One of the few things that most of us have agreed upon during this Presidential election cycle is the need to continue to improve Congress. We know that even if the best conservative candidate is elected he’ll need a solid conservative Congress to accomplish real reforms. And if we end up with a re-elected Obama, we’ll still need a solid conservative Congress to thwart his continued attempts to move us further down the road to European socialism.

To that end, I’d like to introduce to you a candidate for Colorado’s second district. But before I do, I’d like set the stage. Even though Colorado did not gain or lose seats, we still went through the process of redrawing the boundaries. Unfortunately what that means here is for the Democrat-controlled Legislature to do nothing and force the courts to do it. In the end, the congressional boundary changes weren’t as bad as they could’ve been. Scott Tipton in CO-3 will probably have an easier time with his re-election. Cory Gardner in CO-4 is set. So is Doug Lamborn in CO-5. The big loser could be Mike Coffman in CO-6. This was the goal of the Democrats. I still think Coffman has a decent chance to keep his seat. He did well in statewide elections, and is still popular in the state.

This diary is not about any of those districts. It is about Colorado’s 2nd congressional district, currently held by Jared Polis. The district contains all of The People’s Republic of Boulder™. It has always been a Democrat stronghold, but now with the addition of Larimer County (where I live), it has moved quite a bit towards the center. This presents and opportunity for Republicans to gain this seat later this year.

Kevin Lundberg currently represents the 15th Senate district in Colorado. Originally appointed in 2009 to fill the remaining two years in that district, he previously represented the 49th House district since 2002. He was re-elected in 2010 to another 4-year term. Kevin has won several awards, including Taxpayer Champion and Taxpayer Guardian from the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. For those of you that are now aware, we take tax control seriously in Colorado.

Kevin’s legislative accomplishments include:

* HB07-1208 and SB08-246, It took two bills get this done, eliminating legal prohibitions on generous gas and prescription drug programs – previous to the bills Colorado law prevented private businesses from offering any discounts “below cost.”

* HB04-1262 requiring clear signage identifying “red light” camera systems. These are the cameras at intersections that can automatically send traffic tickets. My bill let everyone know where the cameras are set up.

* Authorized people to copy and distribute Colorado statutes. Before the bill citizens were required by law to ask for permission from the Capitol to copy or distribute any state law.

* SB03-139, requiring jurisdictions to publicly disclose financial information before a bond election.

* HB04-1263 was a bill concerning the removal of the requirement under Colorado law for submission of a social security number on an application for a license issued by the Division of Wildlife (hunting and fishing licenses).

* SJR10-026 established the Sgt. Justin Bauer Memorial Highway

* HB0-1413 modifying the direct file laws for juveniles

* HB0-1259 conforming the annexation act of 1965 to the state constitution

Jared Polis has been a reliable vote for Barack Obama. When Lundberg was asked, Why run against Jared Polis, he states:

Votesmart.org lists 92 votes that Rep. Polis cast on the House Floor in 2011. 80% of the votes were either no, or did not vote. Among his no votes for 2011, which I would have supported are:

H.R. 2 – Repealing the Federal Health Care bill
H.R. 2021 – Cory Gardner’s bill providing timely processing of off-shore oil permits
H.R. 471 – Creating school vouchers for D.C. Schools
H.R. 1076 – Doug Lamborn’s bill cutting off Federal funds for NPR
H. amendment 95 – Prohibiting Federal funding for Planned Parenthood
H.R. 1633 – Limiting regulation of farm dust
H.R. 2560 – Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011

Kevin Lundberg currently has an exploratory committee to see if there is sufficient support to help him try to unseat Polis. He’s looking for 1500 people to sign up in support of his candidacy. I’ve already signed up to support him, and strongly encourage those of you inside and outside of Colorado to do that same. Let’s get that number to 1500 so Kevin will run. He is looking to make a decision by tomorrow (Jan 6th), so please don’t delay.

I know Kevin, and I’ve followed his efforts on behalf of Coloradans. He would be a great asset to the U.S. House of Representatives. Let’s send him to Washington to represent the consituents of the newly drawn 2nd district.

