Governor Ritter…ouch. The former one-term Colorado governor used the megaphone of the New York Times today to blast his former colleagues for losing the recall elections because they became the party of Boulder and Denver.

[S]tate officials said that the recalls showed how Colorado’s political pendulum could still swing in surprising directions, and that deep rifts still lay beneath its increasingly blue veneer.

“This is a state with a wide variety of interests at stake,” said Bill Ritter, a Democrat and former governor. “The Democratic Party cannot be the party of metro Denver and Boulder. It has to be the party who understands the values, views and aspirations of people who live outside of those areas.” [Peak emphasis]

Senator Angela Giron’s recall defense campaign may have blasted her opposition as being the work of “extreme groups from Denver” but voters in Pueblo decided it was she that was beholden to the metro areas’ interests over her own constituents.

Back in January we pointed out the fact that most Democratic leadership in the Legislature being from either Boulder or Denver was going to create problems. And a tone-deaf liberal bubble it created.

The arrogance of legislative Democrats is widely credited for helping bring about the downfall of John Morse and Angela Giron. But it extends beyond just taking orders from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. They simply didn’t listen to the citizens who showed up to testify.

A story by National Review’s Charles Cooke, who was in town for the recalls, takes a look at the women who testified against the gun bills and felt completely ignored and disrespected.

From Katherine Whitney to Kimberly Weeks to Amanda Collins, some truly brave women told their harrowing stories of violence that could have been stopped had the victim been armed.

But legislative Democrats, ensconced in their Boulder bubble of liberalism, refuse to hear them out.

They may want to re-think that strategy for 2014.