis College in Durango. On Sept. 9 in Denver
he did a lecture and Q&A on "Corporate Control of the Global Economy
with Reference to Western Colorado" followed by book signing at Montrose
Pavilion Auditorium, and on Sept. 10 he held a rally at the Mercury Café
in downtown Denver. On Nov. 2., Nader did a press avail. and held
a rally at the Paramount Theatre in Denver.
Nader State Coordinator:
Nancy Harvey of Boulder ...a
co-founder of the Boulder Green Alliance; Green Movement and Green Party
activist and organizer since 1988. Participated in "the Battle in Seattle."
Recently obtained a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Women's
Studies.
Nader Regional Coordinator:
Dean Myerson ...from Boulder;
concentrated on Colorado after finishing with ballot access
Office: 2785 North
Speer Blvd, Ste 305, Denver -- from Sept. 15-Nov. 15
Here is an overview of the campaign drawn from an article by Nader State Coordinator Nancy Harvey and a post-election interview:
In Colorado, Greens had a relatively solid base to work from. The Boulder Green Alliance was formed in 1988; the Green Party of Colorado has been a "qualified political organization" since 1993, and it became a minor party in 1998. Nader obtained a little over 25,000 votes (1.66 percent) in Colorado in his 1996 non-campaign. Before the 2000 campaign began, Greens had eight locals in existence.
As part of his pre-convention travel to all fifty states, Nader held a news conference at the State Capitol in Denver on April 26. On June 24-25, Greens from around the country converged in Denver for the Greens' presidential nominating convention. The campaign continued on a fairly low level, running out of Harvey's home, until the opening of an office in Denver in mid-September helped to focus its efforts. Although Boulder and Denver were hubs, ultimately twelve functioning campaign groups were established (Boulder, Breckenridge, Carbondale, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Greeley, Paonia, Telluride, Pueblo and Montrose).
Nader forces held two protests in Denver to protest his exclusion from the debates. The first, with a theme of "Death of Democracy," drew about eighty people and featured a black coffin with "Democracy" written on it in red, white and blue letters; a number of protesters dressed as ghouls and goblins. The second, "Beat down the Commission on Presidential Debates," was a noisy affair, with drums complementing the chanting. In addition, Greens joined Libertarian, Reform, Natural Law and Constitution party supporters on Oct. 25 outside the Rocky Mountain News building in Denver to protest the paper's voter election guide. The guide, published in the Oct. 22 Rocky Mountain News, did not profile any third party candidates.
Of course there was plenty of nuts-and-bolts work. "We did tons of tabling," Harvey said. In Boulder there were coordinated lit drops with Green Party 2nd district congressional candidate Ron Forthofer. Close to a hundred volunteers worked on targeted drops in Denver. Materials were shipped around the state. More than 120,000 pieces of literature were distributed.
Fundraising was an ongoing task as well. Over twenty house parties in Denver and Boulder brought in some money. Local bands played "Rock 'til you Ralph" fundraisers at the Mercury Cafe and other venues. An "Eat 'til you Ralph" pancake breakfast in Boulder proved successful and fun. On Sept. 15, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne did a fundraising concert at the Fillmore Auditorium (the Rocky Mountain News' music critic described the show as "a special, once-in-a-blue-moon event" and gave it an "A" rating).
Harvey said the national campaign was generally very helpful. For example, it sent weekly lists of names of Coloradoans who had signed up through the website. It wasn't perfect, though. "Sometimes we had problems getting materials," she observed. To cap off the campaign, Nader made a visit in the closing days. The Nov. 2 rally at Paramount Theater in Denver received good coverage in the media. As the campaign drew to a close, sign wavers did visibility at various intersections.
Nader obtained 5.25 percent of the statewide vote -- 91,434 votes. He achieved 10 percent or more of the vote in ten of Colorado's 63 counties; his highest vote total was in Boulder County, and his highest percentage was in San Miguel County, where he was boosted by county commissioner Art Goodtimes' successful re-election campaign. In February 2000, when Nader announced, there were 1,800 registered Greens in Colorado; by the end of the campaign that number had increased to 2,900. Harvey stated that, "Being State Campaign Coordinator for Colorado was the most exciting and personally rewarding job I've ever had." "It was the culmination of stuff I've been doing for years," she said; marveling that she was actually paid to coordinate the campaign "after doing this for so many years without pay." Looking back, Harvey said she would like to have gotten organized earlier; the office was particularly helpful, she said, and she hopes the party will be able to have an office of its own at some point in the not-to-distant future.
Newspaper Endorsements -- Ralph Nader |
Colorado Daily
Colorado Springs Independent --10/26/00 Aspen Times |
Buchanan. Pat Buchanan visited Denver on Oct. 31.
Browne. Harry Browne visited Denver on Oct. 1-2. Arriving in mid-afternoon on Oct. 1, he was greeted by a contingent of local Libertarians. On Oct. 2 he did interviews in Denver, then flew to Grand Junction where he did more interviews and taped a statement for the local NBC affiliate. After the flight back to Denver, Browne spoke at a gun rights rally at the state capitol building, did some interviews and concluded with an evening speech/fundraising event at his hotel. He left early the next morning.
Hagelin.
Dr. John Hagelin campaigned in Boulder and Denver on Oct. 1-2.
Note. Colorado Secretary
of State Donetta Davidson had ruled on Aug. 30, 2000 that Hagelin was the
Reform Party candidate. Buchanan took the matter to court.
District Court Judge J. Stephen Phillips' ruling on Sept. 19 meant that
there was no Reform Party presidential candidate on the ballot. Buchanan
appeared as Colorado Freedom Party and Hagelin as Natural Law Party.
Copyright 2000, 2001
Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.