A blog at the Atlanta Journal Constitution asks a question about whether “ObamaCare” is a disparaging word. Extreme liberal Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida thinks so and got into a huff about it. She felt it was important enough to pick at this that she had to interrupt a colleague’s speech (hey, I thought interruptions earn a nasty glare from her leader, Pelosi?) and unintentionally cause a video clip to be floated around the blogosphere. The previously unknown Congressman Graves got a bunch of free publicity, as did his interrupted speech. The speech would have been completely ignored had it not been for the esteemed Florida Democrat’s helpful interruption. Thanks for the promotional entertainment, Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

As an opponent to the multithousand page boondoggle that was rammed through Congress without initially giving a chance for the Democrat rubber stampers (some of whom were later shellacked) to even read and digest it, my opinion is that you can call skunk cabbage by whatever lengthy name you want and it still stinks. But let’s face it, everyone knows what one means mean when they say “ObamaCare.” It just rolls off the tongue so easily. Unfortunately, when Congresspersons bloviate on the House floor, they have limited time. Repeatedly saying “the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” takes precious seconds away from the allotted time for pontificating. “ObamaCare” is short, simple, and to the point. Democrats would have more time if they would just use it like some Republicans.

But beyond that, was it not Obama’s signature issue to force all citizens to pay big insurers by the month as a sort of “life tax,” and give the Secretary of Health and Human Services nearly limitless power over our personal health decisions (note the multithousand page bill has hundreds of places where it allows the HHS Secretary to promulgate regulations — growing a boondoggle of a few thousand pages into tens or even hundreds of thousands of pages!)? So, with that said, why would anyone consider the term “ObamaCare” to be disparaging? It was his major goal and he achieved it via massive Democrat control of Congress due to the 2008 “hope and change” hysteria, um, I mean election, as well as things like the Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback. He should be proud of that achievement and rightfully take credit. Afterall, this is the president who has been merchandised like no other, from dolls to collector plates to collector coins (not legal tender) to just about everything. He’s a mega super star, the biggest modern celebrity we’ve ever had as president. But with 2012 fast approaching, the guy is going to need more marketing. Get those plates and coins rolling out of the likely Chinese factories again. Fly him all over the country (at our expense this time) and at each stop get him before his teleprompter so he can read phrases like “hope and change” and “yes we can” to mesmerized zombies. There’s never enough money to do it all in a campaign, and those presidential campaigns need all the money they can get. So really, saying “ObamaCare” is just free advertising for him. It reminds people of Obama and the “health care” bill brought to us by he and his party. Why balk at a freebie?

Seriously, visit West Virginia and you’ll find many things named after Robert Byrd. If he didn’t mind putting his name on things the pork projects he championed for West Virginia, why should Obama shy away from having his name on his signature issue? As we are constantly being told how great it is and taxpayers are funding commercials promoting it, OF COURSE Obama should want his name on it!

So, anyway, Wasserman Schultz was funny as usual. As she is OBVIOUSLY sensitive about the term “ObamaCare” and declares it to be “disparaging,” I’d like to get her take on people who call governors “NAZIs” and such…

Donna Brazile

In 1994 and 2000, there were 24 black G.O.P. nominees. And you didn’t see many of them win their elections.

J.C.Watts OK-04 is the only black GOP to serve from Jan. 1995 to Jan 2003. This district is R+18.

I do not like the condescending tone of Donna Brazile, but the history is what it is. I want this election in 2010 to be better than the 1994 tide. I am going to be very disappointed if Tim Scott is the only black GOP candidate who is elected. This year we have 14 black GOP nominees. How many and which ones can we support and help them win their election? I do not have all the answers. Let me know what you think. I think we can write about how worthy our nominee is for the seat or write about how unworthy the incumbent is to remain in that seat. In either case when we do it often enough it will have an effect on the top links that you see with a Google search on the candidate’s name. The idea is to have positive links at the top for our guy, and negative links at the top for the opponent.

