Colorado: Obamas

President Obama announced today that he plans to nominate John Morton to be assistant secretary of homeland security for immigration and customs enforcement (ICE). Morton is a longtime Justice Department official and current acting deputy assistant attorney general of the criminal division. Esther Olavarria, a Senior Fellow and Director of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, is Obama’s pick for deputy assistant secretary of homeland security for policy.

Olavarria, in particular, signals a major change for DHS.

Not only does she come from the progressive CAP, but she spent almost 10 years as counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees.

That was fast. Two labor groups — Americans United for Change and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — on Tuesday unveiled a national ad applauding President Barack Obama for signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The ad features footage shot earlier in the day at Obama’s speech at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The 30-second commercial urges viewers to call the White House and thank the president “for putting jobs first,” a reference to the 3.5 million jobs Obama says the stimulus package will “create or save” over the next two years. The ad also promotes a claim that the bill cuts taxes for “95 percent of Americans.

84,000 strong turned out for Barack Obama's nomination speech at INVESCO Field. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

Will President Barack Obama rewrite the history books on how the West was won?

84,000 strong turned out for Barack Obama's nomination speech at INVESCO Field. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

The Colorado Independent talks to University of Denver finance professor Mac Clouse and political science professor Susan Sterret on
the city’s prominent role in the Democrats’ resurgence and what that newfound power portends for the region’s economic future.

Sterret believes the Denver signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signals how important the West has become in any national electoral strategy.

“Colorado voted for Obama.

Adding to the political intrigue surrounding commerce secretary-nominee Judd Gregg’s sudden resignation is a new partisan fight over the 2010 census. With a fast-growing Latino voter base, how that battle shapes up could affect Republican electoral prospects for many years to come.

Gregg blames his cold feet, in part, on not being simpatico with President Barack Obama on the 2010 census process managed by the Commerce Department. Obama has expressed interest in being more involved in the national head-counting process that determines congressional voting district maps and billions of dollars in federal funding allocations to the states for health, education and more.

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