Denver (CNN) - Ahead of the Tuesday night Republican caucus in the state, Colorado GOP leaders said they hope the event will not only pick a candidate but also help reunite and re-energize their base after a rough 2010 midterm election.
In that race the GOP was able to flip several House seats but they lost a Senate race and a chaotic governors race in a year that heavily favored Republicans.
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Many blamed poor party leadership and unelectable candidates who were supported by upstart tea partiers, but were unable to attract enough independent voters in the general election.
Last spring the party elected a new chairman, Ryan Call, who set out to find a way to reunite the party. He decided to move the caucus up from mid-March to today with hopes that a candidate would not yet be chosen and Colorado Republicans would have more of a say in the process.
"We are delighted with how it has worked out," Call said. "We expect strong turnout. We're in a strong place, more unified."
He said his desire was that the candidates, with media in tow, would come to Colorado to campaign and indeed all four remaining candidates have come to the state to make their pitches to voters, drawing thousands to their events.
Call said that Colorado Republicans will need organization and enthusiasm to beat President Barack Obama in this key swing state. Obama has visited the state several times since becoming president.
Rank and file voters are most concerned with the elusive quality of "elect-ability," he said. After their mid-term losses, they said don't want to make a mistake by picking a candidate that may match their ideology if they don't think that candidate can win.
"There are not as strong feelings this time," he said, adding that they need a candidate that can appeal out side of the party base and has the organizational structure to go up against an incumbent president.
"You need a candidate who reflects you values and principals, but you have to have a message that appeals to independents," he said.
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Rocky Mountain High expectations
From CNN Politics
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"We expect strong turnout. We're in a strong place, more unified."
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Wishful thinking GOP. How about ya'll explain the low voter turnout in your primaries up to date. It won't be any different in Colorado.
@grover...
I don't know who you are but I really like your posts. You are well spoken and spot on. Keep up the good work!
President Obama is the only choice in this election if you want to save : seniors, veterans, the middle class, help the poor, support 160 million workers, women's rights, minorities, public employees, and consumer safety regulations. After Obama's foreign policy victories, any return to the insane 'Bush Doctrine' will only hurt us. Vote for the most intelligent, vote for Obama.
The more you learn about Mittens, the less you like him. He give the filthy rich a bad name.
Colorado is a sick state. Look at your Boulder. Homeless stinking up the library. Bus routes full of homeless be shipped from the shelter to downtown everyday. Illegals running rampant. Look up Flip Flop Accident boulder. Person gets run over by illegal allien. Revoked drivers license. Person walking to work on a Saturday morning. illegal gets arrested released on 1000 bond and likely to plead out to a nothing fine...Person that gets hit by car has neck and back brace. Leaves school. takes off from work and gets months of physical therapy. Illegal just gets slap and back on the streat for more allstate mayhem. Welcome to the liberal city of Boulder were laws dont matter and homeless stink the place up.
I really had hoped the candidates would not turn this into a religious war. But I forgot, Catholics/Christians are nothing more than another special interest group. Only interested in forcing their beliefs onto others.
Don't settle for the lesser of 2 evils. Gingrich / Cthulhu 2012!!
I would take Boulder, HunterPSU, over Colorado Springs and their deceitful, lying evengelicals any day. By the way, your points are far more effective when you use proper grammar and spelling as opposed to your more libertarian approach to the English language.
I like boulder I was just ranting so was not seeing clearly when typing. Very frustrating to deal with the court system and insurance system when dealing with an injury. very very upsetting when dealing with an injury caused by an illegal in the country being protected by the city. Especially an illegal that had already had his license revoked for some other ...unkown reason. The homeless comments just about something that seems to be an irritant when I visit. But overall I like Boudler..I just dont like the liberal part of it selling out and making it more dangerous for citizens and tax payers.
Wire Palladin, S. F. - After Obama's foreign policy victories, any return to the insane 'Bush Doctrine' will only hurt us.
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You mean that big victory in Egypt that has the radical Muslim Brotherhood taking the country over? Or maybe it's that big victory in Iran that is NOT keeping them from getting a nuclear bomb and them threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz?
Yeah, Obama sure has worked wonders in the middle east with his leading from behind.
