Mark Udall and Hillary Clinton Take Donations From Known Felon

First reported at ToTheRight.

This morning’s New York Times has reported Hillary Clinton will take nearly $25,000 of the felon-fugitive/Democratic-uberfundraiser Norman Hsu’s various campaign contributions and unload them on unnamed charities.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Hsugate doesn’t end with Clinton, because she isn’t the only candidate who benifted from his corrupt cash: Our very own U.S. Senate wannabe, Mark “Screwball” Udall, D-People’s Republic of Boulder, had no problem accepting $1,000 of it on June 25 of this year. And just like with the Abramoff scandal, the dirty-money flow doesn’t stop there.

Udall has received $5,000 from the PAC For A Change, the Barbara Boxer-led liberal leadership PAC, which itself took $2,000 from Hsu. Udall got $10,000 from the Searchlight Leadership Fund, the Harry Reid-steered PAC, which Hsu and his front donors gave a total of $3,000. Worst of all, Udall accepted about $40,000 from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees, which received a whopping total of $82,333 from Hsu and his cohorts.

So, will Udall and his supporters continue to attack Republican U.S. Senate canididate Bob Schaffer for accepting legal donations, or will they clean up their own homes before they worry about someone else’s? We suspect Udall won’t be calling Merry Maids anytime soon.

Breaking: Udall will donate the $1000 donation to the Colorado National Guard Fund.

Was Dan Caplis Serious About Senate '08?

Speculation has arose about the motives behind radio personality Dan Caplis running for Senate. Did he ever intend to get in or was this all a publicity stunt for his radio show?

Short answer: Yes, at one time.

Long and boring answer: Caplis was absolutely going to make a run for Senate when the GOP environment had McInnis being the front runner and rumors were afloat that Bob Schaffer would not run after all. Caplis felt that the GOP needed a stronger conservative to run than Scooter and that he was the conservative to do so. Now that McInnis has bowed out, so has the motivation behind Caplis running for the seat. If Mr. Caplis really thought he could beat a veteran like McInnis, that I am not sure of, but he definately would have moved things to the right if he faced Scott in a primary.

At this point I have no clue if Dan is still talking about running for the seat, I don't listen to his show. If he is talking about running, that talk will stop if and when Bob Schaffer announces he is in. In the meantime I say keep the talk up, you might get a northern plains guy like myself to start tuning in.

Run Bob, Run

From The Hill:

Former Sen. Bill Armstrong, a Colorado GOP giant who signaled in recent days that he would support Schaffer, said McInnis’s exit would open the door to Schaffer’s best chance at the Senate.

Armstrong’s support is paramount in the state.

“My expectation is that Bob Schaffer will be the nominee and should be the nominee and would have the greatest chance as a Republican to win,” Armstrong said. “This is Bob’s turn; it’s his time.”

Suthers Running For Senate Is A Good Thing

Has the Colorado Conservative Project gone off the deep end in promoting AG John Suthers running for Senate? No, not quite, though we feel it is good that he is talking about running. Let us explain.

The current political environment of the Republican nominee is as follows. Scott McInnis has dropped out. Bob Schaffer has not announced he is running though those close to him think his announcement is coming before summer.

These two former Congressmen are Colorado’s best shot at winning the seat being vacated by Conservative hero Wayne Allard. However now that Scott McInnis has dropped out of the race while Bob Schaffer had not yet announced he is running, the potential for an unknown self funder entering the fray arises.

This is a problem in that the self funder might not go away when a legitimate contender for the Republican nominee announces their candidacy. A Republican cannot win the Senate seat with a divisive primary and Republicans will not see a Senate primary with the current cast of politicos jockeying for the job, however an unknown self funder might not play by those rules and drastically hurt our chances of retaining the seat by engaging in a primary.

By having legitimate politicos such as John Suthers and Dan Caplis talking about running for Senate the chances of an unknown jumping in dramatically decrease as the unknown already knows others are thinking about going to the dance. Take those guys out though and the unknown potentially thinks he is the only R in the room and starts a campaign which he may not want to stop once the wheels are in motion.

Both Suthers and Caplis are principled enough to withdraw their names if Schaffer jumps in. And while we would surely not enjoy seeing Governor Ritter turn over the Attorney General position to Democrat control, John Suthers would be Colorado’s best choice for Republican nominee if Schaffer decides not to run.

So keep up the talk Mr. Suthers and help Colorado Republicans avoid a primary.

It's Official

McInnis is out. More to come later.

McInnis & Shaffer

The Political Pale Horse has an interesting side by side comparison on our two potential Senate nominees. Click here for the story.

Wednesday's Warrior: Bob Schaffer

For those who have met this week's Wednesday's Warrior, you know that there are few in Colorado politics as well spoken or intelligent than former Congressman Bob Schaffer.

At this past Saturday's GOP State Central Committee Meeting (CentComm) Schaffer gave one of the best political speeches I have heard in many cycles. It has been rumored that Schaffer might run for Senator Wayne Allard's soon to be vacated senate seat. Scott McInnis [hardly a conservative], who has already announced his campaign for the senate, spoke before Schaffer, calling on Republicans to unite and avoid a primary.

In his comments, Schaffer laid down the law both for Republicans and Democrats. He drew clear distinction between true Republican ideals and the "goofy" ideas of the Democrats. Schaffer called upon the Republican party to return to its true ideals, and brought the crowd to its feet with his admonishment of the liberals running our state's government.

Schaffer is a well spoken mainstream conservative, who has done extensive work in education, which is an issue that Republicans have serious electoral problems with.

For his stellar performance at the State CentComm meeting, the Editorial staff of the Colorado Conservative Project name Bob Schaffer as Wednesday's Warrior.

Classic Schaffer: smacking down Jesse Jackson on Crossfire.

Read Schaffer's full bio here.