If they held a Colorado politico version of the popular TV show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" you can be sure state Senate President Brandon Shaffer wouldn't make the final cut. Proving he's not the sharpest tool in the Democrats' political shed, Shaffer told the AP's Kristen Wyatt recently that Obama isn't being blamed by voters for his dismal economic record — they're just mad at Washington, DC writ large.

From the AP:

Like other Democrats in Colorado, Shaffer argued it’s Washington, not Obama, that has voters disgruntled.

“The bigger issue is just people being angry at Washington, D.C.,” Shaffer said.

This brilliant piece of insight of course ignores the vast reserve of publicly available polling showing Obama's increasing unpopularity in Colorado. Just ask the pollsters at Gallup (44/48 disapprove in CO), Purple Strategies (40/53 disapprove in CO, NV, NM), or even the pollsters at PPP who oversampled Democrats in Colorado by 8 points and still found Obama upside down at 50% disapproval to only 46% approval. 

Or how about Hispanic Independents in key swing states, a group that went to Obama overwhelmingly in 2008, who told Gallup that their number one concern is: "the federal government in Washington, DC is wasting too much of our tax money."

Remind us, esteemed Senator, who runs the federal government in DC and urges more reckless spending of tax dollars.

We know Shaffer wishes his statement were true. It would be helpful to have an Obama on the ticket that no one blames for racking up trillions more in debt to China, managing an economy that has over 9% persistent unemployment and running an energy policy that has resulted in a more than doubling of gas prices. Problem is, that Obama doesn't exist.

If only wishes were horses…Shaffer could ride into Congress.