The Gloves Come Off

Colorado Guv Race Heats Up

By Howard Rothman, 10-05-05

If it's true politics is a spectator sport, there's certainly no better place to be in the stands right now than Colorado. In one corner we have GOP gubernatorial hopeful Mark Holtzman, under fire for his cameos in television ads railing against Referendums C and D, jumping on the offensive this week by accusing his opponent of pilfering a private email donor list. In the other we have Rep. Bob Beauprez, who hopes the GOP gubernatorial mantle will fall on him, accusing his opponent of smears and threatening a libel suit. If only the Dems could muster a viable candidate to oppose Bill Ritter, who keeps trying to get into the fight, we'd have us a real donneybrook worthy of paid admission.

The latest round of Republican mud-wrestling, as Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels called it Tuesday, began when Hotzman charged Beauprez with stealing his 6,500-name Rolodex and sending campaign emails to those on it. Beauprez responded that the names came to him from a list provided by Gov. Bill Owens, and in turn accused Hotlzman of operating a smear campaign that might draw a lawsuit. Holtzman called Beauprez a liar and simultaneously unveiled a new radio ad called "Both Ways Bob" that chided the Congressman for his stance on Referendums C and D. This followed earlier complaints by Beauprez that Hotlzman was using the C and D campaign as a way to skirt Colorado campaign finance laws.

Whew! Getting so you can't tell the charges from the countercharges without a scorecard.

The Democratic campaign has been downright sedate in comparison, with only ex-prosecutor Bill Ritter having thrown his hat in the ring. (Oh, that's if you don’t count Rutt Bridges, who jumped in and out of the race so fast you probably missed him.) More will join the fray, of course, but right now these Dems seem content to let Ritter build needed name recognition and the Repubs duke it out amongst themselves.

And all this for an election that's still over a year away. Couldn't get any better, you think? Just wait. It most certainly will.

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