Hi everybody.

I want to start this week's show by acknowledging what a tough time it is for communities in southwestern Colorado as they recover from days of heavy rain, with 2 to 5in falling across.

Much of the San Juans.

Floodwaters have receded in some areas, but more wet weather is on the way.

Recovery is going to take time, and these communities will need help from across Colorado as they begin to rebuild.

Now, Coloradans have important decisions to make about the direction our state takes going forward.

Election day is just days away.

Now, what should voters be focused on in these final days?

And what happens once those ballots are counted?

The four behind me are so ready to get going.

So here we are with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider panel.

We start with Patty Calhoun, a founder and editor emeritus at westward.

Elena Alvarez, reporter with Axios.

Denver Alton Dillard consulted with the Dillard Group.

Rockford Gray, political analyst at Denver seven and former election spokesperson for Denver.

And Chris Roark, consultant with Roark Media and contributor at iHeart Denver.

4 million ballots were sent to registered Colorado voters at the beginning of October.

And just over a million have already been filled out and returned.

What might that tell us about voters?

What is the holdup?

Is Colorado's lengthy ballot playing a role?

And with election administration increasingly part of the political debate?

What are election officials and county clerk's focused on right now?

The Department of Justice is wanting to send election observers to Adams County, home to the closely watched congressional race for the eighth district.

Patti, where would you like to begin tonight?

I think the fact that a million plus have voted just indicates it's a really long ballot.

They want to take their time.

People are shifting their votes a little as they learn more, especially about the ballot measures.

But also it's not a presidential year, which could account for why it's not going to go as big, although it's certainly a referendum on Donald Trump, who I love this wants to pay $1 million for evidence of fraud that is found with voters.

aside, Trump also says he's sending a thousand people to to watch over the different ballot boxes.

So it's not going to be just Adams County.

But Secretary of State has responded.

We're going to have observers there, too.

I think Colorado will be pretty smooth, considering it's interesting.

Colorado is back in the news again because 60 minutes ran the Tina Peters case, giving her more credibility than she needed.

Did not mention that she'd seen Trump twice since she's been released.

Did mention we got some wildfire money.

Now we need the federal money for the floods.

Then all is forgiven if those people are made whole.

Yeah.

Okay.

Elena.

Between the 1000 federal election monitors that Patti mentioned that are being deployed across the country to counter operations that are being organized by political groups, volunteers, other citizen observers.

This is shaping up to be one of America's most monitored election ever.

And Colorado is right in the middle of it.

So that brings us to Adams County.

As you mentioned earlier, And this just is another element of all of the federal uncertainty that continues to swirl around this election.

And in the meantime, election workers are just trying to do their job.

Yep.

They are.

Yes they are.

Now, one thing to keep an eye out with this whole turnout discussion.

Older voters vote early.

So I have to sort of tease Elena's generation.

They're the lag group.

So all these last minute ads you see dropping are targeting younger voters, because the 65 and UPS voted those first couple of weeks.

And you can look on the Secretary of state's daily site that they put out.

And you can see that trend line and same thing at the county level.

And I also want to get a piece of what Patti was talking about as far as the fraud bounty.

And mostly when fraud gets caught in Colorado it's a Republican that commits it.

Chris.

Well I think the length of the ballot definitely is a deterrent for some people.

I've had people reach out to me and ask me, how am I voting on all the all these things, all these things because people don't have the time So that, I think, is slowing down the vote a little bit.

Yes, we have the the ballots came out earlier.

We saw kind of a surge, and it looked like we were going to do better than we did in 2022.

I'm not sure quite where that stands right now.

I think it's neck and neck.

But then you also have this situation where there's the continued deep divide in the Republican Party, and it's taken now a turn when you have a Victor Marx and then a Greg Lopez to decide between.

And then there's some people that aren't satisfied with either of those two, but they don't want to vote for Phil Wiser.

And they're in this situation where they're they're not really happy with some of the choices that they have on this ballot.

I have several people that told me I simply did not vote in that race, so it'll be really interesting to watch the votes as as valid tabulations are done.

I'm curious, back to the Tina Peters, what do you think that story being brought up nine days before the election?

What does it tell us about election integrity in terms of the debate right now?

I've heard some people say, well, I'm not going to vote.

It doesn't matter.

You know, there's all this other stuff going on right now that I can't control.

It's a shame that this is all so close to the election.

I think it says a lot more about what's happening at CBS these days.

Because why did they wait since August?

That was when they filmed her and they just ran it nine days before.

All right, we'll move on.

On our last show, the insiders weighed in on what they thought might happen in the congressional races.

