Salazar Pledges Moderate Approach In Senate

[JI7]

Coors opposes the death penalty ? well, i guess that along with his company support for gay rights and his own support for lowering legal drinking age helped keep the religious conservatives from supporting him.

<DENVER (AP) Sen.-elect Ken Salazar believes in -- and Democrats are banking on -- his ability to work across party lines and attract bipartisan support as he has while attorney general in Republican-leaning Colorado.

Exit polls show that many of the conservative Christian and Republicans who helped Bush prevail over Democrat John Kerry in Colorado also supported Salazar. He fashioned the same kind of broad-based support to win two races for attorney general, making him the only Democratic statewide officeholder.

"I think what Ken brings is a sense of independence and a grounding, especially in rural Colorado," said Al From, head of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, which helped put Bill Clinton on the path to the White House in 1992.

From noted that Salazar supports a woman's right to decide whether to have an abortion, but also backs requiring that parents be notified if their child has an abortion and opposes late-term abortions. Salazar's endorsement of school vouchers has drawn fire from other Democrats.

A Roman Catholic who studied to be a priest, Salazar talked about his faith and family on the campaign trail. However, he criticized his opponent, also Catholic, for opposing the death penalty and spoke against a proposed federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Salazar will serve as an honorary vice chair of the Third Way, a new group in the Senate that's an offshoot of the Democratic Leadership Council and similar advocacy organizations. >

http://news4colorado.com/localnews/local_story_341202359.html

[rpannier]

1. Hey No one's perfect...

We could have been stuck with Coors as the colorado senator.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Before you flame...

consider this: US Senator Peter Coors.

[LTRS]

12. New Dem rallying cry / slogan:

"Dems: Not quite as bad as republicans!"

Pathetic lapdogs. No intention to reframe the debate, or get the message of the dem agenda across. Playing repuke lite is so much easier! Wussies one and all.

[rockymountaindem]

14. Did you ever consider that perhaps Salazar

is just standing up for his opinions. Just because he's a Democrat doesn't mean he's going to agree with the party 100% of the time. I know I don't. Furthermore, he's not going to agree with you all the time either. Perhaps he's a moderate, and the people of Colorado elected him because of that. Can you imagine... a moderate Senator, elected by moderates to be a moderate? Oh my God! Maybe he's just representing the views of his constituents??? If you think of how we elected Allard twice, I'd say a comitted moderate is definately a step in the right direction.

When I inferred that Salazar would be better than Coors, I did so because I knew someone like you would come along and bash Salazar without understanding what he means to Colorado Democrats.

[paulk]

15. thanks for that thoughtful reply

mine would have been deleted...

[rockymountaindem]

16. I do my best :)

Seriously, I'm tired of these people and their remarks. Shortly after I typed that post I figured out why the infighting is making me mad. Thanks for this opportunity to explain myself a little more clearly...

What pisses me off is the condescending attitude, that somehow they're real 100% Democrats and that everyone who can't get a committed progressive elected is a lesser grade Democrat. Ok, so this would make Massachusetts Dems 100% pure, Wisconsin Dems 75% pure, Florida Dems 50% pure, Colorado Dems 25% pure, and Idaho Dems 10% pure. Does this sound like an inclusive party that people will want to join? I think not.

The Colorado primary was between Salazar and Mike Miles. Mike Miles was more liberal, and would probably please people on DU a lot more than Salazar will. Of course, had he won the nomination he would have been trashed by any Republican. This does not make Miles a bad person, nor does it mean we should not support him in other endeavors. We did the best we could and I think a lot of people will like Salazar when they begin to realize what an asset he is to our party. So when I said it was either Salazar or Coors, that's what I meant. I didn't mean we should run DINOs, because Salazar is not a DINO. I meant very practically and simply, it was either Salazar or Coors, because any other Democrat would have lost to Coors. Would this make ideological purists you happier? Well, go ahead and answer....

Then they act as if we Democrats have failed somehow because we can't get the most liberal person elected. We didn't fail. We did a damned good job in our state and then people come to rain on our parade because not everyone is their dream candidate.

These people say we are naive, because we think that it's ok to have people say they are Democrats even if they don't toe the line 100% of the time. That couldn't be farther from the truth. It is they who are naive, because they think that every Democrat must be Paul Wellstone, and that every Republican must be Paul Wolfowitz. They are naive because they won't admit that there is a middle ground.

There, I said it.

My best friend is a Republican. I can't say enough good things about this guy. He'll always help a friend if he can. He's incredibly loyal and is a better young man than 99% of our college-age peers. I'm proud to call him my friend. He is not, however, a maniac as many people here would just assume he is because of the Republican label. He is a Christian, and a more religious one than most of the fundamentalists I know. He's no fan of homosexuality, and I never discussed it with him because I figured he would complain about too many gays, special treatment etc. The day after the election (I believe he voted for Kerry), you know what one of the fist things he said to me was? "Rocky, I can't believe they passed all those anti-gay amendments. I can't believe so many people would legislate hatred into their constitutions." I was very surprised. He and I agree on many things. I say this makes him a liberal, and he can't account for what it makes me! We have a good time. Even though he is a Republican, and I identify with the Democrats, our similarities far outnumber our differences because we are both Americans. Doesn't that blow your mind? If you answered yes, I think you need to take a long hard look at just how realistic you're being.

