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Colorado race tests party elites
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Race
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Mar 16, 2010 07:21am |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Author | Alex Isenstadt and David Catanese |
| News Date | Tuesday, March 16, 2010 12:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The political establishment could get a bracing rebuke Tuesday when insurgent Senate challengers in both parties are expected to perform well in Colorado’s precinct caucuses against appointed Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Jane Norton, like Bennet a favorite of party leaders in Colorado and Washington.
Former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who spent nearly a decade in the Legislature and boasts support from a slew of Colorado lawmakers and political insiders, is widely expected to prevail over Bennet in a Democratic caucus event that has traditionally attracted a pool of party activists. On the Republican side, former state Sen. Ken Buck, who has tapped into a wave of tea party support, is also expected to perform strongly against Norton, a former lieutenant governor.
The caucuses are the first step in Colorado’s byzantine nominating process, a preliminary event designed to elect delegates to the May 22 state party assemblies. There, candidates must obtain at least 30 percent of the delegate vote or petition to get on the ballot. The finishers with the highest percentage of delegate votes at the May conventions will earn top billing on the Aug. 10 primary ballots.
Seth Masket, a University of Denver political scientist who is considered an expert on the caucus process, said the expected success of Romanoff and Buck signals grass-roots dissatisfaction with the preferred candidates of the GOP and Democratic establishments.
“In both parties, party elites appear to have anointed a particular candidate, and party activists are rebelling against that choice somewhat,” Masket said. |
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