Colorado Recall Election - Decent Reuters Article

[JasonB]

Not a peep in the news. You would think they would at least run a story about how the NRA killed a bunch of babies to set up the recall.

 

[Robert]

This. We only need to pick up two seats in the MD Senate to sustain a filibuster. We don't need to win the whole state. We had those two seats, but two senators stabbed us in the back - voting against SB-281 but voting to end the filibuster ... like they think we're stupid or something. Like CO did tonight, if we can flip only two seats in 2014, we can stop future bad 281s.

Don't you see that it's not enough to stop them from doing what they want when they want? Didn't the fact that 281 even came up at all, let alone passed, not tell you enough that merely delaying the other side cannot extinguish the threat? It must be ERADICATED, as in NOT coming back another time, and its progress WIPED from the law books. If you're not doing that, you're losing. If you're not setting your sights on that, you're preparing to fail. Don't set the bar so low as no additional 281's, but repeal that one, then work towards wiping out the previous ones. Make the other side have to defend everything, not ours.

Yellowfin is exactly right. 2 will not be nearly enough. IMHO, no less then 14 in my book (both houses) and in key districts.

EDIT: I say this because 2014 is our best chance of making this happen. I don't believe we are likely to have a better chance (right now the iron is hot) then now.

 

[Hopalong]

Looks like it's finally trickling its way into the mainstream media. I've seen stories on websites for Fox News and CNN.

 

[JasonB]

The MSM will blame the NRA for doing "what the people don't want" even though Bloomberg spent millions.

 

[EL1227]

NSSF Press Release

NSSF Issues Statement on Successful Recalls of Colorado State Senate President Morse & Sen. Giron

When legislators fail to represent the beliefs of their constituents, it is up to the voters to fire them. And this is exactly what happened Tuesday in the Colorado Springs district of John Morse and the Pueblo district of Angela Giron. Sens. Morse and Giron chose to forget about their constituents. Instead, Sen. Morse led the hasty effort that led to the passage of a series of highly restricted gun control laws that will do nothing to improve public safety but that did reflect the wishes of national anti-gun organizations, including the one led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sen. Giron was a key vote in this ill-considered effort.

And, as NSSF members, I am sure that MagPul and HiViz's decisions to leave CO became a major aw'chit for Morse and Giron. Maybe the same fate will befall Miller for his comments regarding Beretta.

Lest we forget ... The VERY last line ...
Mike Miller: “If I can vote for [SB281] with Beretta in my district, anybody can vote for it.”

 

[ChrisD]

Yellowfin is exactly right. 2 will not be nearly enough. IMHO, no less then 14 in my book (both houses) and in key districts.

EDIT: I say this because 2014 is our best chance of making this happen. I don't believe we are likely to have a better chance (right now the iron is hot) then now.

There are also a few senators that stood with us that are not returning Jacobs, & Stone (I think he is retiring). Those seats must be held 2A friendly also.

 

[Traveler]

But But But

All the money the antis would spend to defeat the referendum would guarantee it would fail. SMH

Just ask these two what the money did for them

Check your US map Vern. We are NOT in Colorado.

 

[Traveler]

Pro-gun control Democrats ousted in Colorado recall

Love that CNN title, trying to confuse with the hyphen in the wrong place.

 

[Recoil45]

Great news!

 

[MDFF2008]

But But But

All the money the antis would spend to defeat the referendum would guarantee it would fail. SMH

Just ask these two what the money did for them

Notice they didn't recall Hickenlooper or attempt anything state wide. They focused on two vulnerable senators. This allowed them better span of control over their resources.

 

[Recoil45]

Agreed, They picked a battle they knew they had a good chance at winning and they prevailed.

 

[ChrisD]

Agreed, They picked a battle they knew they had a good chance at winning and they prevailed.

Win the war one battle at a time.

 

[aray]

And that's a lesson for us as well. I don't mean to be a wet blanket, this is a day for celebrating liberty and democracy, however it is instructive to point out that Morse only lost by 0.9% - a mere 343 votes stood in the way between recall & retention (9,094 to 8,751).

