The first gathering of the ever-widening field of Republicans hoping to take on and beat Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet for his U.S. Senate seat was long on platitudes and short on details of how contenders would do things differently if elected.
Seven of the 13 candidates — yup, 13 — running for the Republican nomination appeared at a University of Denver College Republican forum Thursday night. It was the first formal gathering so far.
On hand to tout their conservative creds to the choir were Robert Blaha, Charlie Ehler, Ryan Frazier, Darryl Glenn, Jon Keyser, Peggy Littleton and Tim Neville.
There was plenty of camaraderie about how Bennet is thick with President Barack Obama, and how both of them have been dead wrong on foreign policy, military spending, student debt, the federal budget, constitutional power and the weather. Well, maybe not the weather.
What I didn’t hear were specifics on most of those things. There was no tough talk on how each candidate feels about Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant wall, deportations, DREAMERs or anything along the spectrum. It’s a tough line to toe for the GOP because big-business Republicans like cheap immigrant labor right here in Colorado, while the tea party base aligns with Trump’s call to ship ‘em out. Throw in lots of minorities that side with amnesty proponents and the issue means trouble for the GOP.
For me, the big disappointment was not hearing just how these candidates, or any GOP candidate, would change or supplant Obamacare to provide something in the way of health care that’s accessible and affordable. Obamacare clearly is nowhere near affordable, as I define it, and it can’t get there from here. I’m pretty sure I’m like most Coloradans who don’t want to hear any more whining about the Affordable Car Act. I want to hear exactly how someone thinks it can be fixed or replaced, and how my premiums and out-of-pocket are going to go down. Down. Just snuffing Obamacare won’t cut it, and all the adults in the room damn well know it.
Here’s my takeaway from each:
• State Sen. Tim Neville: He paints himself as having the most experience and also the only candidate with some kind of record on grown-up government issues. It’s true. While other candidates have helped run cities and counties, Neville has been around and cast a lot of votes in the Legislature. Whether that record will be used for or against him in courting independents and moderates is debatable. Dem opponents are already tabbing him a provable right-wing extremist, on the wrong side of abortion, gay rights, immigration and other Colorado-centrist touchstones.
• Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha: This guy’s funny and a little bent. He launched his campaign with an online video that essentially tried to be satirical about Obamacare being a pain in the butt by using a faux proctological exam with serious shades of brachioproctic insertion — that’s the medical term for things you don’t want to know. Bobble heads and quirky online stunts has set him apart from the pack much more than his performance Thursday. He was, however, the only candidate to offer a substantial answer to mushrooming student loan debt: let students deduct interest like they can mortgage loans. Lots of grads will like that.
• Tea Party activist Charlie Ehler: Unusual man in a colorful tie, brown cowboy hat and happy to share that he owns 43 guns. Why keep count after, say like, 15 or 20? He makes awkward comments while pacing that may or may not have had much to do with the Senate primary race. Went on a rant about telling the feds, or Obama, or strangers to “sod off.” Got a chuckle from the audience so he went with it a few times. I don’t think he knows how vulgar that is, and that the expression “sod” comes from the word, “sodomy.” Maybe he does know. He and Blaha seem bent on making this a PG-13 or R-rated campaign.
• El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn: He’s sharp, fast and funny. The kind of guy you might not recall what he said 10 minutes ago, but you know you liked him and didn’t really disagree with what he said. I know he thinks Bennet and President Obama stink, and that he would do better, but he never really said how.
• Briefly-state Rep. Jon Keyser from JeffCo: The guy is Mr. Military and brought up his Iraq tour of duty in the Air Force many, many times. He seemed nervous at first, but he came across as the youngest and one of the most affable contenders. Despite being young, he fumbled with generational things, like when he told college Republicans to “hit me up” on Snapchat. If you don’t know how geezer-like that sounds, it isn’t worth explaining. Like the others, he was quick to point out how much disdain he has for Obama and Bennet, but he had little to offer in the way of specifics of how he would make things different, other than voting the opposite of everything Bennet votes on. He won the Team Tweet award, able to launch a well-crafted talking point on Twitter a few seconds into each stump talk. Smooth.
• Former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier: Frazier’s delivery was solid and polished. He came across as confident and relaxed while listing all the reasons why Bennet had to go. He, too, pretty much said that all you have to do is vote the opposite of Bennet to make things better in the eyes of conservatives. He was able to work the crowd for a few laughs better than anyone. Ryan has always sported a strong sense of nice-guy charm, and he was working it Tuesday night.
• El Paso County Commissioner Peggy Littleton: She definitely was the most energetic candidate on stage. Littleton’s passion grew with each horror story she shared in her gloomy vision of life in Colorado under the oppressive, degrading and supernaturally obtuse Obama administration. She quickly toggled between being an upbeat candidate to scaring me with portents of endless woe. She owns five guns and didn’t much like Bennet when he ran Denver Public Schools and she was on the state school board, so you should know that. Look for Littleton to steal the scene in future shows.
It was a preliminary gathering of friendly and articulate contenders who must run deep right to appease the powerful GOP tea-party base that will anoint a winner — without leaving an offensive extremist trail for Bennet to run on endless TV commercials to horrify the critical middle-ground voter in November.
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