Attorney General: Important Job and Competitive Race

The second most important race to be voted on June 26 will be for Colorado Attorney General. In a Denver Post interview with Jesse Paul, I posited the issue in the primary: “Do Colorado Democrats want to join the anti-Trump resistance? One Democrat in a competitive primary, Joe Salazar, represents the aggressive left wing of the party. Phil Weiser has more mainstream appeal and has the backing of the party establishment, who are concerned about Salazar’s electability and his political temperament.”

Weiser has $1 million in funding to a few thousand for Salazar, but Salazar is competitive because his last name is a popular Democratic brand in Colorado. Ken Salazar was Colorado Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior. His popularity in 2004 got his brother, John, elected to U.S. Congress as he was going to the U.S. Senate.

I told Paul the race was competitive:

“The Democrats are dramatically different,” said Floyd Ciruli, an independent political analyst in Denver. “A very mainstream, respected attorney-dean in Mr. Weiser versus a sort of insurgent legislator coming from the deep liberal wing of the party in terms of a lot of his positions and a lot of his support. It’s sort of the classic choice we are seeing in primaries across the country in the Democratic Party.”

He added: “I think it’s a competitive race.”

The Republican candidate will slide into the nomination without a primary after George Brauchler’s strategic shift from a tough governor’s race to an empty attorney general field. Cynthia Coffman left a likely re-election to run a stumbling campaign for governor – she raised little money and generated miniscule party support.

Both parties believe the position is highly important. Millions will be spent by out-of-state interests.