The Notebook
Notes, quotes from a crowded election-season Notebook:
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Maybe as quiet as the dinner table at the Rev. Ted Haggard’s house, so says late night funnyman David Letterman.
A look back at the 2006 election
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 10:12 AM MST
Stephen Woody
The Notebook
Notes, quotes from a crowded election-season Notebook:
The Daily Press endorsed Gary Ellis, Republican, for county commissioner, but his opponent, Bob Connor, didn’t take it personally and was friendly, accommodating in the conversations we’ve had since. Classy guy.
In early September, the Daily Press was the first newspaper in Colorado to endorse governor-elect Bill Ritter. The Rocky Mountain News featured our endorsement and called the Daily Press the “first major newspaper” to endorse Ritter. Ritter said he was “humbled” by it. Whew! I sent the clipping to some newspaper pals about how the state’s second largest paper anointed us into “major” status; I asked Ritter when he appeared in Montrose if he was still “humbled” by it. Nothing like campaign hyperbole. We both a good laugh.
It’s hard to imagine a more poorly-run campaign than Bob Beauprez’ bid for governor. A year ago, Bill Ritter was barely known outside the Denver courthouses. Beauprez was a two-term congressional incumbent. The business community deserted him with his Referendum C stance. Just when the mud was beginning to stick on Ritter about his plea bargains with illegal workers, it was revealed how a Beauprez campaign worker hacked into a secure FBI crime database in order to slur Ritter. Beauprez did his campaign no favors by adding Mesa County commissioner Janet Rowland to the ticket. She once made an allegorical leap with homosexuality and bestiality. At the end, the Beauprez campaign appeared desperate.
Friday, Montrose County clerk Carol Kruse stopped by. The botched Tuesday election was on her watch, like it or not. In discussing the calamity, I asked why there wasn’t a “back-up” plan when the machines went down. That question has been asked a lot — by elected officials, by private citizens. A contingency plan is not required by law, she explained. Well, there it is.
A big press conference was called in October; photos were staged. Sheriff Warren Waterman’s endorsement of Robert Walraven, a candidate for sheriff, sure did him a lot of good — he finished last in a three-man race.
The sheriff’s race became smelly. Officer Walraven was the leader of the recall campaign in 2004 against coroner Mark Young. The recall effort never got anywhere. Young lost the August primary to Dr. Tom Canfield. In a letter to the editor, Young questioned Walraven’s credentials; Walraven responded with the “liar, liar, pants on fire” defense. We heavily edited letters from both men.
We published more than 100 letters about the campaigns and candidates. Those we didn’t were either vicious, or the claims couldn’t be substantiated.
What happened at Tuesday’s election was described by one veteran poll judge as “bizarre.” During the election meltdown, people either walked out, frustrated at not being able to vote. Or, they became more determined. Children bawled, voters huffed and puffed at the hassle. At some polls, there was no privacy; voters were out in the open, talking with each other as they sat at tables. Some ballots were printed on a copier. I asked Ms. Kruse if this violated election law. She wasn’t sure, and preferred not to comment. When I walked out of the Rotary meeting Tuesday afternoon, my “early vote” the previous Friday felt timely.
Republicans are quiet these days. President Bush said the GOP got a “thumpin.’”
Maybe as quiet as the dinner table at the Rev. Ted Haggard’s house, so says late night funnyman David Letterman.
Seven Iraq War veterans (four Dems, three GOP) ran for Congress in the mid-terms. Only one, Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, was successful, winning a suburban Philadelphia district.
Some 79 million Americans voted Tuesday, a 40.4 percent turnout, says the AP.
I was pulling for Sen. George Allen, Republican from Virginia, to be re-elected, keeping the Senate in GOP hands. Having both houses of Congress in the hands of one party, plus the White House, isn’t a good thing. Checks and balances, so wrote the Founders. Perhaps that’s why the country’s in a mess — unpopular foreign war, an escalating national debt, a Katrina-response disaster, no immigration policy, profiteering and corruption by contractors looking to steal a buck in Iraq.
Corruption - that courtesy of congressmen and lobbyists like Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney - was cited in exit polls as the reasons voters turned against Republicans. What surprised was how that old horn dog himself, Mark Foley, hidden away in rehab, almost kept his seat in Florida, through another candidate.
Ray Rose told the Daily Press how Amendment 41, which toughened ethics in Colorado government, was a “personal affront to him.” Rose, who has traveled out of the country on the lobbyist’s dime in recent years, received more votes than Democrat Brian Ahern. Amendment 41 passed Colorado voters with 62 percent of the vote.
A low point in the national campaign for stem cell research funding came when Rush Limbaugh made fun of actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s Disease. Paul Becala, a CNN election analyst and apologist for President Clinton, called Limbaugh on election night a “drug-addled gasbag,” referring to Limbaugh’s troubles with painkillers and alleged smuggling of Viagra. Such is “civil” debate nowadays.
The best campaign ads were from state senator Ken Gordon in the secretary of state election. Gordon was seen sitting awkwardly riding a horse, mimicking Rep. John Salazar. In another, Gordon sits in a tank of swimming sharks, eschewing special interest money. No stunt man, that was Gordon himself. Clever stuff.
Was reading how one candidate’s shady past was revealed by a California newspaper, which also endorsed his opponent. In a bar one night, right before the election, the candidate recognized the newspaper’s editor sitting nearby, and attacked him physically. At the next table, casually dressed, was a police detective who arrested the man, giving the newspaper another story the next day.
Democrat’s BumperSnicker: Stop Gay Marriage Now, So Osama Doesn’t Get Away.
Republican’s BumperSnicker: I Voted for John Kerry.
There was a coroner’s race in Olympia, Wash. A longtime coroner was retiring and two deputy coroners vied for the vacant office. One was a Democrat, the other, a Republican. The newspaper endorsed the Republican; the retiring coroner endorsed the Democrat to succeed her. The Democrat won and sent the editor who wrote the newspaper’s endorsement a note, which simply read: “Dear Mike, No warm slab for you!”
The Notebook
Notes, quotes from a crowded election-season Notebook:
Maybe as quiet as the dinner table at the Rev. Ted Haggard’s house, so says late night funnyman David Letterman.
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