GOP Strategist Dick Wadhams joins Dan to discuss the state of the Colorado GOP

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
KRFX HD2 Denver. KHOW Denver.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is 630 KHOW.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Denver's talk station. And iHeartRadio station. Guaranteed human. Dan Kavlis.
Another better time to fight. Glad you're here. 303-713-8255. The
number D-A-N-5-7-7-3-9. And a guy who's been fighting for many, many,
many a moon. Make that decades. Dick Wadham's in studio.

(00:28):
With me today, a.k.a. Lightning Rod. That's a pretty cool nickname. Oh, yeah.
Lightning Rod. I like it. Yeah, I should get that
painted on the back of your car.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Lightning Rod. But no, Dick, if you're new to the
area or the planet, Dick has been involved at the
highest levels of politics for a very long time. And
he was the campaign manager for the last Republican governor
in Colorado. Only Republican governor in what? 55, 60 years?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
54 years.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh, man, that's hard to believe.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Oh, man.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
And then Dick also got Wayne Allard elected. Wayne had
something to do with that, but Dick ran that campaign.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, he was a great candidate.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
But I remember that campaign, and Tom Strickland, I think
it was, I thought was favored by many people to win.
Wayne Allard won, and then, of course, knocking off Tom Daschle,
ran John Thune's campaign, knocked off Tom Daschle. That was
a lot of fun. Fun when you win, right?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
But talk about big Ws. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And then, you know, we hear this all the time, Dick,
and it's probably a good place to start because some
people aiming at you individually and it's a bum rap
and an easy one to respond to. But I think
it's kind of a broader observation that some people have,
which is, yeah, but those were a long time ago.
You know, what have we won recently? And my response
to that always is, at least he won. At least

(01:48):
he won. You know, so... So, yeah, but we're going
to talk in the context starting with the AG's race
in Colorado. I think a winnable race. You'll tell me
whether you agree. We'll start in the context of that
to talk about where we're at in Colorado politics right
now and whether there is any real hope for the
GOP in this cycle and beyond, and we'll spread it

(02:11):
out nationally. We'll take calls, as always, 303-713-8255. Text DAN
57739 if you want to do it that way. So,
Your column, Gazette, tell us about this attorney general's race.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Well, it's the Democrats nominated Secretary of State Jenna Griswold.
She didn't get to over 50 percent. She had three opponents.
And two of them were really, in my opinion, were
much better than her. The Boulder district attorney and then
a former federal prosecutor. But she only got 45 percent

(02:46):
of the vote, Dan. And this is somebody who's been
in statewide office for eight years, and I think that
showed an underlying weakness of her even among Democrats. And,
in fact, I have a lot of Democratic friends who
just cannot stand her, and they're worried because if she
wins the office of Attorney General, there will be a

(03:06):
lot of career prosecutors or career lawyers, I should say,
who will probably resign and get out of there. And
her management of the Secretary of State's office does not
bode well for something as critical as the AG's race.
And so I think we do have an opportunity there.
And to keep going, I think Michael Allen is an

(03:30):
outstanding candidate. And if he can get some traction, I
think that that could be the upside of the campaign.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
And I want to talk to you about how doable
it is, because you know politics on an infinitely deeper
level than I do. on a surface level, just kind
of common sense, people voting their own self-interest, you would
think it's very doable. She seems to be probably the
most toxic slash incompetent slash dangerous candidate the Dems have

(04:03):
fielded in a long time. And again, the contrast with
Michael Allen, I mean, what slogan would you recommend for
his campaign? Because isn't it as simple as, your attorney
general should be a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, that's the other thing.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
I mean, I understand she has the piece of paper,
the license, but she doesn't function as a lawyer. She
hasn't been practicing as a lawyer, let alone a courtroom lawyer,
let alone a criminal prosecutor and public protector. Your attorney
general should be a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Eric Sonderman, who is a fellow columnist of mine, I
think put it best. He said that if she wins
this race, she will be able to get on-the-job training
as a lawyer for the first time in her life.
And I think that really says it all. Frankly, she
can be summed up in two words, incompetent and corrupt, Dan.

