Polis Roughed by Democrats

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, left, shakes hands with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet at a Colorado Mesa University candidate forum, 2022. Photo: Christopher Tomlinson/The Daily Sentinel

Colorado Democratic political class has turned abruptly and loudly against Governor Jared Polis. As he approaches the end of an eight year term, Polis, knowing the likely political consequences, commuted the sentence of election denier Tina Peters.

As Mark Barabak wrote in the LA Times, Polis was criticized by fellow Democrats and many Republicans – including Peters’ prosecutor and a majority of Colorado’s election clerks. Senator Bennet, the Democratic candidate for governor to replace Polis, made it a major talking point. “It was a disqualifying decision” for me appointing Polis to the Senate.

In an understatement, I said, “He was aiming for a national profile. This makes it much more difficult.” In fact, his political career in Colorado has likely taken a blow difficult to recover from. Nationally, he was second tier, now he’s out of consideration.

LA TIMES ARTICLE:
Three wrongs don’t make a right in case of election denier and Colorado governor
THE GRAND JUNCTION DAILY SENTINEL ARTICLE:
Peters fallout: Bennet wouldn't appoint Polis to Senate as guv; Vance says Peters eligible for fund

National Dashboard: Trump Doesn’t Have the Cards

U.S. President Donald Trump reviews an honor guard with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on May 14, 2026 in Beijing, China. | Alex Wong/Getty Images AsiaPac

RealClearPolitics’ aggregator website records President Trump’s approval at 40 percent but a more discerning aggregator, FiftyPlusOne (FPO), has Trump with a 37 point approval and a 23 point net negative (60% disapproval). Trump’s trip to China and Xi Jinping is at his weakest political moment. Domestically, Trump’s approval is, according to pollster Elliott Morris, “…sitting roughly 36.8% approval and 59.7% disapproval in the FPO polling average – a net rating of about -23, making him the most unpopular president at this point in his term in modern history, worse even than Joe Biden during the 2022 inflation panic.”

His international ratings are even worse than in the U.S. Pew Research reports that Trump receives “mostly negative ratings on a scale of low or high confidence” to do the right thing in world affairs” in 24 nations surveyed.

• Western Europe (especially low in Germany, Spain, Italy)
• Mexico (highest no confidence in list)

Neither Chinese President Xi nor Trump receives high confidence scores but in the last two years confidence in American Presidents (Joe Biden and Trump) has declined and Xi increased.

Trump, in one year, has damaged his reputation with Americans and the U.S. reputation with key allies. After Trump misplayed his cards, he now has a weak hand.

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Becerra New Democratic Frontrunner

Hilton and Steyer Fight for Second

(L-R) Democrat Matt Mahan, Democrat Xavier Becerra, Republican Chad Bianco, Republican Steve Hilton, Democrat Tom Steyer and Democrat Katie Porter during a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
Pool/Jason Henry/Bloomberg/Getty Images via SFGATE

The debates are over, voting started May 4 and Xavier Becerra is the new frontrunner. In the FiftyPlusOne average he has 19% to Republican Steve Hilton’s 20%, but the latest Inside California Politics/Emerson College Polling survey he leads the field 19% over Hilton, with 17% (12% undecided).

Tom Steyer, Democrat, with his large advertising budget was also at 17% in the Emerson poll but behind Becerra by 4 points in the FPO average. Hilton and Steyer may be the main contenders for second place.

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Politics Overtake Career Plans

Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County

Trying to move on from the political tumult of the 1960’s, I finally got serious about college and restarted my studies at LA City College. I shifted from my interest in political activism to requirements for pre-med. Chemistry and biology were courses in my second and final year.

But politics intervened. On May 4, 1970, national demonstrations against the latest expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia and the National Guard shooting and killing of student protesters at Kent State shut down LA City College and hundreds of colleges around the country. I had lost interest in biology and was back talking about the war. We were given our grades up to that point and told to start summer vacation early. On a road trip to upstate New York for resort work, we listened to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Four Dead in Ohio” as it played endlessly on the AM radio. It was one of the fastest released and distributed songs in history and reminded us how powerful the war’s effect was on our Baby Boomer generation.

When I returned to LA for a fall quarter at Cal State, I switched to a political science degree. A friend suggested I transfer to UCLA and I started there the winter quarter. It was a rainy 1971 winter. My first day of foreign policy class, Professor Simon Serfaty lectured in an intimidating giant hall. At the end, he suggested we all see a screening of Dr. Strangelove on campus that evening. I knew I had found a home in this fun, wildly stimulating environment.

