The Denver Gazette’s Vince Bzdek looks at two Colorado political debates and, as he frequently does, absolutely nails the larger point. One debate featured the Republican candidates for governor, Scott Bottoms, Victor Marx and Barb Kirkmeyer. The other featured Democratic attorney general candidates Hetal Doshi, Michael Dougherty, Jena Griswold and David Seligman. The contrast, Bzdek argues, says a whole lot about where both parties are right now.
His verdict is painful because it is true. Colorado desperately needs a serious Republican Party capable of forcing Democrats to defend the unaffordable, overregulated, overspent mess they have made of this state. Instead, too much of the GOP stage looked like a traveling county fair of chaos, complete with a dog at the debate, prayers as closing arguments, and candidates answering questions about whether they have killed someone.
Bzdek’s closing point deserves to be stapled to every county party door in Colorado: Republicans could do this state a huge service by driving a serious fiscal conversation about cutting overspending, making Colorado competitive for business again, and growing the economy. Instead, the party too often hands Democrats a gift basket labeled “please continue governing by default.”
The Bullet Point Brief
- Bzdek compares the GOP gubernatorial debate with the Democratic attorney general debate and concludes the attorney general candidates sounded more serious, more prepared, and more focused on actual issues. That should make Republicans wince hard enough to pull a hamstring.
- Barb Kirkmeyer is presented as the most qualified Republican candidate for governor, with real experience as a Weld County commissioner, state senator and budget writer. In a serious party, that resume would matter more than circus energy.
- Victor Marx gets attention for an extraordinary personal biography and extraordinary claims, including contested humanitarian claims, exorcisms, and past violence stories. When the debate turns into “candidate or Netflix pitch,” the voters are not getting what they need.
- Scott Bottoms is criticized for conspiratorial claims, including allegations about a pedophile ring, massive corruption and Venezuelan gang numbers. Colorado Republicans cannot beat Democratic overreach with a message that sounds like it was assembled in a bunker with poor Wi-Fi.
- The real tragedy is that the Republican debate did not leave voters with a strong sense of where candidates stood on major issues like water, business attraction, voting rights and affordability. Colorado families are getting crushed, and the GOP cannot afford to spend debate night juggling flaming weirdness.
My Bottom Line
I have almost nothing to add because Vince said the thing that needed saying. Colorado needs serious opposition. Not performative opposition. Not conspiracy-flavored opposition. Not a stage full of personalities trying to out-weird each other for applause from the already-convinced. Serious opposition.
Democrats have brought Colorado to a place where it is more expensive to live, harder to build, harder to run a business, harder to raise a family, and harder to believe anyone at the Capitol remembers who pays the bills. That is fertile ground for a fiscally conservative argument. Cut spending. Stop punishing employers. Make Colorado competitive again. Protect taxpayers. Grow the economy. That message should be sitting there like a fat pitch over the plate.
Instead, Republicans keep finding ways to make the conversation about everything except the main thing. The Democratic supermajority should be on defense every day. Instead, GOP nonsense lets them skate away while normal Coloradans wonder why the party that claims to oppose the ruling class cannot stop bringing a kazoo to a knife fight.
Craig Steiner has a serious job in front of him. The Colorado GOP needs discipline, competence and candidates who can talk about budgets, water, energy, housing, crime and business without veering into performance art. Serious times call for serious candidates. Chase out the bozos and buffoons, or get used to watching Democrats run the state while Republicans provide the halftime show.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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