[00:01] Speaker 1: (circa 1950s music) Chuck and Julie, bringing you the truth, straight up.

[00:05] Speaker 2: I'm Julie Hayden, and I'm working at ...

[00:06] Speaker 1: An Emmy-winning former investigative reporter, a highly successful trial attorney, and publisher of a major Denver area newspaper. They've been partners as talk show hosts and in marriage, as parents for over 10 years, providing thought-provoking information, opinion, and entertainment live, local, and interactive. Everyone's voice is always welcome on The Chuck and Julie Show.

[00:34] Speaker 3: Well, good afternoon, everybody. In sunny Colorado, it was snowing on the ground few days ago, and today it's over 80, so you just-

[00:42] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[00:42] Speaker 3: ... never know.

[00:42] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[00:43] Speaker 3: I'm Chuck Boniwell. This is Julie Hayden. This is The Chuck and Julie Grassroots Show, str- true, straight up.

[00:49] Speaker 2: That's right. And we're gonna start, jumping right into it, with, um, a longtime friend, grassroots warrior, and a CD3 Republican candidate challenging RINO Jeff Herd, Ron Hanks, former state representative. Hey, Ron. Thanks r-... I know you're so busy, but thank you for your time, and welcome to the show.

[01:04] Speaker 3: You're suing people. Hi, Julie, Chuck You're doing all kinds of great stuff

[01:07] Speaker 2: Well, that's what I wanted to jump into, so you-

[01:09] Speaker 3: No, although I-

[01:10] Speaker 2: Oh.

[01:10] Speaker 3: ... I wanted to start out a little bit, because I didn't get to hear. Tell us about your assembly, where, where you went to a triumph, and, um, this should have been easy-peasy, uh, for a incumbent Republican congressman, and you went in there and upset the cow, apple cart, and did a great job.

[01:28] Speaker 4: Well, I, uh, I did. Uh, you know, uh, they kind of bent the rules for the CD3 assembly, and, uh-

[01:37] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[01:37] Speaker 4: ... even (laughs) even though, uh, Jeff Herd was not going to go through the assembly, they let him speak as a candidate. Uh, they gave him three minutes. He took about 11 to get it done.

[01:53] Speaker 2: Hm.

[01:53] Speaker 4: Uh, he got booed three times in the process, and, uh, finally he just left, and, uh-

[01:59] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[02:00] Speaker 4: ... you know, they were, they were kind of working against us that, uh, well, I had declared to the committee a couple of days earlier that I was going to be nominated from the floor. They said we had 11 minutes, and, uh, and then when we got there, they said, "No, you got seven."

[02:18] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[02:18] Speaker 4: And, uh, when this guy went on, a three-minute speech, went for 11, I said, "I, I want my time back," and, and they agreed.

[02:25] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[02:26] Speaker 4: As I was negotiating that, I see Herd leaving out the side door, and I said-

[02:31] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[02:31] Speaker 4: ... "Hey, wait, Jeff, Jeff."

[02:33] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[02:33] Speaker 4: "Let's finish this here right now. We'll nominate you from the floor, and we can finish this." He wouldn't say a word to me. He just kept walking.

[02:43] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[02:43] Speaker 4: And, and the other thing that was kind of, kind of interesting, Chuck, you know, is I, I mentioned to him as he, you know, it was, it was kind of like watching a, a mouse run alongside the wall, you know, where they, they're hoping that they're n-... they, they've been seen, but they hope if they keep going, they're, they're gonna make it. But, I made the comment to him, I said, "Jeff, you know, you and the speaker in 2024 put out a million bucks to call me a baby killer and a gun grabber in the last two weeks or week of the 2024 campaign, and you didn't think you'd have a fight on your hands?" And, uh-

[03:21] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[03:21] Speaker 4: ... the man, the man is, uh, he's timid. Let's call him that. Uh, I've called him other things, um, among them liar and coward. Um, but, uh, we're running. We got a good race. We've got, I'd say, a lot of momentum. We got a lot of people that don't like this guy in the district. And, uh, it's a really interesting campaign season, because, uh, you know, he only won by five points. He was on Trump's coattails. Trump won by 10 in CD3.