So this week, let's turn to the ballot measures.

After months of debate and discussion, including here at this table, which measures are you still watching super closely, and what do you think voters are considering as they make their decisions?

Elena, let's start with you.

I'm going to.

Start with initiated ordinance 311 in Denver, which is about the gras ban.

Super specific issue, but an interesting one nonetheless.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and I'm going to say that I think that the ban will pass.

First we have to look at the data.

There was a statewide pull from Colorado State University earlier this year that found 85% of voters in Colorado.

So not just Denver, but statewide supported a ban like this.

Then you look at the issue itself.

I think a lot of folks look at Gras as sort of, you know, nose up, very lavish dish that is unnecessary.

It's only served by a few restaurants in Denver, as is.

And I think some people might question, you know, my my prediction because of previous animal rights measures here in Denver that have failed, including banning slaughterhouses back in 2024.

But I think the big difference here is that that, you know, that involved so much.

It was number one animals that people eat on a daily basis, right.

It required shutting down giant businesses who have major presences physically and Colorado and in Denver, and there's just a lot of logistics in people's lives that would be affected by this.

Whereas this issue is just so niche that I think I think we'll see.

We'll see it pass.

And on top of that are the ads.

The picture of the duck?

Yes.

Yeah.

You're getting texted, you're getting mailers.

And all of the imagery is pretty horrific.

Yeah.

And I think that will that will have a big effect on somebody.

I am going to say, I think one 32nd May go down, but it's a litmus test for Colorado for a couple of reasons.

And I go back and forth with our insider colleague Eric Sanders, about this is whether Colorado is purple or whether it's cobalt blue.

So there's a balance here.

There's one side that says you cannot incarcerate your way out of addiction, but there's another part that says they're tired of seeing people doing the fentanyl fold up and down Colfax and Broadway.

And I'm not an attorney, but I think there's a way that if people do go into treatment, they may be able to lessen their sentences.

But on the other side, they're saying that the way the law is written, someone could unknowingly be in possession and then get stuck with a big charge.

So I have two friends who lost young adult children to fentanyl overdoses.

This is one that just has a voter I struggled with a little bit.

Chris.

when it comes to winners, I do think 83 is going to pass.

It has a high bar to pass, it's 55%.

And there is this gray area between 50 and 55 that sometimes is difficult to overcome.

Big losers.

I think 87, which is the tiered income tax, is going to go down in flames as far as 137, which would withhold certain tax money to go towards natural resources protections.

I'm on the fence on how that will do.

Proposition n n. It's for education and yet it eliminates Tabor funds.

And so once again we are seeing Tabor on the ballot.

The question I have for Democrats is next time you overspend, if you get rid of Tabor on this ballot, next time you spend, you don't have a slush fund to go to.

136 though I think the cap at 4.4% on income tax is going to appeal broadly to taxpayers, and I think that will win.

However, we may have a situation where if 87 wins and 136 wins, there's going to be a sorting out of of our tax system, which G is already complicated enough, isn't But I think 87 will be closer than you do.

Let's remember last time when we talked about it last week, it was just being appealed to the Supreme Court.

So the Colorado Supreme Court still will have to deal with it.

And it's going to be full employment for lawyers, probably, no matter what happens on so many of these measures, I feel like a goose being force fed the most rancid ads over this last week.

It's been incredible.

But I do have to say, why is Denver voting about at all is just not something we need to vote on as voters.

You know, I don't like Pop Tarts, but I'm not voting on those.

I also think on this, by the same token, the natural gas proposal, we don't need to vote into our Constitution the right to have a natural gas stove.

It's just too much government, too much in our Constitution.

So those are two examples.

I love the initiatives, but we didn't need those two.

I think the reasons we're seeing so many initiatives, though, is because people do want to have the right to use natural gas, and we have a posse, a public utilities commission that's telling us we're going to have to convert all our heating systems to make their aggressive goals.

Of course, that's why we have all the advanced Colorado ballot measures, because they can't get legislators to do what they want.

I know we need to vote different people and if we want different outcomes.

And I think we've seen where, again, people are dissatisfied with the choices they have in candidates.

So they're pursuing ballot initiatives to try to control government in a way that lawmakers should be making more sound decisions.

Like they're chasing a flock of geese.

And back in 2007, remember, Denver had an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission make the ballot.

So that's one of the reasons that I get concerned about low signature 30 minute.

He's running again is on your ballot.

If you want to have you conversations, vote for Jeff Heckman.

I think it's governor.

Right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Is the money behind the ballot measures and the candidates something that voters should be paying more attention to?

More than $14 million is been spent trying to influence voters on Colorado's 14 statewide ballot measures.