There is an undercurrent of sentiment among some black Republican conservatives that very few, maybe only 1, black GOP candidates are getting serious Republican support. I do not want to believe this, but perhaps each one of us needs to do what we can do in support instead of relying on the NRCC and RNC. We can’t sit back and see if the NRCC and RNC make all the right moves, and then wring our hands blaming the NRCC and RNC on Nov.3 that only one black GOP candidate won the day before. I have listed below each of the 14 nominees, and a short summation of how partisan the district is and when and circumstances of incumbent’s first election to the seat. Instead of putting a link to their web sites I prefer that you use Google search on their name, and see what are the top listed results. If they are negative artricles, then we need to get busy and change that.

  Tim Scott SC-01 (Republican Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. 4 January 2010: Announced retirement open seat) This district is R +10

  Allen West FL-22 vs Ron Klein (First elected: 2006)This district is D+1

  Ryan Frazier CO-07 vs Ed Perlmutter (First elected: 2006)This district is D+4

  Bill Randall NC-13 vs Brad Miller (First elected: 2002) This district is D+5

  Charles Lollar MD-05 vs Steny Hoyer This district is D+11

  Bill Marcy MS-02 vs Bennie G. Thompson (First elected in Special Election, 13 April 1993, re: resignation of Congressman Mike Espy, 21 January 1993) This district is D+12

  Marvin Scott IN-07 vs Andre D. Carson (First elected: 11 March 2008 in a Special Election called to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Congressman Julia M. Carson (his grandmother) on 15 December 2007) This district is D+14

  Chuck Smith VA-03 vs Bobby Scott This district is D+20

  Charlotte Bergmann TN-09 vs Steve Cohen (First elected: 2006) This district is D+23

  Star Parker CA-37 vs Laura Richardson (First elected in a special election to fill the vacancy resulting from the 22 April 2007 passing of Democratic Congressman Juanita Millender-McDonald: 21 August 2007) This district is D+26

  Stephen Broden TX-30 vs Eddie Bernice Johnson This district is D+27

  Robert Broadus MD-04 vs Donna Fern Edwards (First elected in a Special Election, 17 June 2008, held to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of Congressman Albert Wynn, effective 1 June 2008) This district is D+31

  Isaac Hayes IL-02 vs Jesse Louis Jackson, Jr.(First elected: 12 December 1995 in Special Election re: resignation of Congressman Mel Reynolds, 1 October 1995) This district is D+36

  Michel Faulkner NY-15 vs Charles B. Rangel This district is D+41

Cross=posted at The Minority Report

Harold Johnson NC-08

Kristi Noem SD-AL

Over the past month since I first wrote this diary, The Battleground Contests for 2010, two improvements have occurred. The contest for the South Dakota at-large House seat is now rated by Real Clear Politics as leans GOP instead of toss-up, and the North Carolina 8th congressional district is now rated as a toss-up instead of leans Dem. While this is good news we can’t really get comfortable until after Tuesday November 2, 2010.

I think that Kristi Noems is helped a lot with John Thune at the top of the ticket this year in South Dakota, and there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in the Rushmore State. Ken Blanchard of South Dakota Politics recently wrote an excellent blog about Kristi Noems. I encourage you to read the entire piece here.

My thinking on the contest in North Carolina may upset some conservatives, but it is what it is. Harold Johnson, a former sportscaster in Charlotte, is less fiery and conservative than his primary opponent, and this makes him a more formidable opponent in North Carolina against Larry Kissell. This is the thinking of Tom Fetzer, Republican Party State Chairman, who said

In many ways, Tim D’Annunzio would have been an easier target for Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell to take on in the fall. But now with former sportscaster Harold Johnson as the Republican nominee, the 8th district will be one of the top battleground seats in the country.

The Charlotte Observer wrote an excellent column about this race. You can read the entire piece here.

I am not sure if some of the folks I have sparred with at RedState live in South Dakota, but I do know one who lives in North Carolina with a user name, nessa. Please get out the vote and support the Republican candidate. Even if your vote was for the other guy in the primary we need you to get ginned up now for defeating the incumbent Ds, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin and Larry Kissell. To paraphrase a Simon & Garfunkel lyric

Where have you gone, conservative voter? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you

This nation needs you to vote for the Republican and GOTV on Tuesday November 2, 2010.
Cross-posted at The Minority Report