[03:52] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[03:52] Speaker 4: And now you got people that say, "I'm not voting for him again." And now we don't have as many unaffiliated voting, because the Democrats have a full-

[04:02] Speaker 3: A real primary, yeah.

[04:02] Speaker 4: ... ticket. Yeah. So, I think this guy's toast, actually, and I think he's, uh... what he ought to do is come back to the district and, uh, debate with me, and, uh, but he won't do it, so.

[04:14] Speaker 2: No, he's not gonna do that.

[04:15] Speaker 4: No.

[04:15] Speaker 2: Well, and let's remind people, Ron jumped in after Jeff Herd realized he was losing, so and, and Trump had endorsed-

[04:23] Speaker 3: Did Hope, does Hope-

[04:24] Speaker 2: Had endorsed Hope Schapeman-

[04:26] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[04:26] Speaker 2: ... and then so Trump... so then Herd basically blackmailed Trump and said, "I'll hold your agenda hostage, from now to the end of the year, if you don't take back the endorsement of Hope." So Hope sort of took one for the team and did the honorable thing, and actually got a very good job at the Trump administration. But I think you rightly said, "We can't let this guy go unchallenged," you know? I mean-

[04:45] Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. CD3 can't be the sacrificial lamb that has to take the, uh, take the cut here. And, uh, I firmly believe that, uh, that's exactly what happened, and, uh, you know, the tale was that, uh, Johnson, Speaker Johnson, and Herd went in and said, "We will scuttle the America First agenda," and it's not unreasonable to believe that, because he voted to defend Ilhan Omar. You know-

[05:14] Speaker 2: Right.

[05:14] Speaker 4: ... he voted against Trump's tariff. He voted to hide-

[05:18] Speaker 2: Yep.

[05:19] Speaker 4: ... the sexual misconduct cases of his fellow congressmen. And if there's anything that looks more insider than those things, I don't know what it is, but, uh, definitely he's already playing in that rather underworld, uh, threat-

[05:34] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[05:34] Speaker 4: ... and, and, uh, I'll, I'll stand up to him.

[05:38] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[05:38] Speaker 4: And, you know, I, I just, I joke that, uh, if I see a call come in that says White House on it, I might let it go to voicemail, you know?

[05:47] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[05:47] Speaker 4: But, uh, we'll see.

[05:50] Speaker 2: (laughs) Well, let me ask you-

[05:50] Speaker 3: Just think cabinet.

[05:51] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[05:52] Speaker 3: Think cabinet.

[05:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, you have an affi... One of the things that's interesting, and we've talked a lot on this show about challenges to the c- the disastrous semi-open primary law, and there are numerous lawsuits. Chuck's been involved in those, and those are all kind of still going on. But you and another candidate filed one, and I think you guys took a unique approach, and I want you to explain it. And then in particular, you guys have some interesting and, frankly, alarming data about-

[06:15] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[06:15] Speaker 2: ... unaffi- the impact unaffiliated voters are having. So, why don't you just go ahead and tell us about the lawsuit, and then we can get into the data too.

[06:22] Speaker 4: Well, well, sure. The, the lawsuit is simply this. Uh, we believe that, you know, we are looking out for the Republican Party, and, uh, I'm a Republican. The people that nominated me at Assembly are Republican. They're the ones that toiled and sweated and, uh, waited in the lines in order to participate in this process. They organized it. And then, for the state to come in and say, "You don't get to be the deciding votes. You also have to let unaffiliated into your private association, and they get, uh, a vote just like you do." And, and what's, what's problematic about it to me for the...

