Opening day in the Upper Chamber was its normal snooze-fest.  No funny jokes.  No compelling speeches.  No fisticuffs between Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp and President Brandon Shaffer.  Just Senator Nancy Spence and newly-christened Senator Jean White at their affable best, while a bunch of other Senators you'd rather not hang out with blandly milled around.

President Shaffer earned big points for getting the ball rolling on a bipartisan redistricting plan, but he instinctively U-turned back to his more partisan inclinations in the days before session.  Shaffer told the Statesman in their pre-session publication that a recovering economy would be a boon to the Democrats, and not Republicans.

Earth to President Shaffer: your party has been in control of everything in Colorado for four years and in control of the national government for the last two.  Go back and read everyone's speeches from yesterday.  The economy has never been worse. 

If the economy turns around in the months after Democrats were thrown out of the State House and the U.S. House, the same election where Democrats lost seats in the State Senate and the U.S. Senate, my guess is that it isn't Barack Obama and Brandon Shaffer who get the credit.

But nice try. . .