The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!
Hillary Tells Supporters Not to Nominate Her The suspicions are persistent: Hillary Clinton will show up at the Democratic National Convention and somehow, some way leave Denver as her party’s nominee for president, causing outrage among Barack Obama’s faithful legions. But a Hillary coup appears to be over, according to New York’s Daily News, quoting a source close to Clinton who says the former First Lady won’t file a formal request asking to be nominated despite petitions on her behalf. That may or may not have prompted Obama to support the restoration of full voting rights for delegates from Florida and Michigan, states that flouted party rules by holding primaries too early, notes the International Herald Tribune. Meanwhile, supporters of Obama and Clinton gathered over the weekend in Cleveland, completing a 44-page draft of the Democratic platform–one that “reinforces Obama’s theme of change but acknowledges Clinton’s differing view on health-care reform and her supporters’ desire to blast sexism in the media,” according to The Denver Post. Wadhams Threatens Udall With “Ads Up [the] Ass” Bob Schaffer’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, tells the Rocky Mountain News that Democrat Mark Udall isn’t going to get away with missing a vote on the energy bill last week while Americans are being squeezed at the gas pump. “We’re going to shove a bunch of 30-second ads up his ass on this issue over the course of the campaign,” Wadhams tells the newspaper, which didn’t actually print the word “ass,” opting for the safer “a–.” One new ad, laden with snippets from Fox31 news, debuts today as the lead story on the Schaffer-supporting National Republican Senatorial Committee’s website. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has shot back with a statement to the press saying Wadhams’ “vulgar outburst” is a “macaca meltdown,” a reference to a vaguely racist, career-ending statement by Virginia’s George Allen in 2006, when Wadhams was managing Allen’s campaign.
One Denver Newspaper to Stop Printing? It’s no secret that daily newspapers across the country are struggling to keep readers and facing massive losses in advertising revenues. Rocky Mountain News columnist David Milstead opined last month that as the “newspaper industry continues its decline, a two-newspaper town is a luxury” the joint owners of the News and The Denver Post “simply can’t afford.” That’s all nothing but a “rumor,” according to today’s Denver Business Journal. Yet for months Denver businesses have been talking about the possibility that “before long, the city could be left with just one daily newspaper.” Leanna Clark, co-owner/principal of Schenkein, one of Denver’s largest PR firms, tells the Journal that a common rumor on the street is that after the Democratic National Convention ends on August 28, “we might see something–one [newspaper] go online or one go away.” Jared Polis Ignored in Newspaper Endorsements All the ads Jared Polis has funded with his own deep pockets haven’t landed him on the good side of Denver’s two largest daily newspapers or Boulder’s Daily Camera. All three want to see a candidate other than Polis represent Colorado’s Second Congressional District, which encompasses Boulder, the ‘burbs north of Denver, and ski areas west of Denver. On Sunday, the Camera endorsed Joan Fitz-Gerald for the August 12 Democratic primary, writing that as the first female president of the state’s Senate she “worked tenaciously to get important legislation passed to get the state’s fiscal house in order and improve renewable energy in the state. She has a proven record of working across the aisle.” ColoradoPols notes that the Camera has usually been too chicken to endorse candidates in primary battles, making this a biggie. It’s tough to find the editorial on the Camera‘s website today, but online readers will have no problem seeing a prominent Polis ad. The Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post endorsed Will Shafroth last month. So Long Mr. House Speaker State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is being forced out by term limits, and three Democrats and two Republicans are vying to take his seat for central Denver’s House District Six in the August 12 primary. On the Democratic side, two House staffers/community activists–Lois Court and Liz Adams–are duking it out in a three-way contest that is rounded out by entrepreneur Josh Hanfling, according to the Rocky Mountain News. A couple of Republicans also hope to take Democrat Romanoff’s old job–Rima Barakat Sinclair, a Palestinian-American who was branded as a “terrorist apologist” by his opponent Joshua Sharf, an Orthodox Jew and GOP blogger, whom Sinclair has called a “mudslinger.” Man Not Dead After All Ever since the Big Thompson flood ravaged the northern Front Range 32 years ago, Darrell Johnson has been considered among the 144 people who died. But it turns out Thompson is alive and well. He’s 63 now and living in Oklahoma, unaware until recently that he and five others were listed as missing and presumed dead on coroner’s paperwork, according to The Coloradoan of Fort Collins. “I had no idea I was on any list,” Johnson tells the newspaper in a telephone interview from his home in Oklahoma City. “I hadn’t given any thought to the flood until I got a call about it last year.” Johnson and his wife, Kathy, took their two young daughters on vacation to Estes Park in July 1976 when the deluge occurred. Rockies Beat Marlins; Rapids Lose to Everton If only the Rockies can keep it up. The team secured what The Denver Post calls a “grimy, if not gutsy” 3-2 win over the Florida Marlins on Sunday at Dolphin Stadium, hoping to close the gap on the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the Colorado Rapids soccer team lost 2-1 to England’s Everton in a friendly match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rocky Mountain News writes that Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard “showed why he is the top netminder for the U.S. national team…” The Cat Wins Senior Open Eduardo Romero, Argentina’s El Gato (The Cat), won the U.S. Senior Open at Colorado Springs’ Broadmoor golf course on Sunday. “It’s a real dream for me,” says Romero, who finished six shots under 274 tournament par, besting Fred Funk by four shots, according to The Denver Post. The tournament will be remembered by some for the black bear that lumbered onto the course, interrupting Tom Watson’s backswing and causing a general commotion. Cheapest Gallon of Gas ‘Round Here: $3.73, Safeway, 171 W. Mineral Ave. in Littleton (via www.gasbuddy.com). Weather Today: Hot and 97 high/63 low Weather Tomorrow: Cooler 84 high/61 low Enjoy what you’re reading? Starting August 18, Panorama will be available as an e-newsletter. Sign up now, and receive our Mile-High headlines each weekday morning via email. Send headline tips to michael@5280.com.