(04:55):
And I would say, I was thinking about this the
other day. I was thinking back, going back at least
50 years, and all the people who have been elected
to public office in Colorado statewide, governor, U.S. senator, treasurer,
secretary of state, attorney general, we have never seen anybody
like this before. incompetent and corrupt. That's what she is.

(05:16):
She has demonstrated it. She demonstrated it just in the
last week when those voting records were publicly released. And
two days later, she apologizes it happened. Well, guess what,
Secretary of State Griswold? If you spent more time running
your office and staying on top of things rather than

(05:37):
preening for your next MSNBC Now or whatever it's called,
appearance to it to trash Donald Trump, that would maybe,
maybe you could get something done in your office. No,
she really is incompetent and corrupt. And the recent exposure
of that came from Sean Boyd at Channel 4, which

(06:01):
was showing that she was literally covering up and possibly
even destroyed Public documents. We don't know. She was covering
it up. We don't know if they were destroyed, but
there's a lot of evidence.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, the judge has said the judge wants an answer. Yes.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
And tell people about that investigation that now she can't
find the report for.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, remember, she was elected in 2018. She defeated Wayne Williams,
who was a very probably one of the best secretaries
of state we've ever had in Colorado. But Wayne went
down in that 2018 midterm election because of the deep
unpopularity of Donald Trump, as did a whole slew of
Republicans in 2018. And she was not qualified to run

(06:50):
for Secretary of State, but she got the nomination. She
beat Wayne Williams. She immediately turned the office into chaos.
I mean, Wayne ran a very professional, effective office. He
had great people around him. And what happened with her is,
She immediately removed the professional staff that she did not
think were loyal enough to her. The office became a

(07:14):
revolving door of professionals coming in, getting on the outs
with her, and they're out the door. The office was
in such chaos, Dan, but by 2020, just two years
after she got elected, they hired an outside consulting firm,
Sage River Consulting, whatever that is, to evaluate what was

(07:34):
going on in the office and make recommendations for leadership
or something. I can't remember the exact title of the report.
That report was prepared by Sage River. Suzanne Taheri, who
is the Deputy Secretary of State under Wayne Williams, was
found in the public records that this $ 25, 000 payment to
Sage River for this report And she decided, well, I

(07:59):
think I'll get a copy of that report. It was
paid by taxpayers, and it should be a public document.
Secretary of State denied that they didn't have it. They
didn't know what happened to it. Then they blamed, oh,
Sage River's got it. And so Suzanne ended up having
to go to court to get the Secretary of State
to try to get the report from Sage River. Sage

(08:22):
River says, oh, we destroyed it. We don't have it. Now,
if that actually happened... who ordered it destroyed? I mean,
the whole thing, the whole thing is just, it's just
sort of, yeah, it just is. And that was just
in the last week or so. I mean, once again,
incompetence and corruption.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah. And what was it? 120, 130,000?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
25,000.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
But even if it were 2,000, I mean, it's still
a public document. In a state like Colorado, Is there
anything Griswold could do as a Democrat and a Democrat
nominee to lose?

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, listen, I think the preponderance of these things, if
Dan Allen had enough resources, I think he could make
a real run at this. Now, Dan, the environment in
Colorado is not good right now. I mean, Trump is
very unpopular, as has been in his entire presidency. And
I'll just say this as well. We have nominated a
very— you talk about a lightning rod for governor. Our nominee

(09:23):
for governor is not helping our candidates. Most of them
are shying away from him, Victor Marx, because of his
ridiculous comments he's made already in this campaign. But he's
the Republican nominee. So the atmosphere is not good for
any Republican. But I think that she is so onerous.
The record is so flawed. that if Michael Allen could

