Candidates kiss babies and climb high on July 4

Editor’s note: This is the Journal’s weekly roundup of campaign news.



July 4 was a day for all the 2012 candidates to shake hands at parades and barbecues.

But a candidate who doesn’t even face election until 2014 outshone them all.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., joined a group that scaled Independence Monument, the tallest rock spire at Colorado National Monument, to raise the American flag. The Fourth of July climb of the 450-foot spire has been a century-old tradition at the monument near Grand Junction.

Udall is an expert climber who once ran Colorado Outward Bound, a nonprofit outdoor adventure guide company.

Romney to Aspen: Republican Mitt Romney will be in Aspen for a private fundraiser Monday. The cost is $50,000 a plate, the Aspen Daily News reported. Fox 31 Denver also reported that Romney’s campaign might add one or two public events to his Colorado trip.

Romney and the national party set a Republican Party record by raising $100 million last month.

Dems reserve fall TV time: Democrats reserved $468,000 worth of ads on Denver television this fall, although it’s not clear yet whether the ads will be for Cortez Republican Rep. Scott Tipton’s challenger, Sal Pace. Although Pace and Tipton are locked in the state’s tightest congressional race, there are two other competitive races in the Denver suburbs.

The ad buy is part of a $20 million effort by the House Majority PAC and the Service Employees International Union.

Romney’s ground game: Romney’s campaign plans to open his fifth field office today. It will also serve other Republican candidates, like Tipton.

Romney already has offices in suburban Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.

However, he has a long way to go to catch up to President Barack Obama’s campaign, which has 19 offices statewide, including three on the Western Slope — Durango, Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs.

Campaigns use the offices to marshal local volunteers for phone banks and door-to-door contact with voters.

Countdown: 122 days until the November election.



Reach Joe Hanel by emailing joeh@cortezjournal.com.