[07:08] Speaker 4: specifically is the unaffiliated in Colorado get two ballots, and they get to decide which ballot that they're going to, uh-

[07:16] Speaker 3: Hey, you wonder why unaffiliates have increased so much? I mean, one is motor voter where our son, at age 15, uh, got his learner's permit, and they s- they sent him a, you know, early registration. Uh-

[07:29] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[07:30] Speaker 3: ... and so half the people... I mean, Rev filled it out and said, you know, "I'm a true blood son of the, of the grassroots," but-

[07:37] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[07:37] Speaker 3: ... you know, most people go, "I don't know what I am. I'm unaffiliated." I mean, it touches-

[07:40] Speaker 4: Right. Right. And so, for me, this is a... really, it's defending... it's, it's dancing with the p- the party that brought you, you know? Um, and, and you... it's no disrespect against the unaffiliated, and I feel that a few calls from folks in the course of the many calls about this, uh, this lawsuit. But, um, you know, if they wanna vote in our primary, then please join the party, and, uh, we'll welcome you in.

[08:13] Speaker 4: We sometimes understand why you wouldn't wanna be a member of this party, but at the same time, you know-

[08:18] Speaker 3: (laughs) We've f- we've felt the same ourselves, you know?

[08:20] Speaker 2: But it takes, like, 10 seconds to go in and... you know what I mean? It's, it's, it's not like you're, you know, handing over your firstborn child, and you-

[08:27] Speaker 3: And, and you can take it back the next day after you, you know...

[08:31] Speaker 4: Right. Right. And so, you know, what we learned as we were going through this process and, and, uh, I was, I was appalled to see the four sitting congressmen come out with a lawsuit that said, uh, uh, removing unaffiliated from the, uh, Republican primary, and, and Jeff Hurt's, uh, affidavit in particular said, "Removing unaffiliated would cause me irreparable harm." And I thought, "What a self-centered way to look at this." And, you know, our lawsuit is, let's remove unaffiliated from our association, uh, unless they choose to associate as a Republican, because they are causing Republican voters irreparable harm, and that's really the larger issue. Uh, and I think we're looking at it from a more enlightened, more of a servant, uh, mentality than Jeff Hurt's, "It will hurt me personally." And, uh, I don't think anybody really cares, you know? I don't.

[09:37] Speaker 4: Uh-

[09:37] Speaker 2: I'm not that worried about Jeff Hurt either, so-

[09:38] Speaker 4: No. No.

[09:39] Speaker 2: ... well, talk a little bit about... 'cause I know we had... we've, we've talked in some other places in this show, and some of the other lawsuits, and some of the studies have shown that the, the unaffiliated voters really are... I mean, even the judge in the, the recent lawsuit, when he threw out the 75% said-

[09:53] Speaker 3: But even, even then, and particularly in the federal lawsuit, which I think is noted, has been noted before, the judge said, "There's no evidence the unaffiliates, you know, affect, uh, the Republican nomination." You know, w- w- where's your proof?

[10:07] Speaker 4: Right.

[10:07] Speaker 3: Apparently, y- y- you've got some.

[10:10] Speaker 4: Well, we have some smart statisticians, uh, mathematicians, PhDs that have worked on this, have reviewed it and have, you know, offered their, uh, agreement to the process. And it's a reverse methodology, uh, or regressive methodology, excuse me. And, uh, what they're, what they can essentially figure out is, uh, uh, the, the time drops of unaffiliated and, and then how the votes are, um, tabulated at that point in time, and they can figure out how many unaffiliated voted. Uh, Mesa is a great example of that. We, we have determined that in, uh, 2024, there were 27,000 votes cast in Mesa County in the Republican primary. Fully 10,000 of those were, uh, unaffiliated. So, that brings the Republican total down to 17. And what, what they can also do, and, and see, I'm an interesting case study in this, because I'm now in, uh... I was in a federal race in '22 and in '24. And, uh, now running in '26, I have standing based off of the US Supreme Court's decision on the Bost v.

[11:32] Speaker 4: Illinois, uh, case. And he was a, he is a congressman now, and, um, they tried to dismiss his case 'cause he didn't have standing. Effectively, um, that can't happen anymore. And so my status as a federal candidate-

[11:50] Speaker 2: Huh.