(09:47):
at least put together enough of a campaign to point
that out, he would have a shot. Now, it probably
would require independent expenditures because these limits are so low.
And I don't know if anything like that is being done.
but that's what he probably needs.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
And the reason I framed the question the way I
did was my own theory that, yes, he can win,
but only the Democrats can defeat Jenna Griswold.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's right. That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yes. And so that's my working theory. But the interesting
thing is, you know, as a former Democrat, you know,
I know plenty of Democrats. And I'm friendly with him.
And there are some really substantial people in the Democratic
Party who will not support her.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Right.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
They won't go public with their opposition, but they will
not support her. They're considering, you know, funding him. Yes.
I don't know if any of that's going to come
together or not. Right. But I sure hope so. And
he is really impressive.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Really is.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
And he would be a magnificent AG. He's been a
great DA. It really would be great.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, but this comes back to, hey, you need the
resources for people to see how impressive he is.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
303-713-8255, DAN-57739.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Hey, we'll talk this AG's race, which is a real
possibility for the GOP. It would need you. It would
need you convincing your neighbors, your friends, everybody thrown in
a few bucks. But we're going to talk about much
more as well in Colorado and beyond here on the
Dan Kaplan Show. 422 on this pretty afternoon. Glad you're

(11:17):
here while heading into probably the nicest month of the
year in a state blessed with a lot of great weather.
And if you're in our Colorado audience, you know what
I mean. Dick Wadham's in studio, which we always love.
Fount of wisdom and experience here. Nickname Lightning Rod. We'll
get to some of those texts for Lightning Rod today.
But I do want to put a bow on this

(11:38):
Attorney General race thing, come back to it a few
times during our conversation, because I mean it when I
say to the folks kind enough to join us now
that I think it's going to take everybody, you know,
just kind of having this on your radar, not the
center of your life, but just, you know, talking to
your friends and neighbors about it at high school football
games or barbecues or whatever, maybe given a couple of bucks,

(11:59):
but it's going to take, I think, that kind of
buzz and momentum from Michael Allen. Which, Dick, I don't
think happens unless people really believe there's a chance he
can win. So is it going to take a poll?
Is it going to take some major poll just saying, hey,
wait a second, this attorney general's race is up for grabs?
What's it going to take for this to kind of
get the buzz?

Speaker 2 (12:20):
That would be a very helpful occurrence if some entity
would come out with a poll that showed him within
striking distance. And by that, I would mean her under 50%.
with her negatives as bad as her low positives. And
so that would actually show that the race is winnable.

(12:43):
The other thing, Dan, there's got to be consternation among Democrats,
as you talked about, because she will destroy the AG's office.
That's what she did at the Secretary of State, and
it kind of got covered up by the fact, or obscured,
I should say, not covered up, but obscured by the
fact that all of the election administration in Colorado was

(13:06):
done essentially by the 64 county clerks. And with a
couple of exceptions, they are very strong and competent, both
Democrat and Republican. And so they actually kept the office
running efficiently. But the AG office, she is in control
of everything there. And that won't happen over there. And