Don't underestimate the difficulty of pulling this off. The President of the Senate (Mike Miller in our case) is a very powerful individual, who can grant or deny favors, and raise lots of cash. Just changing your party affiliation alone isn't going to get the job done. Candidates need to be identified, groomed, funded, a ground game of knocking on doors, phone banks, signs, ads, town hall meetings, various educational outreach, - this is a professional campaign we're talking about here.

We can do this. Colorado did it, and so can Maryland. But we're going to have to amp up our game, not underestimate our opponents, be passionate, but also be very smart.

 

[frogman68]

Notice they didn't recall Hickenlooper or attempt anything state wide. They focused on two vulnerable senators. This allowed them better span of control over their resources.

Agreed, They picked a battle they knew they had a good chance at winning and they prevailed.

so I take it you have a defeatist attitude. in CO this was the first successful recall . I had more hope in the referendum than in the courts

 

[MDFF2008]

so I take it you have a defeatist attitude. in CO this was the first successful recall . I had more hope in the referendum than in the courts

I'm neither a defeatist nor a blind optimist. Colorado attempted a recall of two senators. Colorado focused resources onto two senate districts which had a population that felt wronged.

Colorado did NOT attempt to remove Hickenlooper, or do anything at the state wide level.

We have proposed targeting select Senators and Delegates, much like Colorado did, focusing our resources and working to remove people like Ronald Young.

 

[aray]

That's spot on save one slight tweak: Initially the Colorado 2A supporters tried to take out 4 state legislators. That got scaled back to 2. As we now know they won both, but as stated the Senate President fell by only 0.9% - very close.

Being smart about what we can and can't do is critical. Senator Frosh, for example won his last two elections by 75% and 70% respectively. As much as we despite this person who tramples on our liberties, going after him or someone like him just isn't realistic at the moment. Pick different targets.

We can do good things in 2014, but we can't do everything, nor can we make all of our progress in one election. Finding the right balance is one of the tough parts.

(And yes I know Frosh is likely running for AG next time; I just used him as an example.)

 

[Robert]

And that's a lesson for us as well. I don't mean to be a wet blanket, this is a day for celebrating liberty and democracy, however it is instructive to point out that Morse only lost by 0.9% - a mere 343 votes stood in the way between recall & retention (9,094 to 8,751).

Don't underestimate the difficulty of pulling this off. The President of the Senate (Mike Miller in our case) is a very powerful individual, who can grant or deny favors, and raise lots of cash. Just changing your party affiliation alone isn't going to get the job done. Candidates need to be identified, groomed, funded, a ground game of knocking on doors, phone banks, signs, ads, town hall meetings, various educational outreach, - this is a professional campaign we're talking about here.

We can do this. Colorado did it, and so can Maryland. But we're going to have to amp up our game, not underestimate our opponents, be passionate, but also be very smart.

VERY well said.

and in that vein, where is the command center on all the key districts (at least those the strategist think that we have a chance at?) going to be?

TakeBackMaryland ???

Primary's are less then 9 months away.. (June 24, 2014) The clock is running....

 

[fabsroman]

He's elected by the whole state. I'd guess that a statewide recall was beyond the ability of the groups running the recall.

Targeting one or two districts requires fewer resources.

Same reason we want to focus on removing a few people in 2014 and not a statewide referendum.

They attempted to recall 4 representatives, but could only get the initial votes to put two up for recall.

So, which Maryland representatives are we targeting in 2014? When is the primary election taking place? Sometime in June 2014 with the general election in November 2014? What is the game plan since we are looking at a primary election in about 280 days?

 

[EL1227]

MSNBC eats crow ... sorta'

I'm neither a defeatist nor a blind optimist. Colorado attempted a recall of two senators. Colorado focused resources onto two senate districts which had a population that felt wronged.

Colorado did NOT attempt to remove Hickenlooper, or do anything at the state wide level.

We have proposed targeting select Senators and Delegates, much like Colorado did, focusing our resources and working to remove people like Ronald Young.

Watch: Morning Joe Deals with Colorado Gun Control Defeat

I bring this segment up because of their commentary regarding Hickenlooper and changing CO's gun laws. Also the way they reiterate to the 'emotional appeals' of gun-control versus the appeal to rights and freedom.

You're correct, in 2014 we need to focus our efforts on removing weak incumbants like Young and others who sold our rights away for political gain in the PRofMD.