CO-3: Independent Announces Campaign for Congress

From The Pueblo Chieftain:

Less than a year after Republicans took control of the 3rd Congressional District with the election of Scott Tipton, a Pueblo woman announced her candidacy for Congress by saying the two-party system is broken.

 Tisha Casida is running for Congress as an independent candidate.  "There are things I like about all the parties," she said in her announcement Friday. "But the problem is the two-party system is not doing anything to solve our current economic problems."

 Casida said her campaign is less about challenging Tipton and more about finding ways to bring "prosperity and liberty back to Colorado." . . .

Check out Casida's campaign site.

CO: Greens Found Greater-Boulder Party Chapter

From the Green Party of Colorado:

Fellow Greens, I am happy to report that the aspiring Boulder chapter had a very successful meeting on Jan. 20.  We had a turnout of 14 ambitious, enlightened, and motivated people who came together to form a new and robust chapter of the GPOC.  Our meeting included past participants, new faces who heard about us from various sources including the article in the Daily Camera, and many intelligent and motivated (get this) YOUNG PEOPLE!  A new generation of active Greens yeah!  And special thanks to Bob Kinsey and Aaron Ney for making the trip and offering very valuable insight, suggestions, and support.  Even financial support!  I will never forget the formation of our treasury.  Aaron threw down a twenty, reciprocated by another and then myself.  ”Well it looks like we need a treasurer” and lo and behold Shannon volunteered and was approved by voice vote all in a matter of a couple of minutes!  You the man Aaron. . . .

DE: Libertarians Call for Minor Party Representation on Redistricting Board

From the Dover Post:

Dover resident Will McVay is chair of the Kent County Libertarian Party, and he thinks Levy Court’s Democratic majority should take this redistricting cycle as an opportunity to involve minor political parties.

At Levy Court’s January business meeting, McVay, who gained notoriety during a failed run for the state House last fall, publicly asked commissioners to consider appointing someone who isn’t a member of either major party to the redistricting commission.

“Our belief is that they should include an in independent voice, whether that’s a Libertarian, an Independent Party member or someone who’s not in any party whatsoever,” he said. “We think that they should have a voice that’s not representing either the Democrats or the Republicans.”

CO: Libertarians Make the Case for Approval and Score Voting

Colorado Libertarians are among the most vocal proponents of approval and score voting in the United States.  At the Blue Carp blog, David K. Williams, Jr., the State Chairman for the Libertarian Party of Colorado, often advocates the implementation of approval voting as superior to both instant run-off and plurality.  The Libertarian Party candidate for governor of Colorado in 2010, Jaimes Brown, is an outspoken proponent of the method, which he discussed in an interview with TPID last August.  Now, via Ari Armstrong comes a short Youtube interview with Frank Atwood, in which the former Libertarian candidate for State Representative in Colorado makes a pitch for approval voting.  Armstrong writes: "While I was skeptical of approval voting at first, Atwood convinced me that it's a good idea -- even better than the "instant runoff voting" I've previously praised."  Video:

Tancredo Hints He May Declare his Political Independence

From the Huffington Post:

"I have no qualms about running as a Constitution Party nominee and their platform is, for the most part, I think, certainly acceptable to me," Tancredo told the Colorado Statesman on the day he filed his papers to become the ACP candidate.

Now, months after Tancredo's gubernatorial bid failed, the former candidate is opening up about his relationship with the ACP. Tancredo told conservative blogger Ari Armstrong on Monday that he "probably won't be a member [of the ACP] for very long." . . .

Asked about his party affiliation in the immediate aftermath of election day, Tancredo would not give a direct answer as to his plans. "We'll see where it goes. Unless there is some purpose, I don't know if I will go back to Republican. I'm not sure I will stay with ACP either," he told the Denver Post. "Maybe I will become an independent. It's a lot of heavy stuff to think about."

CO: Tancredo Puckers Up to Kiss Republican Establishment's Ass, Stabs Constitution Party in the Back

From the Hill:

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) wants moderate Republicans and conservatives in Colorado to meet so they can come together to prevent divides that could lead to election losses.

Tancredo ran for governor this year against a Republican in a three-way race. Democrat John Hickenlooper wound up winning.

Tancredo said that Liberty Group leaders should meet with Republican leaders to figure out how they can work together.

Apparently, Tancredo falsely believes that the goals of the Republican Party are compatible with liberty.  

CO: Independents Make Up a Third of the Electorate, but Have No Representation in Government

From the Colorado Independent:

Three-term incumbent Kathleen Curry finally threw in the towel in her write-in state House bid Wednesday afternoon, conceding to Democrat Roger Wilson but vowing to keep fighting to represent independent voters. . . .

According to state law, Curry changed her affiliation [from Democrat to Independent] too late in the process to be included on the ballot, forcing her to run as a write-in candidate, but she fought hard to show a path forward for other independents outside of the state’s two-party system. Unaffiliated voters make up about a third of the electorate in Colorado, with the GOP and the Dems roughly splitting the other two-thirds.

