Colorado: John Andrews

Many of you will recall the scandal two years ago that resulted from Senate Republicans' misuse of the Seal of the State of Colorado (usage of which is only allowable by the Secretary of State for official purposes, violation is a felony) on their decidedly unofficial partisan brochure website. The Rocky Mountain News reported at the time:
[Senate Minority Leader Andy] McElhany said he removed the Colorado seal from coloradosenatenews.com after Secretary of State Mike Coffman reminded party caucuses April 2 they can't use the seal in communications.

It's a felony to use the state seal for anything but official documents. [Pols emphasis]

This isn't the first time Republicans violated the state's strict rule about misusing the seal.

State Sen. John Morse, at the podium, is joined by his House colleague Rep. Don Marostica and former Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky at a Feb. 19 press conference. (Photo/Wendy Norris)

Even in these catastrophic economic times, it’s difficult to imagine the kind of fresh politics it would take to successfully loosen the corseted Colorado budget.

Yet that’s what we were treated to Thursday in Denver.

At roughly 11 a.m. Thursday, Sen. John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Rep. Don Marostica (R-Loveland) introduced legislation (H.B. 228) to eliminate a provision that strips out excess revenues from the state’s General Fund and requires it to be spent, essentially, on transportation projects, leaving lawmakers no choice but to cut other essential services, including education and health care.

Rep. Don Marostica will apologize to Republican leaders he called "losers" and "has-beens" but will push forward with a spending bill that has turned some in his caucus against him.

The Loveland Republican appeared at a Thursday news conference with Sen. John Morse to announce the duo's sponsorship of Senate Bill 228, which would repeal Colorado's 6 percent general-fund spending limit.

Known as Arveschoug-Bird, it restrains the growth of budgets for departments such as higher education and human services.

Marostica's appearance at the news conference came one day after he was pulled into two meetings with House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, to discuss GOP opposition to the bill.

PolitickerCO.com asked some Colorado political figures and pundits to predict who will win on Election Day. Here's what they said:

John Straayer, political science professor at Colorado State University:

President: Barack Obama (D) 52 percent; John McCain (R) 48 percent

U.S. Senate: Mark Udall (D) 54 percent; Bob Schaffer (R) 46 percent

Fourth Congressional District: Betsy Markey (D) 50.5 percent; Marilyn Musgrave (R) 49.5 percent