(13:26):
if really solid, experienced lawyers are leaving that office... And
then she puts her, can you imagine the kind of
lawyer she would hire? I mean, I'm just throwing that
out there.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
And what she'd tell him to do.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
I mean, the potential for lawfare.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Which we really haven't had here. I understand it's very
polarized between Republicans and Democrats because the Democrats are so
whack and they've gone so far left. But we just
haven't had that kind of corruption.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
No, I agree.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
I mean, we've had moral corruption and this and that.
But in terms of a real threat that somebody is
going to, misuse that office for nakedly, you know, political lawfare?
We just haven't had that.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Well, she'll spend four or eight years, whatever it is,
doing nothing but running for governor. Or Senate, right? Or Senate.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
I think Michael Allen told us when he was in
studio that she had registered the domain.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
In fact, I heard just this past weekend from a
Democrat know us that that's what she will do if
she's elected attorney general. She will turn right around and
start her Senate campaign Because the presumption is that Bennett
will not run for re-election.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Right.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
But then she's going to run into Neguse and a
whole bunch of other people.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, let's talk about that for a second.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Let's talk about that because I would expect on both
sides this is going to be the most crowded Senate
race of our lifetimes.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Could be, yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Because Bennett, there's no way he goes for it again, right? No.
He knows he'd get knocked off by a socialist.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
How much would Hickenlooper have lost to Kurosawa if she'd
been in that Senate race? Oh.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Frankly, I think if Gonzalez had had another week, she
would have won.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Well, if Kyle Clark had given her a debate.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Well, that's true.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
She wanted to debate Hickenlooper and KUSA. And he was protected.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
He was protected.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
I think if she gets a debate against him, she wins.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah. I mean, he escaped by the skin of his teeth.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
So no way Bennett runs because he doesn't want to
go down that way. No. Yeah. So then who's in
on the Demp side?

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Well, Joe Neguse, for sure, I would have to assume.
I don't know about Pedersen. I think there's almost a
deference to Neguse right now in.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
The Democratic Party. I'll take that bet.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
You think she will run?

Speaker 1 (15:41):
For a U.S. Senate seat with the presumption, I think wrong,
but the presumption that whoever the Dem nominee is is
the next U.S. Senator?

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah. Well, that's true. That's true. I mean, they don't
come open very often like that. You're right about that.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
No. And especially, you know, if it's, say, one of
these You know, young, ambitious types who wins it, they're
going to plan to hold it until they're president. Yeah.
Because every senator, right, looks in the mirror and sees
a president.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
But she will run for sure. When I said governor,
you know, she spent eight years running for governor as
secretary of state. And then, of course, that got screwed
up when that happened. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah. But it's hard to imagine Griswold winning a competitive
Democrat primary for something like Senate. Because, you know, if
either Mike Doherty or the other challenger, if those, because
there were three of them, if they just got together
and said, hey, let's flip a coin, draw straws, it's
going to be one of us against Griswold, they might
have beat her.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
I think Doherty and frankly, Doshi, I think both would
have won that race.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
And can you imagine, can you imagine how Griswold's stock
plummets if she's running for Senate two years after becoming
Attorney General?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
I mean, it's so unseemly, but that's what she is.
I mean, Yeah, running for something as critical as attorney
general and immediately launches into the next campaign. I mean,
it's just— You know, if Michael.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Allen can get the money, the thing I think will
really cut through the noise is, well, first, she's not
a practicing lawyer. But second, lying about arguing to the U.S.
Supreme Court. I think that's the kind of thing that
cuts through the chatter. Wait a second. You're not supposed
to lie. Certainly, if you want to be our attorney general,

(17:23):
you're not supposed to lie. And who would be dumb
enough or reckless enough or arrogant enough to lie about
something like arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court?

Speaker 2 (17:34):
You know, Dan, I had a Democratic lawyer say that
to me, that that still just rankles lawyers. And it should,
because the question I have was she is she just not.
Did she not know what she was saying? Or did
she think she could get away with it? I mean, honestly,
I don't know which one it is.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
I mean, if you're a Democrat in this state, do
you think you can get away with anything? Because who's
going to call you on it in the media in
a sustained way?

Speaker 2 (18:02):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
I understand there was a one-day report from Kyle Clark.
If that had been a Republican who had done that,
it would have been lead story every day for a year.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
I agree. Until that Republican— But I'm not sure that
she knew that that was a false statement. I'm really not.
I just don't think she has any grasp at all
of being a lawyer or the legal profession. I just don't.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
You're right. That's the best argument of all of them
against her being an attorney general.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Dick, if you'd gone to a day of law school,
you'd have to know that was a false statement.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
I'm not a lawyer.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
In my constitutionally protected.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
And when I heard her say that, I thought, she
did not... argue in.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Front of the Supreme Court. Dick Wadhams in studio, and
we'll talk about a very sad death of a conservative activist.
You know, I really look forward to these conversations with
Dick Wadhams. We've been doing it for so many years
on Air Now, Dick, and we've seen so much come
and go in Colorado politics, and, you know, from those
kind of salad days for the GOP, and I think