[11:50] Speaker 4: ... gets us to the next level. And, um, you know, I'm grateful to have, uh...... of Scott Bottoms with us and, uh, David, uh, David Wilson is there, too. And, um... But what we're finding as we look at this unaffiliated from those '22 and '24 races is, uh, they can go back and kind of pull them out and in the senate race, uh, the final results were, uh, uh, Joe O'Day got 55, I got 45%. If you remove the unaffiliated through this process, I won that race 60 to 40.

[12:31] Speaker 2: Wow.

[12:31] Speaker 4: And, and in the race in '24, uh, against Jeff Heard and... there were six people in it all together, I came in second. And, uh, if you do the reverse, uh, methodolo- or regressive methodology, sorry, uh, and, um, it- it- it bumps my score 15 points and-

[12:52] Speaker 2: Wow.

[12:52] Speaker 4: ... and what's interesting about that is it jives very well with the polling we had based off of contacts. I mean, tens of thousands of contacts, uh, in CD3. We got the results back about a week before the '24 primary and the guy said, I- you're- you're at about 42% and in their statistical effort, which are completely separate, uh, they don't know each other, uh, they said 43. So, we think there's some, uh, we think there's some there there, and we're, uh, up in court on the 14th.

[13:29] Speaker 2: Wow.

[13:29] Speaker 4: Th- that Thursday this week, yeah.

[13:31] Speaker 2: Well, and I'll point out, Joe O'Dell was cl- Joe O'Day was clobbered, so it's not like he won, but... So the bottom line here is, you have some evidence to say what we've been kind of asserting all along, that, that-

[13:40] Speaker 3: Which is common sense -which is common sense, yeah, that it's a Republican primary, but the main people who are deciding who the candidate is are unaffiliated voters, not Republicans.

[13:50] Speaker 4: Right.

[13:51] Speaker 3: Apparently, and I've seen another one and maybe this relates to your Mesa County one, where X percentage of the people that said, um... you know, in '24 you had both a, a, uh, state primary and a federal primary, one for president and one for, um, state hill offices, and that a significant percentage of the people, uh, that- w- who are unaffiliated, um, and asked for a Republican ballot in the state requested a Democratic ballot, um, for president.

[14:25] Speaker 3: Meaning-

[14:26] Speaker 4: Okay.

[14:26] Speaker 3: ... that's who they're going to vote for, right? They were-

[14:28] Speaker 2: They were Democrats.

[14:29] Speaker 3: ... de- they were Democrats or-

[14:30] Speaker 4: Right.

[14:31] Speaker 3: ... anyway. Th- they were more interested... And there really wasn't anybody opposing against Kamala Harris, but they wanted to be on record as voting for Kamala, which means they were not, you know, in a general election, they weren't gonna vote for you.

[14:44] Speaker 4: Right.

[14:44] Speaker 3: Uh, so they were just playing in the primary.

[14:47] Speaker 4: Well, and, and in, uh, in- that- the primary for the president was in March of '24, and, uh, Biden was still on, and so-

[14:56] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[14:56] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

[14:56] Speaker 4: ... there was... But, but it, it, it did help, uh, Biden kind of do that, um, uh, voteless transition to Kamala Harris because he had, you know, higher numbers than he might have had otherwise, so.

[15:11] Speaker 3: Right, mm-hmm.

[15:12] Speaker 4: Uh, and it's important to note as well that the, the data that we have on this regressive analysis a- also, uh, there's, there's Democrat races that it showed some, uh, changes in and fluctuation.

[15:30] Speaker 2: Ah.

[15:30] Speaker 4: Uh, not as severe as the Republican, but, you know, you can... Just remembering 2024, it was kind of a light, uh, primary year for Democrats and it usually is. You know, they usually have it sorted out and, you know, tell a guy to wait his turn, and that's our, our nominee there. Um, but, but this year now is gonna be very different.