The war was mostly fading into the background but campus Democrats were organizing, and in March of 1972 I attended a rare campus anti-war protest. There, Bill Walton, already a star of UCLA’s champion team and later to become a Hall of Fame basketball player, was loaded on a bus under arrest. Coach Wooden bailed him out quickly. McGovern was going to lose massively. (I went to the Democratic Convention in Miami – another story) and Watergate was just becoming a news story.

Graduating in 1973 cum laude and being chosen by Chancellor Young to lead the social science class at graduation, I decided to get serious about some kind of career in politics. Graduate political science departments were crowded so I took the LSAT, did well and settled to go where law and politics blended – Georgetown. I was sad leaving friends. LA had been my home since 1965 and I doubted that whatever was next would be as idyllic. Nevertheless, I was headed east to begin a new, lifelong political adventure that started at Georgetown University Law Center then shifted to Denver.

Politics and lots of serendipity drove my life.

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The Day Kennedy Died

Cronkite announcing the assassination of J.F.K., on November 22, 1963, as seen from a TV monitor. His TV career began in 1950, when he hosted a late-evening news recap.Photograph from CBS Photo Archive / Getty

It had just snowed hard and Trinidad was freezing cold as we walked up the steps of the Junior College and first heard from a student that the president had been shot. We were in town for a statewide speech contest and had just arrived in the Pueblo Catholic High School bus.

We went into the cafeteria, which had large black and white TVs up high enough to see from a distance. Walter Cronkite was on. I noticed his white button down shirt and skinny tie, but no coat. It seemed unusual in those days when we had no continuous news and anchors always wore coats.

It was near noon and just as we started to listen, he said: “Dan Rather has confirmed President Kennedy is dead.” He removed his glasses and appeared to tear up, but then put them back on and kept reading the wire stories handed to him.

We were stunned. Much later, we realized how much the entire country felt and learned that day. I wasn’t the most focused high school student, but speech was my favorite activity, and from that moment on the authority of Cronkite and the power of television were riveted into my consciousness.

Pueblo Catholic High School has been closed for many years, but it was a fortress of Catholicism and ethnic pride in our community. We were the “Shamrocks,” and the election of John Kennedy was like the elevation of a pope. We rooted for him, prayed for him and followed his travels.

Given that students had come from around the state in bad weather, they held the meet. Pueblo Catholic did well, winning various individual awards, and my partner and I won the senior debate contest, arguing before a large audience the negative side of “Resolved: Medical care should be provided to the aged.” The topic seemed remote. Few of the authorities we cited in our case believed its enactment was imminent, but Kennedy’s death made it one of President Johnson’s post-assassination achievements.

November 22, 1963, was a devastating day I will never forget.

Read New Yorker's The Legend of Walter Cronkite

Reposted from December 6, 2013

Swalwell Out: Becerra vs Steyer

(L-R) Democrat Matt Mahan, Democrat Xavier Becerra, Republican Chad Bianco, Republican Steve Hilton, Democrat Tom Steyer and Democrat Katie Porter during a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 22, 2026.
Pool/Jason Henry/Bloomberg/Getty Images via SFGATE

With the withdrawal of Eric Swalwell on April 3, a new California primary political order has been set. Most Democratic voters are dividing between billionaire Tom Steyer, who has spent as of May 1st more than $140 million on his campaign, and the new frontrunner in the some polls, Xavier Becerra, the former Attorney General and Biden cabinet officer.

Becerra appears to be gathering the most recent endorsements and has moved up from a weak 6th place on March 15 to 3rd in the April 30 FiftyPlusOne average.

Early voting starts May 4 for the June 2 primary. Steve Hilton, the leading Republican in the field, has President Trump’s endorsement. He has a good chance to make the ballot. But a Democrat is still the favorite to win in November.

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SCFD and Presidential Elections

Arvada Mayor Marc Williams, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, Greenwood Village Mayor Ron Rakowsky and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock with Popsicle at Mayors Launch SCFD GOTV, Oct. 4, 2016

The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) has been on the ballot in two presidential elections in this century. It won by 66 percent in 2004 and 63 percent in 2016. The SCFD had bipartisan support of regional mayors, legislators and other political and business leaders.

The following table compares the 2016 SCFD vote and the most recent results of Democratic candidate of Kamala Harris’ in 2024. The two percentage results tend to track by county except the SCFD and its non-partisan reputation and purpose did better in more Republican counties of Douglas and Jefferson and less well in the most Democratic counties of Boulder and Denver.

Examining the turnout, an additional 155,000 voted in 2024. It reflects both the difference in vote for a presidential candidate and ballot issue and the voter registration growth from 2016 to 2024.

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