Colorado Democrats will pick their Senate candidate in a primary on June 30. But the party had caucuses on Saturday, caucuses that were swept by the progressive in the race, Andrew Romanoff. I'll get into Andrew's big win in a moment but first let's take a look at an explanation of what the caucuses were all about aside from a popularity contest free of DSCC interference. Jay Bouchard wrote it up a few days ago for a local newspaper. He explained that at the over 3,000 precinct caucuses, registered Democrats elect committee members who will go to the county, district, and state assemblies to decide which candidates make the ballot. Candidates decide if they want to participate in the caucuses or not. If they don't, they can still get on the ballot by collecting at least 10,500 signatures statewide, including 1,500 from each of the state’s seven congressional districts. If a candidate gets 15% they move on to the county and state assemblies and if they get at least 30% of the vote at the state assembly, they make the June ballot. Candidates can gather signatures and go through the caucus process. However, there is some risk to doing that. If a candidate gathers enough valid signatures but fails to get at least 10 percent of the vote at the state assembly, he or she will not make the ballot. Aside from Romanoff-- Saturday's big winner, the other candidates who opted to participate in the caucuses was Schumer's candidate Frackenlooper, plus Stephany Rose Spaulding, Erik Underwood, and Trish Zornio. Diana Bray, Lorena Garcia, David Goldfisher, and Michelle Ferrigno Warren are only gathering signatures. Both Frackenlooper and Underwood decided to gather signatures and caucus.No one but Romanoff and Frackenlooper hit the needed 15% to move forward. These were the results, with Alamosa, Hinsdale, Costilla, Yuma, Adams, Larimer and Custer counties still counting. No one showed up for the Cheyenne County caucuses.
• Andrew Romanoff- 7,450 (54.70%)• Frackenlooper- 4,166 (30.59%)• Trish Zorino- 894 (6.56%)• Stephany Rose Spaulding- 723 (5.30%)• Erik Underwood- 31 (0.22%)
Frackenlooper lost decisively in all the big blue counties that elect Democrats statewide-- and was especially embarrassed by the walloping he took in Denver, where he served as mayor for two terms:
• Arapahoe- Romanoff 56.42%, Frackenlooper 27.54%• Boulder- Romanoff 64.11%, Frackenlooper 20.54%• Denver- Romanoff 60.50%, Frackenlooper 22.30%• Jefferson- Romanoff 61.88%, Frackenlooper 24.64%
As of the December 31 FEC reporting deadline, Frackenlooper had raised $4,882,372 and Romanoff had raised $1,744,993. None of the other 8 Democrats still running had raised any significant money. The two who managed to win delegates, Trish Zornio and Stephany Rose Spaulding are both credible progressives who now should realize that neither has any kind of a path to victory and should team up with Romanoff now to stop the DSCC and Frackenlooper.Frackenlooper, the decidedly anti-progressive candidate told reporters that it didn't matter that he did so badly. "It’s mostly the very progressive part of the party, but you get to hear what their concerns are… I’ll join a long line of successful Democratic primary (winners) who didn’t do well in the caucuses." He was at the Denver caucuses begging voters to back him. They didn't.Please consider contributing to Romanoff's campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 Senate thermometer above. He'll never raise the kind of money the DSCC is directing towards Frackenlooper, but he doesn't have to-- just as long as he has enough to get his progressive message out to Democratic voters.This morning, Romanoff sent out a message to his supporters, reminding them that "The party bosses and powerbrokers in Washington who are bankrolling Hick’s campaign bragged about 'kicking some serious butt' a few days ago. Now that they ended up on the receiving end, the DC crowd is dismissing their defeat and doubling down on a losing hand. Can they buy the Democratic nomination for a candidate who ducks the press and dodges debates? That’s a risky bet-- especially when the Republicans have all the footage they need to undermine his candidacy. Telling voters you’d hate the job and aren’t cut out for it, as Hick did, is bad enough. Doing so on camera for months on end makes the opposition’s task too easy."Romanoff is best-equipped to beat Gardner. Frackenlooper is a very risky bet-- and one with no real reason to take.
