A political consultant on Bill Clinton’s first campaign for the presidency once famously advised his client on the issue voters cared most about in that race: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
James Carville was right then, and if he suddenly came slithering out from under a rock muttering the same words, he would be right today.
It’s the absurd price of gas. The doubling and tripling of costs for most grocery items. The scarcity of baby formula. The cancelled summer vacations that has voters in Colorado and nationwide pissed off.
But none of this matters to the Colorado media, who still insist on trying to make the upcoming Republican primary elections all about what matters most to progressives like climate change and the war in Ukraine.
Or, topics they know will drive a wedge in Republican circles which they hope will produce the most unelectable candidate against Democrats in the fall General Election.
In the Colorado Sun’s clickbait version of a voter guide titled “6 big areas where the two Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Colorado disagree,” the article focuses on abortion, who hates Mitch McConnell most, who won the 2020 election, and Orange Man bad.
The article also asks each candidate at the very end how they can beat incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
Joe O’Dea took that opportunity to slip in the economy and what really matters.
O’Dea said he plans to stick to the issues affecting Americans — namely rising consumer costs — and find middle ground where possible.
“I’m going to run this campaign against inflation, crime and $4 gas,” he said, “not social issues.”
Ron Hanks, on the other hand, seems to be dismissing Republicans who don’t stand firm enough in the party’s convictions, and plans on being that firm foundation to bring other Republicans back to the fold. Or something.
“I think the Republican Party has lost its way and is not firm enough in its conviction,” he said. “I firmly believe if we have convictions and we tell people our beliefs and convince them we are going to stand by them they are going to come back to the party.”
Ballots go into the mail today.