[15:54] Speaker 2: Okay.

[15:54] Speaker 4: And, um, I'm, I'm interested to see what ha- what comes of this court case, and I'm interested to see if it doesn't succeed or doesn't, uh, conclude in time, you know, we, um, w- we know the status of the courts, you know, and they'll weaponize courts and so forth, and we intend, uh, to, uh, pursue our options, you know, as necessary, but I guess one, one, one, uh, case at a time.

[16:23] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[16:23] Speaker 4: But, um, but should it come to pass, I think the unaffiliated Democrats, uh, are going to really impact their races. They've got the governor, the AG, the s- uh, Secretary of State, I think is, is, uh... and in my case, CD3. So, uh-

[16:45] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[16:45] Speaker 4: ... it's a- it's- it's an interesting election cycle.

[16:48] Speaker 2: Well, and the thing is, is, to me, it's, you know, y- that's fine if you wanna be unaffiliated. I understand-

[16:53] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[16:53] Speaker 2: ... maybe some people don't even know they are, and you know with all the election integrity issues, may not even know that they voted, right? Just, their ballot was cast, or cast in their name. But it still just seems fundamentally wrong that you have-

[17:06] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[17:06] Speaker 2: ... people who are not Republicans having, not a minor role, not a- a- but a significant role in selecting the Republican Party candidates.

[17:15] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[17:15] Speaker 2: Uh, and that's just- to me, that just fundamentally r- um... I mean, there are people who want to destroy the parties and the party system-

[17:21] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[17:21] Speaker 2: And so- and so-

[17:21] Speaker 3: Including our ch- uh, former chair, and you may want to bring that up a little bit later, but, uh...

[17:27] Speaker 2: But, but yeah, but I think... I mean, h- you know, like you, as you said, who knows what the courts will do? But I think your case, um, is doing a lot, I think, to sort of highlight just how much of an impact and- and- h- that it's having, right? It's like, they might as well just go, you know, be an Independent and have an Independent candidate and a part- you know?

[17:43] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[17:43] Speaker 3: Well, yeah. I mean, sometimes you hear, "I represent- I represent the Independent Party." Uh, well, good. Start your own goddamn party.

[17:50] Speaker 2: Feel the home-

[17:50] Speaker 3: It doesn't cost much really, and do your home thing and leave us alone because you're not... you're clearly not of a kindred soul to the rest of us conservatives. But, you know, this is a funny thing.I got elected in, from CD7 until I got redistricted out, um, and represented the, uh, on the executive committee as the representative of CD7. And I used to go to those meetings and say, "Why don't we do something about 108?

[18:17] Speaker 3: Why don't we, you know, do this or do that?" And she'd go, "Oh, we can't."

[18:19] Speaker 2: Christy Burton Brown.

[18:20] Speaker 3: Yeah, Christy Burton. "Oh, we can't because it would cost millions. You know, it's impossible." And here Ron and a couple other guys who we know are billionaires, but-

[18:31] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[18:31] Speaker 3: ... nonetheless, they're, they're a nice attorney. They filed the case. They're ready to go. Well, what about the millions? So we can't do anything, Christy Burton Brown.

[18:41] Speaker 4: Yeah, uh, that, that was a, a false argument. And, uh, you know, we, we like where we are. The, the analysis seems very solid and, uh, um, but bottom line, uh, you, you know, I think we all, uh, respect the unaffiliated, but there's a problem with the, uh, equality of a voter getting two ballots and getting to decide which one to, to run. It, and it bothers me on a couple of different, uh, uh, levels, and that's certainly, first off, diluting the vote of the hardworking Republicans.

[19:20] Speaker 4: But why is it that the state accommodates somebody who hasn't committed to associate with a party by-

[19:29] Speaker 3: Right.

[19:29] Speaker 4: ... printing two ballots, by mailing two ballots, and by processing them through? I mean, it's a, it's a multimillion dollar cost by the time you-

[19:39] Speaker 3: That is right.

