John Hickenlooper will preside over the state capitol but who will be in the legislature is still up in the air.

Goofy last names, phony charisma and a hidden leftwing agenda seem to be a winning ticket for Democrats.  Much like how Barack Obama won two years ago, John Hickenlooper capitalized on the same things to win Colorado’s gubernatorial race. 

This race should have been an easy win for Republicans but the self destruction of Scott McInnis and Dan Maes proved too much to overcome.  Had the powers that be left things alone and let the best man for the job finish his campaign to its likely victory – Josh Penry – the outcome would have likely been very different. 

Tom Tancredo tried to save this race for conservatives and in many ways he did but his matter-of-fact way probably hurt him with the crucial independent vote.  Much like those folks went with the leftist in centrist cloth for the presidency, so too did they with the Colorado governor race. 

Other state offices

On the plus side, Republicans did realize some success elsewhere.  John Suthers most deservingly won the right to continue as the state’s Attorney General.  Election expert Scott Gessler trounced Bernie Buescher and will be the new Secretary of State. 

It isn’t official as the margin is still close but it appears Walker Stapleton will be the new Treasurer as voters recognized the gatekeeper of the state’s funds needs to be fiscally responsible. 

The Supremes continue

Voters rarely choose to dismiss judges and that trend unfortunately continues.  Colorado Supreme Court justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, and Nancy Rice all will continue to serve their leftwing masters under the guise of judicial impartiality.  This is truly a shame.

State House still up in the air; Senate remains in Democrat control

As I have written many times before, it is never a good thing to have the legislative and executive branch controlled by a single party – no matter who it is.  As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Democrats have managed to keep control of the state senate.  Republicans needed four seats and as it stands now they have only picked up one.

In the House, Republicans are claiming victory but as of this writing it isn’t truly over and hinges on two races.  Conservatives need to hope and pray that those two races tilt right or we will again have a leftwing legislature but now it will be with a much farther left governor – something which should be unpalatable to anyone. 

Close to (my) home, the House District 31 race has proven to be surprisingly close.  Union controlled Judy Solano is up for her fourth and final (thank goodness!) term but is only leading by 357 votes.  This is surprising as her opponent, Tom Janich, has taken some pretty big hits during the campaign and most did not give him much of a chance to win. 

Certainly one would like to think that if Solano holds on to win she would take this as a message from her constituency that they are ready for her to start representing them and not unions and every other leftwing special interest.  I doubt that will happen.

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