State House hopeful jazzes race up with Obama-mania

With so much hype surrounding Obama’s candidacy and the Democratic National Convention, it’s surprising that more local Democratic candidates haven’t hopped on the change bandwagon for their own campaigns. In Denver’s House District 6, for instance, the three Democratic primary candidates — Liz Adams, Lois Court and Josh Hanfling — bombarded voters with benign, by-the-book mailers explaining why each is the best candidate to replace term-limited Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff.

But the trend of ho-hum campaign mailers stopped late last week, just in time for Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Hanfling, who had previously sent out snoozer fliers with typical Colorado mountain scenes, released a doozy of a mailer in which he copycats the Obama campaign. Though the dark blue glossy flier doesn’t mention Obama specifically, it’s filled with obvious references, plenty of dramatic intrigue and randomly capitalized words. To wit: 

"On November 4th, voters will CHANGE the face of politics and make history. On August 25th, the eyes of the World will be on Denver for the Democratic National Convention where politics as usual ends and a new era in politics BEGINS. The experts said hope was pointless…that what politics was, politics would always be…let’s show them they’re wrong. At the August 12 Democratic Primary, change can begin IN OUR OWN BACKYARD by saying "Yes" to a new kind of politics and the passing of the torch to the next generation of leaders in Colorado."

The flier also features an illustration of a buff young man carrying a Colorado flag surrounded by a leafy wreath.

Oddly enough, Hanfling’s website doesn’t reflect the Obama=Democrat=Change=Hanfling message in the mailer. Tomorrow, Hanfling will learn whether his last-minute pontificating paid off when Denver voters pick their top Democratic candidate for the state representative spot.