dirt

Denver's election day is only a week away, and I am skipping a vote this time. I think it's the first city election I will have missed since I was bedridden and unable to vote for Tom Currigan in 1963.
It's not that I have no nterest this time. For a dogged follower of politics for many years, the mayoral contest between Chris Romer and Michael Hancock has been stirring.
No, that's not it, and I'm embarrassed to admit what is, but the simple reason is that I probably threw my absentee ballot away. That would have been what my family calls one of my senior moments.
The daily mail brings to me a blizzard of bills, business offers, unsought personal advice, neighborhood fliers, political beggary and even worse. I figure I might have accidentally bundled up my ballot envelope with something like applications for a new credit card, a bulky (and unread) missive from my old journalism school and a dozen other things.
So anyway, I'm not voting. And, ironically, it may be for the best.
If I had rescued my ballot from the mail and voted it when it came, I'd probably have voted for Romer, as I had done in the preliminary May election.
If I voted today I'd vote for Hancock, who is almost surely going to win anyway.
Chris's amply financed campaign, which started so nicely, has not only turned negative. It has become sharply personal and rancorous. He has crossed a line.
I got a Romer flier on my front porch today. Among other things it accuses Hancock of "betraying the voters' trust." It says, "Voters can't trust Michael Hancock to do what's right."
Well, that's wrong, and it's unfair. I doubt even Chris Romer's parents believe it.

newtie

Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin has reminded us of some politically pertinent observations made in the past by presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
For instance, Newt once charged that the Obama administration "represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did."
Or: "The reality is that this country is in greater danger than at any time since 1939."
Or: Newt's race-tinged comment that we can understand Obama only if we understand "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior."
Seems to me such thoughts must have come either from a fool or a reckless, truth-be-damned political opportunist.
Newt is no fool.

blooper

On the morning after the first round of Denver's mayoral race, the campaign of leader Chris Romer revealed some strategy for the June runoff.
According to Wednesday's Post, the campaign will focus on Romer's business experience and his work with the nation's largest banks, crafting complex bond deals. Mention was made of deals worth more than $10 billion.
Well, that experience could indeed be of great value in these tough financial times, but that political strategy could cost him the runoff election.
The three-way, first-round finish was very tight. Romer's edge over the fast-closing Michael Hancock was slim. And the only way Romer can win the runoff is basically to get out on the street and win over as many of James Mejia's third-place voters as Hancock.
I don't think a campaign focused on financial expertise will do that.
Romer already has in his pocket the Denverites whose votes are swayed by banking and bond issues. What he needs are the votes of Denverites who are concerned about getting and keeping good steady jobs, getting equal and open access to city services, having safe streets and neighborhoods and, in particular, getting fair treatment from Denver police.
He's got Seventeen Street and Montview Boulevard. He needs to score in near east Denver and the west side. Or else.

celebrate

Bin Laden was indeed a monster.

When such a monster is slain, a man may properly celebrate, perhaps by thanking his god, but not by dancing in the street.

C