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Believe it or not, the other day I was able to walk downtown without encountering anyone who was openly considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's Third Congressional District. That's become a popular pursuit since six-term incumbent Republican Scott McInnis recently announced that he would not seek another term in 2004.
Last week there were at least eight potential candidates. But they may not have come around because no one knows whether Salida is in the Third District or not.
Salida and Chaffee County are near the geographic center of the state, but in political terms, this is a fringe zone that is used by the redistricters to balance population for places that matter, like Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Grand Junction. In the 1970s we were in the Third with Pueblo, in the 1980s in the Fifth with Colorado Springs, back to the Third after the 1990 census, and for the 2002 election we returned to the Fifth,
Colorado had to draw new congressional districts in 2001 after the 2000 census. Republicans had the governorship and the state House of Representatives; Democrats controlled the state senate. They couldn't agree on any system of gerrymandering that would advance one party or the other, and it fell to a court, which put us in the Fifth.
Last spring, with Republicans in charge of the state senate, too, Sen. John Andrews of Centennial had a revelation that elected officials, rather than appointed judges, should make the decisions.
(It would have been refreshing if Andrews had received this revelation during the Florida recount of 2000, but he then wrote that the appointed U.S. Supreme Court, rather than the elected officials of Florida, should decide. We should know better than to expect philosophic consistency from politicians.)
This last-minute measure to produce more safe Republican seats caught the eye of Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Democrat, who sued the legislature on various allegations of constitutional improprieties. The Colorado Supreme Court heard the case earlier this month, but has not announced a decision.
When that decision comes, I'll know whether I live in the Third District or the Fifth, at least until the legislature convenes in January, when Karl Rove and Tom Delay might order up a whole new map before the 2004 elections.
Even with a favorable map, it could be a hard pull for Republicans. At least two of the oft-mentioned Republican possibilities for the Third shouldn't even bother forming exploratory committees. They are Greg Walcher of Grand Junction, currently head of the state Department of Natural Resources, and Ken Chlouber, more or less of Leadville, and a state senator.
Now, I have enjoyed their company from time to time, and they're experienced public servants. But they both support Referendum A for financing new water projects.
Most of the Western Slope is in the Third. Club 20, the Western Slope lobbying coalition, unanimously opposed Referendum A at its general meeting earlier this month. A candidate in the Third who supported gun control, gay marriage and U.N. International Heritage Designation of all public lands would get more support in the Third than a candidate who supports Referendum A.
My friend and neighbor up the road, Curtis Imrie of
Buena Vista, ran as a Democrat against McInnis in 2000. He
got hammered like an anvil, of course, but he pointed out
that on paper, the Third is competitive. He also observed
that McInnis is finally honoring his term-limits pledge
-- it just took him six years longer than he promised when
he first ran in 1992.
There's one good candidate for the Third who has appeared on no one's list, and likely never will. That's State Rep. Carl Miller of Leadville, a hard-working conservative Democrat.
He's hitting his term limit for the house seat. I asked
if he planned to run state senate, and he pointed out that
Leadville is now in the same senate district as some of the
Douglas County sprawl. That seat will go to a suburban
Republican,
he said, and there's no point in my even
trying, as a rural Democrat.
I can't tell you how thrilled I was to learn that we will see more suburban Republicans in positions of power in Colorado.
I suggested that Miller could move 60 miles to Salida (we're in a different senate district) and run, but he said he was at home in Leadville, where his family has abided since about the time the Utes left, and he wasn't about to move, especially for political reasons.
I'd really like to see someone with Miller's attitude in Congress. But it's one of those Catch-22 situations. The people with good sense who should hold high office often have too much sense to go through the drill.
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