SALAZAR TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDACY (Colo 3rd District - McInnis' seat) - !KEN

[Hawkeye-X]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT: Brian Ross



303.941.3868



[e-mail]



SALAZAR TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDACY



John Salazar, State Representative (D-Manassa), will announce his candidacy for Colorado’s Third Congressional District during a fly around tour on November 18th and 19th. The seat, currently held by Scott McInnis, will be open for the first time in twelve years in 2004.



"I’m very excited to continue my service to the people of Colorado," Salazar said. "An opportunity like this does not come along everyday. So, after consultation with family, friends, and colleagues, I have decided that the time was right for me to run."



Salazar, a fifth generation Coloradoan, makes his announcement on the heels of the overwhelming defeat of Referendum A – the proposed ballot measure that would have created $2 billion dollars in new debt for the financing of unspecified water projects. Salazar led a bipartisan coalition of Western Slope leaders and interests to defeat the measure.



Salazar will hold announcement events in six towns and cities around the state over two days. The following schedule is subject to change.



Tuesday, November 18th



9:00 am – West Steps of the State Capitol, Denver.



12:00 pm – Pueblo County Courthouse, Pueblo.



3:00 pm – Alamosa County Courthouse, Alamosa.



Wednesday, November 19th



9:00 am – La Plata County Courthouse, Durango.



12:00 pm – Mesa County Courthouse, Grand Junction.



3:30 pm – Routt County Courthouse, Steamboat Springs.



Media is invited and encouraged to attend.



###



Julie DeWoody

Deputy Executive Director

Colorado Democratic Party

303-623-4762

[David__77]

1. Best of luck! I know CO can do it!

CO is not a right-wing state. It is pretty middle-of-the-road. With the right candidates, we can win there. Good luck!

[CMT]

2. do you think he will be a strong candidate?

Hopefully we can field a strong candidate for the senate too.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. I think he can win

He's a pretty vocal opponent of the blank-check water proposal that was soundly defeated in November's general elections.

He's pretty popular as far as rural folks go, and he's a fine state Rep, and he'll be a fine US Rep for the 3rd district.

McInnis is retiring, so no serious GOP challengers has been found.

And Udall is considering a run for US Senate against Nightmare. We also have Mike Miller for US Senate, but I'm not confident that he'll get the nod, as he is from a conservative county (El Paso Count - Fundyland)

Hawkeye-X

[helleborient]

4. Excellent! Congrats! (n/t)

[goobergunch]

5. Looks good!

Is he related to AG Ken Salazar?

[Hawkeye-X]

7. Hmm not sure..

Lemme do some research...

Edit: Yep! John Salazar is Ken's brother.

http://www.politics1.com/co.htm

http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/house/members/hou62.htm

Hawkeye-X

[goobergunch]

9. Nice. Methinks J. Salazar has a fairly good shot at this seat. (n/t)

[LiviaOlivia]

6. Go Salazar!!

McInnis has to be the most bizarre freak in the House. He makes
a laughingstock out of the great state of Colorado. I am glad to
hear of his retirement.

[UrbScotty]

10. Actually, DeLay is more bizarre

McInnis is #2.

[mndemocrat_29]

8. This is excellent news!

[jiacinto]

11. Info on CO-3

50-42-7 Bush. Add the D and G votes and it is basically a swing district.



That shows the district.

The next two maps show CO in the 1996 and the 2000 presidential races:





http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/main.htm

The link above is the CO board of elections. You can see how Salazaar fared in his race for AG.

Our candidate needs to thrash the GOP challenger in Las Animas, Hueferno, Las Animas, Routt, Costilla, and San Miguel counties.

[goobergunch]

12. That map is pre-re-redistricting (n/t)

[jiacinto]

13. What is the new map like?

I'm sure it's more hostile to Democrats. But that's the most recent map availalbe from NCEC.

I think the new map takes away Pueblo county.

[Hawkeye-X]

14. The map is still in courts

so they can't apply to it yet.. so the 2001/2002 map still exists.

Hawkeye-X

[goobergunch]

16. Has there been a stay ordered?

If not, the 2003 map is in force unless overturned.

[goobergunch]

15. It's RedViewer, but here's a link to the new map

http://192.70.175.79/State/map.asp?from=192.70.175.80&state=CO&scope=&command=find&name=%5Fself&cat=0&map=0&

Part of Pueblo County (including Pueblo) is still included in CO-3.

[jiacinto]

17. This seat is much more hostile to Democrats

It takes away key parts of Pueblo, takes out Las Animas and Hueferno counties entirely. It gives them to the 5th, while bringing in heavily Republican Fremont County into the district.

This new 3rd is probably very hostile to the Democrats. They basically took the heavily Democratic rural counties in the South and split them between seats.

Beauprez really wins here because he gets heavily Republican Elbert county added to his seat.