Far lefties lining up to defend Congressman Jared Polis’ snub of the historic annual Club 20 debate claim that it would not be worth the candidate’s time to participate because he won’t be collecting many votes from that area of the state. It turns out that this is wrong – just like most of their other arguments in support of the most liberal candidate to secure a major party nomination for Colorado governor in a generation.
In fact, of Club 20’s 22 constituent counties, the 2014 governor’s race was almost even, with 12 going for Beauprez and 10 going for Hickenlooper:
Club 20 counties that went for Beauprez in 2014:
Moffit
Jackson
Rio Blanco
Garfield
Grand
Mesa
Montgomery
Dolores
Montezuma
Archuleta
Hinsdale
Delta
Club 20 counties that went for Hickenlooper in 2014:
Routt
Summit
Eagle
San Miguel
La Plata
San Juan
Ouray
Gunnison
Lake
Pitkin
So, Polis should have a lot of natural Democrat voters in that part of the state. But what is the real reason that he won’t attend? Could it be the extreme “keep it in the ground” clean energy mandate that he is planning as a cornerstone of his campaign?
If there is one sure way to alienate voters who normally would vote for you based on party affiliation, it would be to threaten to take away their livelihood. That is exactly what the Polis campaign is proposing for the oil and gas industry in Colorado.
It’s more likely Polis won’t attend because he knows that questions about his vilification of approximately 1/10 of Colorado’s economy won’t fly in rural areas and doesn’t want to answer the tough questions.
That’s too bad, though. Polis isn’t running to be Mayor of the Front Range or Denver’s Mayor. He’s running to be the Governor of Colorado. That includes the West Slope.