CO: Denver Post Whines about Constitution Party's New Status as Major Party

From the Denver Post:

The sudden rise of the ACP — and the near collapse of the Republican Party — exposed disparities in state laws that govern political parties. (Had the GOP's Dan Maes not topped 10 percent of the gubernatorial vote, the party would have lost its major-party status.)

Earlier, we wrote an editorial calling on lawmakers to address some of the disparities. For example, minor-party candidates aren't allowed to collect campaign donations in the same manner as their big league peers.

However, ACP officials, who are now faced with myriad new challenges as a major party, are trying to take advantage of their newfound status in ways we think are unfair.

CO: Constitution Party Prepares for Major-Party Status Following Tancredo's Run for Governor

From Denver Westward:

By inching over 10 percent of the vote last Tuesday, Dan Maes saved the Colorado Republican Party from the humiliation of falling to minor-party status. But while Tom Tancredo didn't win the race, his 30 percent-plus of the vote elevated the American Constitution Party to a major Colorado party.

"We haven't been officially notified yet of major-party status," says Doug "Dayhorse" Campbell, who was the ACP's lieutenant governor candidate on the November ballot until Tancredo took over the top slot, and brought in his own second, Pat Miller. "I guess it's nice to be thought if in that way -- but we're still just really a small party."

Campbell predicts Republicans and Democratic lawnakers will change the rules to ensure that the Constitution Party does not retain its major-party status. 

CO and CA: Constitution Party Candidates for Governor Led the Third Party Pack

From Constitution Party News:

Tom Tancredo's American Constitution candidacy in Colorado won 620,632 votes. This total is far and away the top votal total for any candidate outside the Democrat or Republican Party. It appeared near the end that he might win the race. His total percentage nearly doubled his poll numbers when he entered the race. His race assured the American Constitution Party of Colorado major party status in that state. He received more than three times as many votes as his Republican opponent.

Receiving the second highest vote total of all of the "alternative party" candidates for Governor across the country was Chelene Nightingale in California. Nightingale, the Constitution Party endorsed American Independent nominee attracted, according to the California Secretary of State, 133,716 votes, or 1.7% of the total vote for the six candidates for Governor (the California results for Governor are amazingly still incomplete). To put this result in some perspective, Chelene won more than twice as many votes than the AIP nominee for Governor received four years ago, in 2006. She also, obviously, ran ahead of all of the other "alternative party" in California in this election. In recent years AIP candidates had generally placed well back in the crowd, or dead last, in Gubernatorial contests in California.

CO: Tancredo Considers Declaring his Political Independence from Party

From the Denver Post:

"I went to dinner at 6 o'clock and kept thinking 'This is really going to work,' " Tancredo said in an interview with The Denver Post on Thursday. "And of course it didn't. I'm content in the fact that it's part of God's plan. I just wish he wouldn't tease me so much."

Tancredo, the former GOP congressman who switched to a third party to run for governor, lost Tuesday to Democrat John Hickenlooper 51 percent to 37 percent, with Republican Dan Maes collecting 11 percent of the vote. . . .

And his party affiliation? "We'll see where it goes. Unless there is some purpose, I don't know if I will go back to Republican. I'm not sure I will stay with ACP either," he said. "Maybe I will become an independent. It's a lot of heavy stuff to think about."

CO: Rocky Mountain Collegian Profiles Third Party Candidates for Governor

From the Rocky Mountain Collegian:

When heading to the ballot boxes to cast a decision for the next governor, Colorado voters will see six options –– a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, an American Constitution Party member and two unaffiliated picks.  With eight days until polls close, third-party candidates laid out for the Collegian where they stand on issues they believe are important to students . . .

CO-Gov: Republican Makes Case for Voting Third Party, Supporting Tancredo

From the Estes Park Trail Gazette:

I really need to apologize to Tom Tancredo. When Tancredo decided not to run last year, I was critical of the platform he wrote for Scott McInnis as a condition of support. In July, when Tancredo gave the two Republican candidates an ultimatum to withdraw from the race, I labeled Tancredo the spoiler. The pragmatic side of me will not support a spoiler. I deemed it impossible for Tom Tancredo to win as a third party candidate.

I wrote in July that the worst strategy for conservatives was "to choose the lesser of two evils now, and then refuse to support the winner in November." I later called Tancredo`s ultimatum to Maes and McInnis as "improbable as a science fiction film." I recognized that Dan Maes had problems as a candidate, but I believed party supporters would rally behind his campaign and Maes would finish second (with no hope of winning). I felt so strongly about it that I wrote to Tancredo urging him to withdraw the ultimatum, telling him there was no circumstance in which I could support his candidacy.

Boy, was I wrong; mea maxima culpa. Dan Maes is now polling at 12 percent. Tancredo is polling at 38 percent, just four percent behind Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. In other words, 50 percent of voters support someone other than "Recreate 68" benefactor Hickenlooper as our next governor. 