[paulk]

19. a lot of people don't seem to understand that a party is a coalition

and since our two party system is not going away, we need to build coalitions, not destroy them. The Democratic Party is not some monolithic entity, it's several different groups that have some basic things in common. Just as the founding fathers meant our government to be based on compromise, our party needs to be based on compromise.

In Colorado there are two districts where we can get progressives elected. If we want Democrats in the other districts or statewide, we have to run moderate or even conservative candidates. What people need to understand is that if electing moderate or conservative Democrats gives us control of the Congress, it empowers our progressive ones. The same holds true for the country at large.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

28. Another Great Post

Thank you for that.

DTH

[JI7]

29. great post, and you guys did do a very good job

Colorado is still a mostly Republican state and so any democrat who runs and wants to win statewide will need votes from Republicans.

Salazar being more moderate got enough of crossover votes from Republicans to help him win the state. Kerry is more liberal so he wasn't able to get much crossover support, but i still thought you guys did a great job for him also since a 5 percentage point separation is pretty good for a state that is Republican. i'm glad Kerry spend time there and Kerry did win a majority of the independents and young voters in the state . hopefully this is a good trend for colorado. while it wont be california or new york anytime soon we can make it into more of a competitive state like iowa or wisconsin in the near future for democrats.

[LTRS]

17. Not a big fan of Joe Lieberman, John Breaux.....

or Zell Miller either. I'd like dems to be dems instead of republican lite. So sue me.

[GRLMGC]

18. Yes

Thank you. I completely agree. God forbid anyone should have their own opinions, right?

[Radical Activist]

3. I really wish we could have gotten a Udall in the Senate

instead of this guy. Maybe Salazar was more electable. At least he's a Democrat.

[DaveinMD]

4. he's a good guy

and a loyal Dem. There are only two statewide elected Dems in Colorado. Udall would be tarred with being from Boulder. Salazar will be a good Senator.

[JI7]

8. who is the other statewide Dem in Colorado ?

[DaveinMD]

9. Jared Polis

is on the State Board of Education. He will likely run for Congress at some point. He's extremely wealthy and has been putting his money to work to help Democrats throughout Colorado.

[fnottr]

6. I think it'll happen

When Jeff Bingaman decides to retire, I'd be willing to bet he grooms Tom Udall for the job.

[w4rma]

5. Okay, he's mostly conservative on social issues. That's to be expected in

Colorado. I am interested in his economic and environmental positions and this article by the AP doesn't touch them.

[Radical Activist]

7. That's the corporate media

of course they don't talk about economic issues. That's exactly how the DLC wants it too.

[Jack_DeLeon]

10. He sounds like my kind of guy...

Hispanic, pro-death penalty, against late term abortion, Catholic, and Democrat.

[JI7]

13. i'm sure it appeals to many Latinos who are social conservatives

but vote democratic based on things like worker's rights, education etc.

he can be a huge voice for us in that area and help keep and expand our latino (and religious blacks) base.

[bush_is_wacko]

11. Ken Salazar

Is miles better than Pete Coors. Coors campaign backfired on him when he tried to accuse Ken Salazar of being soft on polluters given the fact Coors is one of the worst polluters of all time. Believe me, in Colorado, Ken Salazar was the only choice! He is actually a pretty darn good Attorney General. And I hate to say this because my liberalism is pretty in line w/ the Dali Llama but I support signed consent from a minor seeking abortion, w/ the exception of incest and/or implied threat or danger if they tell a parent. I would want to be there for my daughter if this was ever a choice she had to make. I would want to make sure she knew the consequences of her choice. I guess that will make me seem like a hypocrite to many of you, but nonetheless it is how I feel.

On Edit: I'd also like to say, I wouldn't trust a word that came out of Pete Coors' mouth. In my experience he is completely untrustworthy. He does not have much to do w/ the actual running of his company anymore. He hired consultants long ago that take care of that stuff for him. HE DOES NOTHING FOR HIS EMPLOYEES, HIS CONSULTANTS DO EVERYTHING. Just because his company provides benefits for gay partners does not mean Pete Coors supports it.

[Walt Starr]

20. Not unexpected

but disappointing nonetheless.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. God, he sold out before he even took his seat.

Wonder how long it will take for him to switch to the party that represents his real beliefs.

Just what we need another "opposition" lap dog for Boobya.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. He was affiliated with the DLC before he ran for the Senate

A liberal ran against him in the primary but Salazar kicked his butt.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. No surpise then.

Another Republican(D) joins the ranks of the quislings.

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. It the Democrats voters of CO had wanted a liberal

they would have nominated one. They chose a moderate instead.

[DaveinMD]

25. what a load of bullshit

Salazar is a moderate Democrat. Dems in Colorado love him. He's not close to being a Republican. But he is a moderate who can win REpublican votes. I guess winning just isn't important to you. Ideological purity doesn't get anything done.

[snippy]

26. "Ideological purity doesn't get anything done." Very true.

Unlike lots and lots of other democrats, Salazar actually won. And winning gets things done.

[DaveinMD]

27. AND

he's a great guy. He's very Colorado and the people there love him.

[paulk]

30. he's a good representative for the state

which is overall moderate to conservative. That's why he won.

And as a liberal here in Denver, I supported Salazar - and I can live with him a hell of a lot better than I can live with Pete Coors or that other BushCo clone we're stuck with, Wayne Allard.

[davidinalameda]

31. I rather have another vote for Harry Reid than for Cat Killer Frist

he's not perfect--show me a Senator that is

he's much better than the alternative--Coors