[19:39] Speaker 4: ... you send them out. And, and we only get one. Uh, it seems to me there's a 14th Amendment, you know, type of a, type of an argument there. And it, it oughta be, you oughta get one. If you're a citizen, that's what the m- the rest of us get. That's how it's always been. And, uh, the more we tinker with these processes, I think the worse it gets. Pretty soon we don't have parties. Pretty soon we have jungle primaries, and you can never audit a jungle primary because it's, uh, you know, it's, it's, uh, just a, uh, like a lottery ball type of deal.

[20:18] Speaker 4: So, um, you know, these are all-

[20:20] Speaker 3: But here's the thing. I think one reform that might be good, why not send the Democratic ballot to all Republicans and Republicans-

[20:28] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[20:29] Speaker 3: ... ballot goes to Democrats and see which one, how they choose who wants it.

[20:33] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[20:33] Speaker 3: We have some interesting candidates on, uh, both sides of that. Uh, but Christy Burton Brown, not Christy Burton. Uh, Rita, Rita, um, Rita, uh, was on John Caldera show, and she said, "Oh, yeah. I'm for jungle primaries."

[20:48] Speaker 2: Yeah. (laughs)

[20:48] Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Kinda chess, right?

[20:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

[20:51] Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, that's a surprise. You're destroying the Republican one for Phil and the boys, so why not?

[20:57] Speaker 4: Well, I- I'll tell you, that seems in retrospect, you know, uh, the amount of money that has been lost and garn- and the attempts to garnish it. You know, she came in, as I understand it, there was a, a balance of plus 75,000 and now we're down about negative 250, might end up being about 400,000 depending on who you talk to. But this is starting to sound-

[21:22] Speaker 3: 400,000 is all the debt in the Republican Party.

[21:25] Speaker 2: Yeah. (laughs)

[21:25] Speaker 3: Uh, party's got $12.55 in cash-

[21:29] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[21:29] Speaker 3: ... and $400,000-

[21:30] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[21:31] Speaker 3: ... because she submitted along with Russ Andrews these enormous or large anyway, enormous maybe not, large travel reimbursements.

[21:38] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[21:39] Speaker 3: Russ is getting like 70,000, some huge number.

[21:41] Speaker 4: Yeah, uh, you know, it's starting to look like it was a, uh, a failure by design.

[21:47] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[21:47] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

[21:47] Speaker 4: And it's kind of a, a corporate raider, except this is now just a party raider. So-

[21:53] Speaker 3: Right.

[21:53] Speaker 4: ... I think we should probably encourage Brita Horn. Uh, first she was what, treasurer up in Route County and that-

[22:00] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[22:00] Speaker 4: ... cost a couple hundred grand to get that issue with her resolved.

[22:04] Speaker 3: Over, over like 4,000, whether where, uh, a homeowner or ranch owner had to pay 3 or $4,000 in carriage interest.

[22:12] Speaker 2: Interest, yeah.

[22:12] Speaker 3: Um, and that, for that she billed a six-figure attorney, cleverly-

[22:16] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

[22:16] Speaker 3: ... six figures to the county and the county had to pay it, so.

[22:20] Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if we should, uh, encourage her to run for the Democrat chair or not.

[22:27] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[22:27] Speaker 4: But, uh, you know, I mean, so, we, we've gotta spread this poison out a little bit here, you know, so...

[22:34] Speaker 2: (laughs) Well, listen, I know you guys, you're hot on the campaign trail. Let me ask you a final question.

[22:38] Speaker 4: Sure.

[22:39] Speaker 2: Uh, do you mind, um, where can people help? Because you need all the... We're coming into the home stretch here. You need all the help you can get.

[22:45] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a 27-county district, and so we're traveling and, uh, we're making good ground. And, uh, you'd be amazed at the, at the conversations of people who are torqued about the representation they currently have. So we're getting, uh, some rather, uh, nice donations. We're grateful for it. We use it wisely. Uh, hanksforcolorado.com is where we are. It's, uh, hanksforcolorado.com, and, and anything we will spend wisely and, uh, put the stakes in this guy and get a conservative representative out there in a conservative district. We need one.