In fact, Tancredo is now polling within one percentage point of the Democrat Hickenlooper and Dan Maes is supported by fewer than one in ten voters.  If they have any sense, the people of Colorado will bury the Republican party this November and set an example for voters nationwide.  The two-party state can be defeated.  

CO-Gov: Tancredo in Statistical Tie with Democrat Frontrunner

From Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight:

Tom Tancredo’s chances have improved again in Colorado, where a new Magellan Strategies poll puts him just 1 point behind Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Democrat.

CO-Gov: Progressives Debate Import of Tancredo's Third Party Candidacy

From Political Chili:

Over at The Huffington Post, liberal blogger Jessica Corry is making “The Liberal Case for Tom Tancredo.”  According to Corry, Tancredo’s victory “could mean a handful of policy goodies long championed by liberal progressives.”  She believes that Tancredo’s “strong libertarian foundation…when communicated the right way, is both moderate and pragmatic.” . . .

Let’s review the data we have on the Constitution Party and Tom Tancredo.  A “liberal progressive” vote for Tom Tancredo may not be such a wise move. Chip Berlet, a senior researcher at Political Research Associates (see its PublicEye.org magazine), wrote in September 2008 that “the U.S. Constitution Party would impose a form of theocratic neo-fascism in the United States.”

According to the Constitution Party’s political platform, “‘The mission of the Constitution Party…is to restore American jurisprudence to its original Biblical common-law foundations.’”  The party’s preamble states that America was founded by “Christians…[and] the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

CO: Republicans Party with Tancredo

From The Colorado Statesman:

Tom Tancredo faced a rocky ride in late July when he switched political saddle brands — from Republican Party to American Constitution Party — and tossed his hat into the governor’s race. Judging by recent polls and a record-breaking turnout at the “Tancredo Republican Round-up” on Saturday, Oct. 18, the former 6th District Congressman is leaving GOP contender Dan Maes in the dust.

During the ACP candidate’s rally at The Stampede Country Dance Hall, more than 1,300 Republican revelers celebrated a Rasmussen poll showing Tancredo within four points of Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper. According to the survey conducted Oct. 14 of most likely voters, Denver Mayor Hickenlooper has 42 percent and Tancredo, 38 percent. The crowd also cheered erosion of support for Maes — reportedly 12 percent of voters surveyed.

Prediction: Tancredo will win CO Gov Race in Stunning Upset

From the Catholic Knight blog:

Here's a little prediction from your friendly neighborhood crusader. Tom Tancredo is going to win the Colorado gubernatorial race. That's right, you heard it here first on 'The Catholic Knight' blog. I know I know, all the polls show that the split between Tancredo and the Republican nominee is giving victory to the Democratic candidate. However, the election hasn't happened yet, and there is a factor the polls don't take into consideration. That factor is the grassroots motivation of the TEA parties. Tancredo has seen a surge in recent days, blowing away his Republican rival, and inching closer to the Democrat candidate. The most recent Rasssmussen Poll put Tancredo within a four-point striking distance of the Democratic nominee, and a double-digit lead over his Republican rival.  On election day it will be obvious that the Republican can't win, and a good number of the votes currently polling for the Republican candidate will end up going to Tancredo in a surprise election upset not seen in American politics in a VERY LONG TIME. . . . .

CO-Gov: Marijuana Legalization Group Blasts Prohibitionist Democrats, Endorses Constitution Party Candidate Tom Tancredo

From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Gubernatorial frontrunner John Hickenlooper, now Denver’s mayor, has most Democrats enthralled, but marijuana advocates are calling for his defeat.

SAFER, which wants full legalization of marijuana, is backing American Constitution party candidate Tom Tancredo in the race for his pro-legalization stance.

"Mayor Hickenlooper owes Colorado voters an explanation," SAFER’s Mason Tvert said in a news release. "In the five years since his city became the first in the nation to remove all penalties for adult marijuana possession he has yet to explain why it was okay for him to make a fortune selling alcohol, yet it should be a crime for adults to use a far safer substance instead.”

CO-Gov: Tancredo Now within 4% of Democrat Frontrunner

From the Denver Post:

Third-party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo has jumped to within 4 percentage points of Democrat John Hickenlooper, moving the race from "leaning Democrat" to "toss up," according to the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports.

Tancredo, who left the Republican Party to run on the American Constitution Party ticket, has 38 percent of likely voters' support to Hickenlooper's 42 percent. Support for Republican Dan Maes slipped again, and he now stands at 12 percent, Rasmussen reported.

CO: Republican Gov Candidate Supports Democrat over Conservative Tancredo on Economic Issues

From the Denver Daily News:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said in a radio interview that he believes Democrat John Hickenlooper would be better for the economic health of the state than third party candidate Tom Tancredo. Maes made the comment on the Cari and Robb Show, a talk radio show “for independent Americans.”

“I would say that John absolutely brings that kind of moderate business acumen and business experience that Republicans in Denver proper really like,” said Maes of Hickenlooper. “We’ve seen several major Republican businessmen back John Hickenlooper, so I would absolutely trust the mayor when it comes to the economic health of our state and the business community more so than I would Tom.”