(19:03):
I was a Democrat when those started, and then... you know,
GOP kind of bottoming out. I hope it's back on
the rise right now. But before we go any further,
you know, one of those people who's really the heart
and soul of the party, you know, the people who
do the real work in the trenches and are respected
by all, Lynn Cottrell. I couldn't believe it today when

(19:25):
Pete Boyles texted me and told me she'd passed away.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, I mean, Lynn was, you know, when I think
back all the years I've been involved in this business
and all the people I've crossed paths with and, and,
and worked with, uh, Lynn and, and, and her, uh,
surviving husband, Bo, they did so much for the Republican party.
I mean, Bo's not in very good health right now.

(19:49):
But Lynn did not only for the Republican Party, but
the TAPS program, the Tragedy Assistance Program for the Survivors,
for the kids whose parents died in combat or in
the military. And she just was delightful. She was a
lot of fun. She was smart. She, I mean, frankly,

(20:11):
she devoted herself to so many things. I don't know
how she found the time, but boy, we are sure
going to miss her.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Oh man. And I just saw her at the Douglas
County Republican breakfast a couple of months ago. It seems
like a couple of months ago and she looked great
and sounded great, man. Wow. What a loss. First time
I met her, it was, I'm trying to remember the
year now, maybe 2008. I'd been a Democrat and then
had become a Republican and then There were some folks

(20:38):
talking about me running for Senate and somebody did an
article on it. And they quoted a woman named Lynn
Cottrell is saying, I've never heard of him. You know,
I thought he was a Democrat. And so that's how
I got to know her. You know, I just found
her and said, hey, let's go to lunch or something.
But just one of the coolest people I've ever met. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
And she and Bo, they both had served as the
Arapahoe County Republican chair.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
I mean, you could just go on and on with
all the things she she was into and candidates relied
on her. But she was a mainstay, not just Arapahoe County,
but just the party statewide.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, just so classy and elegant.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
A happy warrior. And, of course, Bo before, you know,
Bo became Al. Yeah, just forces of nature.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah. They had a legendary restaurant in Denver back years
ago in the 60s that was She and Bo. It
was called the Taylor's Supper Club, as I recall. I
think I'm right about that.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
But so they did a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Well, it's probably a good segue into who are the
up and comers, right? Because I believe, and you'll tell
me if you think it's pie in the sky, but
I believe we're heading into a time of opportunity for
the GOP in Colorado with the Dems, you know, becoming
more and more openly socialist.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
And kind of this perfect storm of Malat Keros, who
literally wants the state of Israel abolished, open socialist. Jenna Griswold,
who anybody honest knows is incompetent and and is going
to do awful things with that office. And so if
this is a moment of opportunity, how is the GOP positioned?

(22:18):
How is the bench? What is the future looking like?

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Well, the good news is this last election, Dan, we
elected three new very solid Republican members of Congress. I mean,
you start with Gabe Evans in the congressional district. I mean,
what a great background, law enforcement, military. Gabe is in
the fight of his life right now because that district
is so competitive. I think he's going to win. That

(22:43):
Democratic nominee hates agriculture, hates oil and gas. And if
you hate agriculture and oil and gas, you're kind of
hating the 8th Congressional District. And that's what Manny Rutanel,
his name is. He now claims to like beef, which
I don't believe.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, did the taco truck appearance.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh, did the taco thing. Yeah, isn't that nice?

Speaker 1 (23:01):
To show he's a meat eater.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
You don't change spots.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Did he throw up after?

