Who you may be saying? Don't you mean McCain? Or maybe Clinton? Sure they have every reason to be happy. For Clinton, she got over 50% after losing badly in South Carolina and so now she can spin some good news. Sure, there were no delegates to be awarded, but the papers all over the country tomorrow, including in all those Super Tuesday states will have headlines saying Hillary won and some people like to go with a winner.

For John McCain, this is the first state he has won that had a closed primary. NH for example, allowed independents and even Dems to vote for McCain, and clearly polls show he does well with Indy's. But this was a purely Republican vote and McCain got 36%. Giuliani, who just dropped out, got 15% and he has now endorsed McCain, and it makes logical sense that the bulk of his voters would be McCain voters, so it is an impressive showing tonight by McCain. Further, FL is a winner take all state for Republican delegates.

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Colorado Springs has felt the effects of the slowing economy just like everyone else in the country. So every job counts. Well the Air Force has a plan to open regional purchasing centers responsible for handling most AF base purchases. For the Southwest Region, that regional center is planned to be based in Colorado Springs. While it meant a net loss of personnel at bases around the country, and a net reduction of about 200 jobs across the AF, it was hoped this plan would streamline base purchasing and save the AF money. For a cash strapped service like the AF, this is important.

But the NM folks had different ideas. Led by Rep Heather Wilson, they have challenged the AF decision on the basis that it would negatively impact small businesses, according to a press release posted on her website, http://wilson.house.gov

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There is an opening back in Washington DC on the House Appropriations committee on the Republican side. That opening has prompted quite a battle for the seat, one that could possibly land in CO. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of the 4th District is one of the names being floated around according to numerous outlets. Should Marilyn get it, the state would likely benefit significantly. As of right now, Sen. Wayne Allard is the only Coloradoan in either body on an appropriations committee and he is retiring. On the Senate side, it would appear unlikely that either Ken Salazar or Allard's replacement would get a seat on the powerful approps cmte.

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The Colorado Chapter of the Armenian Assembly of America is taking Rep. Doug Lamborn to task for being a flip-flopper. This group has been working for years to insure the United States recognizes the Armenian genocide that occurred between 1915 and 1923 under the Ottoman Empire. Estimates state that there were as many as 1.5 million Armenians killed in the genocide and US Archives contain many records of the genocide.

In fact, for the past 6 years, including 4 when Rep. Lamborn was a state Senator, the Colorado General Assembly has adopted a joint resolution endorsing a reaffirmation of the Armenian genocide. This year, the Colorado Chapter bragged about Colorado becoming only the second state in the nation to have its entire congressional delegation sign on as cosponsors of resolutions reaffirming the United States position and urging the Bush administration to make it US foreign policy.

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I have been getting some interesting reports lately on where 5th CD candidate Bentley Rayburn has been showing up. The first was when I heard that he appeared at the campaign kickoff for 6th CD candidate Wil Armstrong in Denver. Now that seemed somewhat strange since you would not expect to find many 5th CD voters at a campaign event in Denver. Then I thought that maybe since it was Wil Armstrong that Bentley was trying to suck up to Wil's dad Bill in order to get an endorsement. That seemed to make some sense to me. Another possibility is Bentley hoped to meet some big donors at the event. Though less likely, I am sure a few could have been there for Wil and Bill's sake.

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It is official, Douglas Bruce is an embarrasment! In case you have missed coverage of the action, the embarassment began with Doug Bruce refusing to take the oath on time, ie at the start of the session. It then grew when he demanded special treatment by being allowed to be sworn in during session and given time to address the full chamber, both of which would be completely unprecedented for midterm appointees.

Today, it all came to a head. Because he was acting like a little child who wanted it played his way or he would take his ball and go home, Doug had to be invited onto the House floor by Rep. Kent Lambert, a fellow Republican, and Doug sat on the sidelines and impatiently waited to be sworn in according to his demands. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff refused to give into Doug's petulant demands. It got so bad, the House Republicans voted 22-1 that Doug either take his oath or they would push to rule his seat vacant and seek a new appointee.

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With the Democratic National Convention coming to Denver this year, I had wondered whether the new rules that the Democrats put in place last year would really slow down the partying that always goes on at these events. After all, the Democratic leadership had made the rule changes they passed a centerpiece of their vow to change the way Congress does business. We all know that the earmark changes amounted to next to nothing. But we could still have hopes for the other changes, couldn't we?

Well, it turns out not. According to the Dec 13th edition of The Hill newspaper, the House ethics committee issued their "guidelines" on parties at National Conventions on Dec 10th. The good news in them was that they banned lobbyists or organizations employing lobbyists from underwriting parties that honor a member or members of Congress by name. You see, it was common practice at National Conventions to curry favor with members by paying for some lavish party to honor "Representative Big Shot" in his name.

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I have learned that President Bush will be coming to Colorado on Jan 31st to do a major fundraiser for Bob Schaffer's Senate campaign. Apparently invitations have gone out and the cost is steep, as is to be expected for the President of the United States. The number I was told is $1500 for the reception per person.

This should be huge for Bob Schaffer. He should be able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars off it to pad his campaign account. While I do not know all the details, I would not be surprised to learn that they will also be raising victory funds or some other soft money dollars so that maxed out donors can write the really big checks to help benefit Bob.

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According to an analysis done by Mike Soraghan in The Hill's Dec 12th issue, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spent a whopping $3,003,048 from the Speaker's office account for 2007. That compares with the $1,846,406 spent in 2006 by her predecessor Dennis Hastert, or a 63% increase in expenditures.

One of the most interesting expenditures is $16,058 on flowers. FLOWERS!!! According to the article, she credited most of the flower expenditures "for visits of foreign dignitaries". You have got to be kidding me. Assuming her spokesman is telling the truth, what kind of flowers exactly are they buying and what are they doing with them? Dropping gold plated rose petals in front of these dignitaries?

How many visits can Congress actually have by any significant foreign dignitary? You can not say that routine visits by ambassadors qualify for big flower displays. In fact, her spokesman in the article cited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as examples. Let's break down this number a little bit.

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As we are winding down 2007, I thought it would be interesting to look a little more clsoesly at one of the big issues that will carry over from 2007: The Roan Plateau. There has been much fighting in Colorado and Washington, DC over this issue and it is hardly resolved. It is also of great import to all of us, so let's spend a little more time looking at it. On what basis am I making my claim of its importance? Well anytime you have elected officials fighting over one issue at the local, state and federal levels, then you have one issue to watch closely.

I have previously posted on this issue and some of the feuds over it, but let me give you some interesting facts and info.

Let's start with the area formerly known as the Naval Oil Shale Reserve (NOSR). The NOSR was first established by President Woodrow Wilson for the purpose of providing a reserve supply of energy to the US in times of shortage or emergency. It comprises only a portion of the Roan Plateau, but estimates put the potential for six trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That is enough natural gas to heat four million homes for 20-25 years.

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