But Can She Milk a Cow?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez today announced that Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland will be his running mate and lieutenant governor nominee. Democrat Bill Ritter chose Barbara O’Brien as his running mate in January, but the campaign cleverly waited until today to officially file the nominating paperwork in order to steal a little of Beauprez’s press.

Colorado Confidential’s Cara DeGette reports from the Beauprez press conference this morning.

This is a nice announcement and all, but the real question is this: Can Rowland milk cows? Did you know that Beauprez used to be a dairy farmer? Oh yeah, he milked cows silly.

———–Ritter has opened up a wider lead on Beauprez in the latest polling from Rasmussen Reports. Last month, Ritter had a five point lead on Beauprez but is starting to pull away now.

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Ritter and Beauprez squared off in a debate on Friday afternoon at KBDI-Channel 12, and Colorado Confidential’s Erin Rosa was there to see volunteers for both campaigns staging an impromptu pep rally outside.

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Gov. Bill Owens has made no secret of his support for Beauprez’s gubernatorial campaign, but Beauprez apparently isn’t keeping quiet about his criticism of Owens’ administration. Beauprez told the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald Tribune Times News Post that if elected, his administration will be different from the Owens regime:

Beauprez…acknowledged he has heard complaints about Owens’ management style and said “they’re valid criticisms.”
Beauprez said those critics have charged that Owens “engaged in what he wanted to” but also was “very detached in a lot of things.”

Dear Bill,

Thanks for supporting me for governor.

Love,

Bob

P.S. You suck.

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Republican Rep. Mark Larson, who is on his way out of the House this year, made waves last week when he endorsed Ritter for governor over his fellow Republican Beauprez. But as Peter Blake of the Rocky Mountain News reports, the Cortez lawmaker is also backing Sen. Ken Gordon for secretary of state (instead of Republican Mike Coffman) and Democrat Jim Isgar for re-election to the state Senate nearby.

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Colorado will have a long ballot in November thanks to several initiatives being pushed by various groups. But as Myung Oak Kim of the Rocky Mountain News reports, a campaign finance loophole allows initiative campaigns to raise as much money as they want while individual donors can remain anonymous.
Why doesn’t somebody to a ballot initiative to correct that?

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Ed Seal of the Colorado Springs Gazette profiles the two candidates running for congress in CD5 – Democrat Jay Fawcett and Republican Doug Lamborn