So much money is flowing into organizations right now that don't disclose their original donors.

That's happening on multiple measures on both sides of the issue.

So, Alton, do you think all of that matters to most voters?

Do you think they're aware of all that?

No.

And they don't care.

They don't care.

They are the ones who really nerd out and take the deep dives on one thing to keep in mind, you know, there's always been this discussion about money in politics.

I worked in the U.S.

Senate during the days of McCain-Feingold, which is one of the early campaign finance measures, and there were cadres of lawyers at the ready as soon as that was signed into law to find the loopholes.

And then you jump forward to the Citizen United decision that essentially says money equals speech and corporations equal people.

And so now even the firewall that used to sort of be up is being rubbed away further, because now there's more coordination allowed.

And there's always this talk about, well, you know, this is paid for by so and so.

They didn't coordinate with the campaign.

It's like if you buy that I've got beachfront property and Telluride, I'd love to sell somebody.

So if the public gets swayed by ads I kind of think that's on them.

You know, we have Google, we have the massive blue Book.

We got our ballots 29 days ahead of time.

Take the time, do your homework and get your ballot in.

Okay, Chris, one of the things I'm watching is the, the funding of campaigns and then the group outside campaigns that will either oppose or support a candidate in CD eight, Gabe Evans and Manny all.

There's each group that either opposes or supports those candidates independent of the campaign, have raised in our spending like $12 million.

In addition to what those campaigns are doing, it's almost a $40 million race.

Think about that.

And when we talk about spending and what we should be putting money towards, $40 million on a race, it's unbelievable.

But CD four has me really curious because we've seen Eileen Law Barker, who has raised 11 times what Lauren Boebert raised.

She's raised more than $13 million.

And this isn't the first time that Congresswoman Boebert has faced an opponent like Eileen Law backer is more measured.

She is not the rabid liberal that that the Republican Party would want to beat.

And she makes a really compelling case.

It's going to be interesting watching that race, because I think that Boebert will likely win, but it will come down to single digits.

And for CD4, which has long been a hard red district, it's going to be a really fascinating race to watch.

I almost wonder if Law Barker could pull it out.

I don't know, But to go back to the money 40 million I mean I guess that's why we're going to have Department of Justice people at Adams County.

So it's going to pay off some of that 40 million.

But you at this point, I think people can tell that there's way too much money going into these campaigns and think about what else it could fund.

Is it a 40,000,008?

I'm not sure it'll ultimately make a difference.

And who would have won there?

But they're nonstop commercials even this morning, back and forth, back and forth.

Just those two.

And even though I've already voted, I'm still getting the text messages and the mailers and all of that.

I don't I don't know if that rule has gone away, but usually that's.

Why I vote early.

Rid of the text.

I'm still getting mine though, Yeah.

Yeah.

Sophisticated campaign knows how to go through their voter list and do a scrub and get that handled.

But if the campaign is not sophisticated to that level, that's why you're still getting those.

I just got Paxton in Texas, which means somebody is really in trouble.

They saw the boots.

Yeah, maybe.

Your boots.

All right.

Elena, what are you watching?

It's remarkable how little money Colorado Republicans have been able to raise.

And what should be a very rare, you know, political opportunity for them.

You have all four statewide races open.

There is no incumbent governor to compete with.

And yet our reporting found that Democrats have outraised them by twice as much, if not more, in those four races.

And so I think, you know, what we've sort of found interviewing some of these conservative donors is that they see the path to victory as so narrow that it's just wiser to keep their wallets closed at this point.

And you know what a what a vote of no confidence this really all suggests, right?

Okay.

Looking back at this election season, what has surprised you all the most?

Or what are you watching most closely in these final days?

I'll start with you, Chris.

I'm watching several things.

I mean, the further fracture of the GOP is really concerning because we're going to have a runaway Democratic party, and it does not help the state whatsoever.

The surge of the DSA, the socialist movement.

Primary night, I sat there and I watched candidate after candidate prevail that I never thought would have.

And then the biggest thing I'm watching is the unaffiliated and third party candidates, like the Greg Lopez's, the Bob Chu in the Senate race, Bob Chu has a compelling message about addressing the deficit and the country's debt, and he wants to do it through a tax, which I'm not crazy about.

But at least he's talking about it because neither party is.

I'm wondering if Colorado is in a situation where we're finally ready to talk to somebody and have somebody represent us that is not a Republican or Democrat, but actually bring solutions to the table.

Do you think this could be the year.

I'm watching those numbers?

I'm going to be fascinated to see how Greg Lopez.

How much of a dent.