Speaker 2 (23:06):
I don't know. We don't know that.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
But doesn't—he must really think he's in trouble because he
did not pursue the endorsement of the big abortion, pro-abortion.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Group, COBOL.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
No, he didn't.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
He didn't. And the other thing is he refuses to debate—
He refused the Colorado Sun debate. So he's a– Gabe
is a great debater.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
He is.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
And he's very smart on the issues. And it's interesting
Rutanel would not do that. And then we've got Jeff
Hurd in the third congressional district. And, boy, what a
great congressman he has already proved himself to be. He's
being challenged by a well-funded Democrat, but he's going to
hold on to that, Jeff Hurd. And then Jeff Crank,
who I've been a fan of and a friend of

(23:49):
for decades. going back a long time, as you have.
Jeff is really an outstanding congressman. The 5th District, though, Dan,
is changing.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
It's changing.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
El Paso County, which is essentially what it is. And
there's a very well-funded retired military candidate, a woman running
against Jeff. I think Jeff Crank will win that seat.
But those three new members of Congress really, I think,
really exemplify the future in this party. And then we've

(24:18):
got some great legislators. Jarvis Caldwell, the young minority leader
in the House. Ty Winter, who's the assistant minority leader
from Trinidad, who's just a great guy. There's a whole
bunch of legislators who are really establishing themselves. So the future,

(24:39):
I think, looks good in terms of the people who
are coming up. I really do.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
And one thing that's so impressive to me is all
those impressive folks you just mentioned. They have all come
to the forefront during probably the lowest point for the GOP. Yes.
Imagine when the GOP brand starts to improve.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
You know, you get a breakthrough statewide winner.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
You're going to attract more and more of that talent.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
No doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
And we're talking about Congress. We're talking about Congress. I
know they're throwing a billion bucks at Lauren Boebert.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
And they're throwing another.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
No, not going to take her out.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Not going to happen.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
No.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Good to hear.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
But I mean... Lauren Bober is very popular in that district,
and it's the most Republican district in the state. And
the Democrats, I think, are fooling themselves if they think
the fourth city is going to elect somebody other than her.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
So it's just like Roadrunner and Wile E.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Coyote.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
They just keep pouring money into trying to beat Lauren Bober.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
I mean, I could build a case where it is
plausible to make a real run at Jeff Crank because
of the nature of the district has changed. And the
third district has never been, Dan– as Republican, as some
people think it's elected, but democratic members of Congress in
the past. And so, uh, but Jeff heard is really
perfect for that district and he's proved it.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah. What about six or seven? Is there any hope
there in the future for GOP or is it just
the way it's stacked right now? Because it seems like,
I mean, I don't know who Jason Crow thinks he's impressing,
but it can't be that many people.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Poor, poor Jason Crow. He's, he, uh, he always is
living in the shadow of his colleagues, uh, Brittany Pedersen
and Jonah goose. And, uh, you never hear his name
for statewide office or an appointment to something. But he's
got a very safe district. The 6th District is very,
very solid, as is the 7th District. And that's unfortunate,

(26:24):
but it's the truth.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
So it's just hard. It's just hard. 303-713-8255, DAN 57739. Hey,
Dick Wadhams in studio talking all things politics today. We
started with the AG's race in Colorado, a real chance
there for A GOP breakthrough. My premise, it'll take Democrats
to defeat Jenna Griswold, but there may be enough who

(26:45):
want to. You know, maybe you get some flippers. You
don't need that many flippers to change the math, but
hopefully a whole bunch who at least stay home or
don't give money.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
You know, Dan, the guy who I think down deep
is worried about her being attorney general is the guy
who is right now the frontrunner for governor on the
Democratic side, potential Governor Phil Weiser. Because he knows she's incompetent.
He knows she's corrupt. He knows she's going to turn
that office into a chaotic mess. And he's got to