[23:27] Speaker 2: All right.

[23:27] Speaker 3: Well, if I could give you any campaign vi- advice, um, and maybe we send a contribution toward it. Uh, ballot harvesting works.

[23:34] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[23:34] Speaker 3: It's legal and it works.

[23:37] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[23:37] Speaker 4: Can you... Oh.

[23:39] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[23:39] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[23:39] Speaker 2: All right, well, Ron, thank-

[23:40] Speaker 4: Yeah.

[23:41] Speaker 2: ... thank you for your time. Good luck out there. Keep us posted, and, and I know you will, on what happens at the court hearing.

[23:47] Speaker 4: We will. It's on the 14th, so, uh, it's just a few days from now, so...

[23:52] Speaker 2: All right.

[23:52] Speaker 3: All right. Sounds good.

[23:52] Speaker 4: Thank you much for the time.

[23:54] Speaker 2: Great. Yeah. Good luck. Good luck to you, Ron Hanks.

[23:56] Speaker 4: Thank you.

[23:56] Speaker 2: So, um, yeah. We could talk brief, I'll read, Jacob had some columns. This is the first time in eight years the governor candidates have had to raise money. Polis's campaign was self-funded. US Aid and AdBlue are, um, locked out due to DOJ investigations. Um, especially AdBlue, who may have been accepting foreign contributions and straw donors as well. Um, if the Congress expunges the first Trump impeachment, then the senators who voted wo- con- to convict will have to explain how they got to convict, including Michael Bennet. Although, yeah, you, you, that's true, although I don't think Democrats care about that.

[24:26] Speaker 3: No. They, don't-

[24:27] Speaker 2: They, they, they-

[24:27] Speaker 3: This is totally unje- so?

[24:29] Speaker 2: Well, right, yeah, it's totally unjust.

[24:30] Speaker 3: Uh, what, Michael Bennet going to sue?

[24:31] Speaker 2: So, it, it, it'll be interesting to see what happens, um, because I am, have my questions about the so-called unaffiliated voters and who's actually casting the ballot. Is it actually the voter whose name is on there or is it somebody else, right?

[24:44] Speaker 3: Well, PO Box 150.

[24:45] Speaker 2: Right, yeah, these ballot harvesting. So you gotta wonder how much the Democrats fiddling in that. And I, you kind of think this year they have to worry about their own, so it, so it might be very interesting. But I think-

[24:56] Speaker 3: Well, well, Jacob also sent one where he's citing, and I'd like to know who WLT is, 150 (laughs) uh, House gained by Republicans. Well, that's nice news. (laughs)

[25:07] Speaker 2: (laughs) Well, it's al- well, you know, and I thought briefly when I talk about that, and we can talk to Bridget Horne. This, I think is sm- I think this is smart. So Trump, I, and I'm sure with the midterms and people in mind, um, wants to suspend the federal gas tax for a while until the gas prices come back down. I mean, that would be saving people roughly 18 cents a gallon.

[25:27] Speaker 3: That's not inconsiderable.

[25:28] Speaker 2: No. Um, it's bigger than the King Soopers discount. Um, and, um, it requires Congressional approval. So it'll be interesting to see 'cause it puts the Democrats in a weird position. Why would you want to vote against that?

[25:40] Speaker 3: Well, it also, also puts the Herds-

[25:41] Speaker 2: Ronnie.

[25:41] Speaker 3: ... and Gabe Evans kind of like, "Do I not really want to vote-"

[25:44] Speaker 2: Like, "Really want to vote against this?" And say, "No, no, keep gas prices higher." You know, I mean, so I know that-

[25:49] Speaker 3: "We don't, we don't want the, you know, the government needs every penny."

[25:52] Speaker 2: Every penny.

[25:52] Speaker 3: "You don't need the money. Come on."