Yeah, how much of a dent he does, because there are people, Republicans that refuse to vote for Victor Marx.

And their only alternative is Greg Lopez.

So.

Well, that could be very telling.

Okay, Patty.

I think we can safely say that wiser will be the next governor.

I'm looking back to 1992 and not the Tabor vote, which was the big news that year, but the hate state vote, you know, that's what what turned us into a hate state.

And I think the real referendum in some ways is going to be what's going to happen with the two transgender oriented bills.

We're not the only ones who've got those measures.

I mean, Missouri's also doing one about medical procedures.

Three other states are talking about the sports teams, but it's a issue in search of a problem.

There isn't a problem now, but I'm worried that it'll show just how people can be influenced, as they were for 90 in 92 over amendment two.

So I would like to not have another hate state label on Colorado.

I mean.

I am watching whether a Democratic wave, which we keep hearing about, is going to happen here in Colorado and what that might mean nationally when it comes to flipping the house and whether, you know, pollsters like Nate Silver are talking about if it does come true nationally, what this will mean for the the Trump era, if this will be the nail in the coffin.

Yes, he still has two more years.

But essentially, if he's not effective on ballots, you know, nationwide, you'll start to see Republicans sort of fall off of his his campaign and stop being his cheerleaders.

So how how a Democratic wave here might play out, and also what it will mean for Colorado itself when it comes to next legislative session, if they'll have full, you know, freedom to do what they want.

And that will cause a lot of controversy.

Okay.

All right.

Alton.

And yeah, I'm also keeping an eye on just how advanced Colorado performs in general, because not only do they have the culture war questions, they have the tax questions also.

So we were talking about political ads, and I do have to let everyone know my two favorites.

The first one was the Evans ad where he's sitting on the tailgate of the truck, talking to the rancher and the cop and the worker about their jobs.

Very effective ad.

But then also the law baker ad that calls out the extremes on both the left and the right, and calls Biden's border policy into question.

I thought that one was brilliant.

So I am going to try one fearless prediction here.

The Dems are going to sweep the four constitutional offices at the top of the ticket, but I'm keeping an eye on the margin for the attorney general's race, because I'm just wondering if the name recognition that General Griswold has as the incumbent secretary of state, which is a CEO level position.

So but a lot of stuff happened on her watch or the way that they sort of differ in how they would tackle, you know, enforcement at the AG's office.

So I think Alan makes that probably the closest of those top four races.

I talked to someone who has never voted for a Republican in their life, and they just cast a vote for Michael Allen.

Really?

Yeah.

I'm watching for reactions to what's decided on Tuesday and what it might take to bring the temperature down on Wednesday.

Denver police arrested a man on suspicion of possessing a hoax explosive device after surveillance video showed him placing a box on the east steps of the state capitol.

There were wires visibly coming out of it.

The building was evacuated.

Nobody was hurt.

But it's another reminder of the constant tension, that feeling of wondering what might happen next.

What are your thoughts?

What's it going to take to lower the temperature?

A new president, I would say number one.

But don't forget we also had the envelopes full of some substance.

Then to our congressional reps too.

So and this isn't new.

We've had it before, but definitely we are less civil than we used to be.

The discourse is less civil.

There always are going to be crazies, but more people are acting crazy.

And it's a higher temperature.

Also, as we've mentioned.

But also, you know, a lot of us, we have interface with the media.

Remember you just to be able to show up at a media outlet and go into your meeting without having to sign in, without having to go through all this security.

You know, those days are definitely gone too.

And even, you know, looking at the steps of the Capitol in the graphics behind us, you know, you pretty much have to get frisked, go into what used to be the people's house.

But someone came in there and let off a couple of rounds and now messed it up for everybody else.

And I mentioned this in the channel seven piece.

I just don't see us getting back the other direction.

Unfortunately.

I'm with Patty.

I think it starts at the top.

I think, Chris.

I think it's already started.

Yeah.

I think this election is particularly bad and I am very cranky.

However, not every Republican is happy with Donald Trump.

A lot of it is the war.

He broke a promise not to get into an endless war.

There are other issues where Republicans are already starting to reevaluate.

What does this look like?

And I think the other thing takes people speaking up, continuing to speak up and continuing to have dialog and not rant and and rail, but to literally say, I don't agree with this policy and here's why.

All right, one more question.

Since we're the end of October, was there an October surprise?

Do you think.

Not in Colorado?

Well.

I would say this the October surprise kind of went away with the advent of mail balloting.

Now, the October surprise, back when Election Day was the only day when you voted.

That's when you dropped something on that Saturday and Sunday before everyone headed to the polls.

