State Senator Bob Bacon (D-Ft. Collins) blasted out a fundraising email on Wednesday on behalf of his boss, Senate President and CD4 candidate "Brandon-Mander" Shaffer. In the email he makes a unique pitch for Shaffer's campaign — don't worry that the Democrats’ redistricting map moves Shaffer's home in Longmont out of the exact Congressional district he is running in–Shaffer is running "regardless."
Seeking to sooth concerns among Shaffer supporters that his own party threw him "under the bus," Bacon's email only serves to further the Democrat civil war redistricting narrative. Beyond the narrative, if the Democrat map is chosen by the court, Shaffer stands all of zero and no chance of winning CD4.
From Sen. Bacon's email:
You may have heard that there is a lot of discussion about redistricting in Colorado and Brandon has assured me that regardless of what happens, he will be a candidate for Congress in 2012! [Peak emphasis]
Don't worry Democrats who have donated your dollars already — he'll spend them on a campaign whether it's winnable or not. And while we're on the subject, please send some good money after bad.
While state Representatives and Senators must live in the districts they represent by law, Congressmen have no such legal limitations. Of course, it doesn't sell very well with voters when you don't even live in the area you seek to represent, but you can at least legally mount a campaign.
If Shaffer's campaign is mounted with his house actually in Congressman Jared Polis's (D-Boulder) district, CD2, it could create an odd scenario: Shaffer couldn't even vote for himself.
Considering Shaffer filibustered his own redistricting map in the Senate this past session, when he couldn't get a map Brandon-Mandered to improve his electoral prospects, he's probably already comfortable with not voting for his own side.