(27:15):
be thinking, oh, my Lord, here I am potentially going
to be inaugurated in January and her as AG. And
immediately I'm going to have to spend time looking over
at the AG's office and the mess that's becoming. He's
got to be thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Oh, sure, because with someone like Griswold, you're talking about
a total loose cannon.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Does she try to take him out?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
You know, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Because that's a problem, right? When people talk about Trump
and his AG nominations and this and that, what I
always say is, wait a second, when it comes to
Donald Trump, who in my view was the victim of
a coup attempt.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know, at that point, listen, I don't blame him
for wanting somebody completely loyal as AG. Yeah. I mean, now,
because AG is in that unique position.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
To be able to wrongly take down. Right. Wrongly take
down a governor, wrongly take down a president. And so
if you're Phil Weiser, you're thinking, she may come after me. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah. That Russiagate thing on Trump was just absurd. Yeah.
It really was.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
No doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see if, I don't
know if any Democrats prominent will actually come out against her.
But will some start? Funding Allen? You know, will there
just be this quiet movement? And I know so many people,
and not just our Jewish brothers and sisters who are Democrats,
but so many people who care about the state of

(28:39):
Israel and the treatment of Jews, you know, very concerned
about Malat Kiros and about that whole, you know, socialist
movement in the Democratic Party.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
At what point does that actually start to undermine their
support at the polls? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah, no, I think they've got a dilemma on their hands.
And I think there's a lot of hand-wringing going on. Now,
whether that will translate into actual hands-on opposition to her,
I don't know. But there's a lot of hand-wringing.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
We'll come back. We'll continue to talk Colorado politics with Dick,
and then we'll take a look at the midterms as well.
Kevin Sabet will be with us at 5.06, big national
figure in the anti-marijuana movement. And talking about a new
feature film that's coming out. It's going to be screened
in Denver. I hope you get a chance to go
see it because I do believe the day will come
when the people of the state across party lines rise

(29:26):
up and say, it ain't worth it. This whole legalization thing,
it ain't worth it. Way too much damage to the
kids and the state. You're on the Dan Kaplan Show. 452,
glad you're here. Dick Wadham's in studio with us. We're
going to be doing a lot of this as we
head toward Election Day. Kevin Sabat with us, Smart Approaches

(29:48):
to Marijuana at 506. Major feature film coming out on this,
and it's going to be screened in Denver, so we'll
let you know where that's going to be. Dick, let's
go to the phone lines. Go up to beautiful Fort Collins. Colorado,
where they've got to be excited about their football season.
Jim Mora, head coach.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Jim Mora.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I think one of the best in the country. Don,
you're on the Dan Kaplan Show.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Welcome. Hey, Dan. Yeah, I'm not really into football too much.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
You're getting into football. I'm so excited for Buffs this year. Yeah.
I think they're going to go into Georgia. Shannon's going
with the Buffs to Georgia. They're going to win.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
I still follow the Vikings, so that tells you something.
But anyway, no, I'm hearing you two guys talk. And
I'm like hearing two different conversations. One, Dick is saying
that Trump's, you know, ratings are in the toilet. OK,
you're saying you're optimistic about winning in Colorado. Isn't that

(30:39):
a bit of a contradiction, don't you think?

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I don't think so, my friend. Dick will give you
his take. But here's what I'm saying. I'm saying that
take the attorney general's race. Special set of circumstances there.
My premise, only Democrats can defeat Griswold, but enough of
them might want to help us do that. And then
beyond that, you know, if Dick's right about the Trump
effect in Colorado, and I don't think there's any question
that the president's not popular here, you know, well, then

(31:05):
hopefully that effect starts to wear off after we get
through this 26 cycle.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
You mean, in other words, what, you think people are
going to just go ahead and vote even though they
don't like Trump?

Speaker 1 (31:20):
Well, what I'm saying is— Conservatives are going.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
To turn out for conservative candidates even though they don't
like Trump.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Oh, yeah, conservative— well, wait a second. First, I think most
conservatives really like Trump, as I do. Second, I think
the challenge— We've got higher ratings.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Than Abraham Lincoln. I saw that on CNN.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Fox, maybe. But the other thing is, I believe, when
it comes to something like the attorney general's race— you're
going to get more people just thinking about their own self-interest,
and they want an attorney general who's actually an attorney. But, Dick,
what's your take on Don's question?