Now you'd have to drop your October surprise in early September to be able to.

Get into track.

In my.

Opinion.

This was one.

The Lauren Boebert sex scandal.

Now, granted, I've talked to journalists who say there is no basis for this.

And, you know, but the timing was perfect and it was deliberate.

Yes.

And it did raise eyebrows.

And because her behavior in the past has not done anything to refute anything that might be believed from that report.

Yes.

I think that might have been an October surprise.

I like it.

September Alton's right.

Because now you can vote sorely.

You can't really save your big shocking stories.

I think the surprises we are getting are people who are jumping parties, especially in Texas, and saying, we are not voting for Paxton, and it's happening in other states, too.

So that's the surprise.

People are willing to go public with their vote.

What do you.

Think I'd say?

CD5 being named a toss up suddenly is is a decent October surprise.

Okay.

All right.

Let's go around the table now and talk about some of the highs and the lows that we witnessed this week.

We'll start on a low point, so we'll end on a good note.

Yes.

We want to end on a good note Patti.

Start us off.

Let's return to Trump on that war.

Enjoy paying record prices at the pump this weekend.

And as you go into vote, 47 billion is the new estimate from the Pentagon on what we've spent at the war in Iran.

Good for Jason Crowe, who's gone public if if the House becomes Democratic, first thing they're going to do, get rid of taxes.

All right.

I'm going to say the record flooding in southwestern Colorado that has done some really terrible damage.

Over 500 homes damaged, and there's been numerous rescue missions.

And then we're seeing in the forecast there are more storms had this weekend, potentially 1 to 3in of rain, maybe even some snow.

So thinking of the folks over there.

And me, I used to think this was a conspiracy theory, but we're heading towards being a cashless society and that's a problem.

I've had my credit cards compromised like twice.

So I try not to use them, but I go more and more places where they don't tell you they're cashless until you complete your transaction.

And then also they're intoxicating products that are available in corner stores.

The media is still not really picking up on the fact that creative is killing people, but I have to show ID to get a fireplace lighter.

Okay.

There's six hand-picked Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners who have come out against amendment 83.

I don't have a problem with if they want to disagree with the constitutionalism of this measure.

However, all of them are tied into Eric Washburn, who runs an opposition group to the amendment, and also a man named Wayne Pacelli.

Wayne Pacelli is a longtime animal activist who opposes hunting, although recently he says he doesn't.

However, he's on the record in 1994 as saying that he opposes hunting, even if it comes down to sourcing food, that's a problem.

I think these six commissioners are highly suspect.

I hope the new administration cleans house.

I know Senator Dillon Roberts listens to this, at least the podcast.

There are commissioners that are up for being confirmed.

I strongly suggest these commissioners are not confirmed.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty ski.

Season started Wednesday.

A basin opened.

Let's hope ski season last more than a weekend.

Yes.

All right.

Lena.

The Denver Art Museum this week announced that they've got a really big, very cool Picasso exhibition launching next year.

So we got to wait a little while, but it'll be the only one in the country, so a pretty cool opportunity.

It'll be great.

Yes.

Mine has to do with women in sports.

I watched the nuggets game on Wednesday and they had a woman official.

There was a time where that would have been big news, but now I was becoming so normative.

And same thing.

Even in the NFL.

I'm a basketball coach.

I assist a woman who played overseas, professionally and at two Division one colleges at five foot three.

Toughest person I know and it's just great to see.

But also one little did you know, Doctor Angie, the head of the state's Department of Higher Education, was actually the first woman to coach boys at a major high school level in the state of Colorado when she coached back at Smoky Hill.

Oh, okay.

I like that, Chris.

I'm going to be very happy that the election will be done and that we're moving into a quieter time.

There is a time change this weekend.

Course.

With Halloween, which is interesting, but I'm going to look forward to an extra hour sleep.

You are?

Yes, that'll be good.

My high of the week is a local organization expanding its reach.

The Women's Beam project now has a kiosk in the B Concourse at Denver International Airport near gate B 45.

This Denver nonprofit started with just $500 in 1989 and continues to grow, creating all sorts of job opportunities for women who have faced chronic unemployment.

You can find their delicious food mixes, spices and snacks at the Winds Beam Project over on West Alameda or at any grocery store in town, but you can now walk through the airport and grab some snacks, or take something to who you're visiting, or pick something up on the way home.

I think it is awesome to see this organization continue to grow, and to continue to spread its mission and let people know what they're up to.

A lot of good insiders, thank you for this week.

Thank you for the entire season.

Thank you for watching along with us listening to our podcast.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week after the election here on PBS 12.

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