This morning the Congressional redistricting map chosen by liberal lapdog Judge Hyatt was upheld by the Democrat-appointee-dominated Colorado Supreme Court. The high court's decision to accept Judge Hyatt's map spells the end for the political career and Congressional campaign of The Guy Running Against Cory (T-GRAC) in the 4th Congressional district, as incumbent Congressman Cory Gardner now has a district for life. The redrawn 4th CD has virtually the same registration numbers as Colorado Springs Congressman Doug Lamborn's 5th CD, making it impenetrable for Democrats.
The new Congressional map also means Congressmen Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) and Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) will have competitive races, with Coffman's 6th CD going from solid Republican to lean Republican. The good news for them is their two declared opponents, state Reps. Joe Miklosi (D-Denver) and Sal Pace (D-Urination) respectively, have significant issues.
Congressman Coffman's opponent, Joe Miklosi, has struggled to raise money and is trying to fend off a potential primary challenge from Miklosi's old boss and perennial primary headache Andrew Romanoff. With Congressional district lines now set, Romanoff will have little time to decide whether he wants to enter another bruising Democrat primary.
The question for both Romanoff and Miklosi, as we've pointed out before, is how they'll be able to raise enough money to compete with fundraising juggernaut Congressman Coffman. Last month Coffman broke all National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) regional records for fundraising when he pulled in an eye-popping $844,000 in a single event with House Speaker John Boehner.
We've been hearing rumors of Miklosi's fundraising challenges, with one source reporting he only raised $8,000 in October. Miklosi's Catch 22 is to raise enough money to keep Romanoff out of the race, but with Romanoff rumors bubbling under the surface Democrat donors are likely waiting to hear Romanoff's decision before donating to Miklosi.
Romanoff himself still has an outstanding debt of $256,000 from his US Senate race he has to pay off. Since he already sold his house for that failed effort, there's not much Romanoff has to thrown in personally with his bid. Whether it's Romanoff or Miklosi, both Denver Democrats will have difficulty garnering the resources to compete with Coffman.
In Congressman Scott Tipton's (R-Cortez) 3rd Congressional district, state Rep. Sal Pace (D-Urination) has a potentially campaign-ending criminal record issue. With his penchant for public urination and felony burglary in his past, Pace would have problems running in any district, let alone the conservative 3rd CD. As a Connecticut boy with no roots in the district and a highly unpopular President atop the ticket, Democrat operatives are clearly going to have a challenge in coming up with any scenario that sees a Congressman Pace being sworn into Congress in January 2013.
The reality of the redistricting decision is Democrats got what they wanted, even if they don't have the candidates they desire to contest the newly drawn districts. The good news for Colorado Republicans is Colorado Democrats' recruiting operation is not nearly as fine tuned as their legal shop.