STATE BILL COLORADO

The subject is the state of investigative journalism. Jon Caldara’s guests are The Denver Post’s Chuck Plunkett and the Independence Institute’s Todd Shepherd.

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Watch the full episode. See more Colorado Inside Out.

Source: KBDI

Guests: Calhoun, Kopel, Silverman, Sealover. Topics: Big Air, Obama State of the Union, Scott Gessler moonlighting, legislative budget wrangle, civility.

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9News’ Adam Schrager: Colorado lawmakers will once again debate this year whether to give in-state tuition to undocumented students. A measure will be introduced later this month by Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) and Sen. Michael Johnston (D-Denver). Legislative records indicate this will be the eighth time in the last decade that lawmakers address the issue.

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By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS

Despite heavy media coverage, one political pundit doesn’t think Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck’s saying that being gay is partially a choice, like being an alcoholic, will have a significant impact on the election.

However, Colorado gay rights groups continued to hammer on Buck for saying on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” that being gay is partially a choice and “birth has an influence, like alcoholism and some other things.”

Aaron Harber, a political pundit and columnist for the Denver Daily News, doesn’t think Buck’s comment on gays will significantly hurt him on Election Day because most gay rights groups likely weren’t backing him to begin with. However, Harber doesn’t think the comment will help Buck, either.

“This likely is not a major issue but Buck’s appearing to be confused on the issue may have hurt him more than the issue itself,” he said. “He would have been smarter to say ‘I don’t know,’ if that truly were the case.’”

Meanwhile, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (The Center) yesterday sent out a press release saying that Buck’s comments don’t reflect the views of the majority of Coloradans.

“It is unfortunate that an individual seeking an elected position that would represent the people of Colorado would choose to say such things, a nervous mistake or not,” said a statement from Carlos Martinez, executive director of The Center  “What is clear is that such comments are not reflective of the truly inclusive nature of this state.”

Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, one of four openly gay or lesbian Colorado state legislators, added that “it is frightening that such dangerous and blatantly incorrect rhetoric is coming from a candidate so detached from the majority of Coloradans.”

Bennet battered, too

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Buck’s opponent in the general election, also took some hits during “Meet the Press.” Bennet was asked during the TV news show about the stimulus package and health care reform, two controversial measures that he voted for.

The fact that President Barack Obama and Democrats have not highlighted key principles in health care reform with which most Americans agree — elimination of denial of coverage, wider coverage, lifting lifetime coverage caps etc — while leaving themselves open to attacks for the legislation’s failures — such as insufficient medical cost controls, no caps on health insurance premium increases, forced policy-buying, etc. — spells trouble for the appointed senator, according to Harber.

“It is likely Bennet’s vote will be characterized by his opponents in Colorado as the vote which got the health care bill approved,” he said. “Of course, that could be said about each senator who voted for the legislation.”

Poll

A Rasmussen Reports poll released Sunday showed that the race between Buck and Bennet is now a virtual tie. The poll of likely Colorado voters shows Buck with 47 percent support to Bennet’s 45 percent, with 4 percent preferring another candidate and another 4 percent undecided. The race has been closely watched throughout the country and has brought in the second highest amount of outside spending, according to The Sunlight Foundation, a campaign finance watchdog agency.

“People already are voting because mail ballots were received beginning October 14th so the key will be who can do the best job of turning out his supporters,” said Harber. “ In 2008, Colorado Democrats did a far superior job than Republicans and surprisingly won races across the state.  In 2010, Republicans have the edge in enthusiasm.  If the Buck campaign and the Republican Party can do a better Get-Out-The-Vote effort, Buck will win the race.”

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Online analytics giant ComScore has launched a service with Information Resources Inc. (IRI) that measures the effectiveness of online ad campaigns on bricks-and-mortal retail “consumer packaged goods” sales, DM News reports. IRI’s Consumer Network platform measures retail sales, while ComScore tracks which of those consumers who bought a particular product were exposed to a certain ad campaign online.

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Yelp may be playing chicken with one of the Internet’s biggest players. Last week, Google was said to be close to buying the popular review site for $550 million, but Yelp’s chief backed out, the New York Post reports. In the last year, Yelp has doubled its audience and draws nearly 9 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore.

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Have you ever wondered where the readers of The New York Times’s Web site come from, and what kind of devices they use to read its content? The two videos here show the traffic to NYTimes.com on June 25, 2009, the day Michael Jackson died. The 24-hour period is compressed into a little over a minute and a half.

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STATE BILL COLORADO
‘Independent Thinking’ and host Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute, discusses the Regional Transportation District with Chuck Plunkett of The Denver Post and Kathleen Osher from the Transit Alliance, a regional transit coalition. This video is presented in three parts.

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STATE BILL COLORADO
‘Colorado Inside Out’ on KBDI-TV examines Sen. Dave Schultheis controversial “let’s roll” Tweet, and Josh Penry’s decision to exit the governor’s race.
The host is Raj Chohan. Guests are columnist David Sirota, the Independence Institute’s Dave Kopel, the Denver Post’s Dan Haley and WesternCitizen.com’s Wendy Norris.

Click here to watch this program.

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STATE BILL COLORADO
‘Your Show’ on 9News features Gov. Bill Ritter answering your questions on a variety of topics. The host is Adam Schrager.
Among other things, Ritter discussed the loss of 200 or so Frontier Airlines maintenance jobs to Milwaukee, Wis., his plan to create jobs, his support for an increase in car registration fees to fix the state’s 128 structurally deficient bridges as well as state worker furloughs, his decision to give money back to the state even though he cannot be furloughed, and early parole for some offenders as a way to save money.

Click here to watch Part 1 of this program
Click here to watch Part 2 of this program

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