BTW, hadn't you heard? George Bush isn't running in this election. Are you going to run against Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln too? Libtards.... hopelessly lost in the past because the present they have built is a miserable failure.
which of you republicans knew your fearless leader back in 2008 started the bailouts of the auto companies AND the financial companies? Which of you have even publically acknowledged the republicans (by way of less regulations) allow the country to jettison 700K jobs/month...You already should have know about the financial industry, here's the info about the auto (search in Bloomberg): The Bush administration provided loans to GM and Chrysler starting with $4 billion to each company in December 2008 and January 2009. Bush eventually provided $17.4 billion in aid to the automakers before Barack Obama's administration expanded the rescue of the companies to $62 billion
the issue is, you want to go back to the days that created this economic situation? Republicans can't even acknowledge they did wrong, never mind that that they will keep it from happening again... They want to go back?!?!?!
Truth – it looks like foreign owned media, Fox, did not fill you in on the number of Bush advisors, Mittens is using. Are you all right, you are sounding a bit paranoid? By the way, all your republicans heroes would not belong to your inane GOP party of today.
Thanks Wvazoe. I try to speak truth to light at all times. The Colordo GOP are living a fairytale if they think turnout is going to be large in a state that the President won in 2008.
So... I am a Coloradoan and the Republicans out here have a problem that in the last governors race the republican candidate barely got over 10%; because the Right wing was shattered by bad candidates (this almost made the R lose their preferred status of getting extra funding and access as being one of the two major parties). So when this journalists says that they (Republicans) are trying to unify... here in Colorado that should be taken literally.
Truth . . . .whatever posts early in the morning until late at night. Evidently getting Fox talking lies out early gives Truth a longer day to be wrong.
Newt “Chucky” (Child’s Play) Gingrich has added a new definition in Webster. “Newtular” has a definite meaning to let the world know why his parents named him “Newt”. I hope that we have more intelligent people in this country than Newt has idiots. If we do not then he will go “Newtular”
"Many blamed poor party leadership and unelectable candidates who were supported by upstart tea partiers" This is not blame it is fact. No matter if you liked Nancy Pelosi or not she was a strong speaker unlike this weak Boehner. With Mr. Lameborn (I know spelled Laneborn) the racist Congressmen from Colorado Springs the Colorado GOP like the RNC does not inspire much confidence.
@Truth and Nothing But the Truth
"Are you going to run against Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln too? Libtards.... hopelessly lost in the past because the present they have built is a miserable failure."
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Ronald Reagan trippled the national debt and actually spoke in favor of the wealthy paying a fair tax rate. Dwight Eisenhower warned us against the military-industrialist complex – like Haliburton. Abraham Lincoln was a liberal – fighting for racial equality amd freeing the slaves. None of these people would make a Tea Party Republican of today. Republicans of today are like you, captured by the brainwashing of Fox News – nothing more than dancing monkeys as the Koch brotherss pull the strings. They don't give a crap about guns, gays, abortions and God – those things are used to make people like you delude yourself. They care about power.
Truth and Nothing But the Truth – It's only fair that the Dems get to bring up Bush especially if the Republicans want to return to his policies. Besides, the Republicans kept bringing up Jimmy Carter for years.
Bush = Republican version of Jimmy Carter.
Romney = Republican version of John Kerry.
The GOP has become irrelevant. A party lacking direction, leadership and ideas. Try again in 2016 GOP'ers.
The pathetic thing is that the GOP cannot come up with any other strategy other than the one that got us into this mess in the first place. The good GOP people like Kemp, Dole, Conable and others all knew how to work with people: this lot cannot even work together on creating a lunch menu much less public policy, and spend more time running away from their signature accomplishments than taking ownership of them. They are truly pathetic. When Bob Ingliss, one of the architects of the impeachment of Clinton was destroyed in a primary 2 years ago for being insufficiently conservative, he said that his principles had not changed, but his approach to solving problems had. He was not less partisan, but he realised things needed to get done. People like Truth have no concept of that, other than a worthless, nasty, knee-jerk attack on anything associated with the president. Its un-American to not want the problems solved in a bipartisan manner. Conservatives are more concerned about theology than in solving problems, and they are failing this country and themselves. Sad thing is, they think they are winning by wrecking the country. Governing by the Charlie Sheen Principle, I guess.
Wire, judging from Obama's miserable middle east policy that has the entire region in flames and falling into radical hands, he must have most of Jimmy Carter's advisors! How long will it be before the whole region explodes and oil prices reach $200/barrel? Oh yeah, Obama would love that. It would help him sell some coal powered "green" cars.
HunterPSU wrote:
I just dont like the liberal part of it selling out and making it more dangerous for citizens and tax payers.
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Wasn't the judge a conservative? You are complaining about the results of actions and policies enacted by conservative politicians and people going before conservative judges.
Is it me or does the gop seem a little desperate? , relax racists, you still have 10 months
Left for you're scare tactics.
nobody but Obama 2012. Seriously! !!