Speaker 2 (31:56):
No, Dan, you're right. I think you have to separate
the AG's race from the rest of the races on
the ballot. I think Republicans overall are running in a
tough environment, and I don't think anybody can deny that.
But the AG's race is a situation where they have
nominated the most corrupt, incompetent person they could find in

(32:17):
the Democratic Party who says she's a lawyer, but there's
no indication other than a law degree she's got in
her hand that she is one. Practicing. She's got a license. Exactly.
So I think that's what we're saying. Yes, it's a
tough environment for Republicans, but in this particular case, the
Democrats have so nominated somebody who's out of the mainstream

(32:41):
in terms of so much that That it could happen.
I don't think that's a contradiction at all.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Let me just throw one other thing out there to
you fellas. Okay, so last week I was listening to
Ryan talk about his desire to vote for Greg Lopez.
And that's cool. I understand his point. However, I had
two words for that. Ross Perot.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
I appreciate the call, my friend.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
We all know an unaffiliated is not going to be
elected governor of Colorado short of the good Lord coming down.
That's just the way it works.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
And that's why hopefully Greg, he always comes on when
we ask, we'll get him on the show sometime this week.
Cause I, I still need to understand cause I like
Greg a lot and, and he got a ton of
votes as a Republican. Didn't he get like 300,000 votes in,
in that last midterm? when he and Heidi squared off in.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
That GOP primary. He ran very strong.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Yeah, so I don't understand how Greg's candidacy, and I
know many of the folks who listen to this show
are going to vote for Greg, but I don't understand
how his candidacy does anything other than help the Democrats.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I don't know that it helps the Democrats, Dan. I
just think it's, I don't think, I don't think he
will affect any other race other than the governor's race.
We're not going to win the governor's race with Victor Marx.
I don't think Greg really hurts anything by being out there.
In fact, I think he's a safe harbor for Republicans
who cannot stomach the thought of voting for Victor Marx.
By the way, I'm one of them.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
So you're thinking then that maybe Greg helps GOP candidates
by keeping them in the game?

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Actually, I believe that, yes.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
We've got another minute. We'll try to get Troy in
from Falcon. You're on the Dan Kaplan Show with Dick Wadhams. Welcome. Hey, Dan.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Hey, Dick. Hi there. I'm glad that you and me
are in the same boat because— I've been arguing with
Dan for weeks now about Greg Lopez, but I don't
want to talk about Greg Lopez. I want to talk.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
About we need to get Michael Allen over the line.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
He will save the state.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Jim? Hey, Troy, that'll have to be the last word.
My apologies. We're just up against the top of the hour.
Michael Allen, what... will it take from the people listening
right now for Michael Allen to have a chance? Yeah, Dick, what?

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Oh, I thought you were talking to him.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Oh, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
I had to put try and hold because we're up
against the end of the hour.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Dan, you're right. It will take Democrats to finally decide
we can't do this to ourselves by electing an incompetent,
corrupt person attorney general and that they start moving away
from her and actually doing things to support Michael Allen.
I don't know if that will happen or not.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
But it's also going to take, I think, great full-throated
unity from the GOP. That has to be the starting point.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
And actually, I think there is that. I don't know
of anybody who doesn't support Michael.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Allen on our side. That is the key. And then
we need a major, respected, honest poll to come out
and show he's in the game.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
I think that's right.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
And I believe him. If somebody would fund a major respected,
honest poll, I think it would show he's in the game.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
I do, too.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Hey, appreciate the time.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thank you for that, Dick Wadhams, our special guest. Kevin
Sabat with us after the break. Head of Smart Approaches
to Marijuana. You're on the Dan Kaplan Show.