Colorado: Bob Beauprez

The weekend, which drew a crowd of 470 to its Saturday night dinner at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, was headlined by speaker Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, an influential beltway magazine. “Cheer up,” Kristol said, adding that the vigorous internal debate Republicans have been experiencing is actually good for the party.

"The retreat was such a success is because conservatives understand that LPR is beyond election politics," said the program's president Shari Williams. "LPR is about the healthy discussion and debate of ideas, not politics. We see an opportunity for the country to understand why free-markets make a difference.

We almost missed this gem from over the weekend, but we're glad we had a chance to share. Check out this story from The Greeley Tribune:
A T-shirt Weld District Attorney Ken Buck is selling was imported from Mexico, just like many of the illegal immigrants Buck battles.

The T-shirts made by Gildan, a Montreal-based textile manufacturer, were purchased through a Windsor graphics shop that pressed Buck's message poking fun at the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit on the front and back of the shirts...

...Buck said he didn't initially know where the shirts were made. Just because the shirts were made in Haiti and imported through Mexico, that doesn't mean he should not support a product from there, he said.

In case you missed it, former Congressman Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., recently sat down with The Colorado Statesman for a wide-ranging interview that is definitely work reading in its entirety. What stood out at us, though, was his admission that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper would have been an unbeatable Senate candidate had Gov. Bill Ritter selected him to succeed Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., instead of Michael Bennet.

From the interview: “I don’t know, but I’m guessing John Hickenlooper has name ID that rivals the governor’s, maybe exceeds the governor’s. I’m guessing that John Hickenlooper has 4-to-1 favorable/unfavorables statewide. There isn’t enough money in the world to peel that down to 1-to-1 — to where you could maybe beat him.

And then there was none. Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdrew his name Thursday from the apparently haunted cabinet position at the Commerce Department. See the state ethics probe that derailed his predecessor nominee, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Gregg cited the coming decennial U.S. Census, as one example of irreconcilable disagreement with President Barack Obama. The census? Huh? The brewing oversight fight on the 2010 national head count promises high political drama. You think Dick Wadhams is just sticking around here for the fresh mountain air?

As we reported almost a year ago, the census could be the next hanging chad of election scandals since an inaccurate tally of residents could greatly affect federal funding to the states as well as partisan top-loading of redrawn political district boundaries.