[25:53] Speaker 2: So I'd like Trump, I mean, he, you're right, a Democrat'd be like, "We can't even remotely do anything-"

[25:58] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[25:58] Speaker 2: "... that, that affects taxes," right?

[25:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

[25:59] Speaker 2: But Trump was like, "Okay, we'll just suspend it." And they're like, "What?"

[26:02] Speaker 3: Huh?

[26:02] Speaker 2: I don't think they were seeing that coming. They're like...

[26:04] Speaker 3: No. Whoa.

[26:05] Speaker 2: And they're gonna start-

[26:06] Speaker 3: "What, what do you mean no tax on tips? Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute."

[26:08] Speaker 2: (laughs) Yeah. So that I think was in its own way brilliant of Trump 'cause he, either they s- can suspend it, which kind of lessens the pressure, you know-

[26:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[26:17] Speaker 2: Or they vote against suspending it, and now they're the ones-

[26:20] Speaker 3: Yeah. God, no.

[26:21] Speaker 2: ... causing the problem. It's like, well, we would've solved, you know-

[26:24] Speaker 3: What will we do with the roads with that, though?

[26:26] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[26:26] Speaker 3: No, no, no. There would be no safety for you little kiddies.

[26:30] Speaker 2: That's right. Um, back to the Bridget Horne thing, though. It was an extraordinary interview. So the former Colorado Republican Party chair, and as Ron pointed out, I think it was failure by design, which we all along suspected, right? That she was an establishment plant and her whole goal was to destroy the Republican Party. But she flat out on, oops, sorry guys. She flat out on John Kaliedera's show, um, when he was talking about how he likes jungle primaries.

[26:55] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[26:56] Speaker 2: She didn't even call it a jungle primary.

[26:57] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[26:57] Speaker 2: And she said, "Oh, yeah. I support that." It's like...

[27:00] Speaker 3: No kidding.

[27:01] Speaker 2: No kidding. And again, the problem that I always say for the people who say, "We have to get rid of the Caucus and Assembly system," um, it's like, okay, well then who selects the candidates if it's not the citizens?

[27:11] Speaker 3: 12 people.

[27:12] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[27:12] Speaker 3: 12 billionaires in Colorado, eight of nine of them on the Democratic side and a couple Rhinos. That, we don't have any, uh, conservative billionaires.

[27:20] Speaker 2: Yeah. They make it sound as if it's gonna be this sort of like, oh, and every person participates. It's like, well, no, somebody has to get the name on the ballot. It's not like we all write in our favorite person, right?

[27:30] Speaker 3: And that's either gonna cost money-

[27:32] Speaker 2: And-

[27:32] Speaker 3: ... or they do it or they do it by, by, uh, petition, which also costs a lot of money too.

[27:37] Speaker 2: So I don't see it. She goes, "I think it should be pay-to-play." In other words-

[27:40] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Of course it is.

[27:41] Speaker 2: ... pay to get on the ballot.

[27:42] Speaker 3: Only rich people can run.

[27:43] Speaker 2: Some people, most people could do that, so that, I mean, why even... Then make them get petitions too if you want.

[27:47] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Get the poor people.

[27:48] Speaker 2: I mean, if you're the rich person, do you care if you have to spend 70,000? 'Cause that's also some of the numbers they're talking about to get on the ballot.

[27:54] Speaker 3: Get rich.

[27:54] Speaker 2: If they want to put $70,000 into getting petitions or do they want to put $70,000 just to go straight to the ballot?

[28:00] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

[28:00] Speaker 2: I mean, if you're a billionaire supporting your candidate, you don't care. I mean, that's their fatal flaw. It's not as if all of these people who are in the middle are going to have a decision. They're not. The billionaires will decide who gets on the ballot in the first place.

[28:14] Speaker 3: And whose name they know and who na- There are going to be no debates or there'll be, you know, just these huge marketplace ones of 20 people that get to-

[28:21] Speaker 2: You know, Scott Bottens won't be able to get on the ballot.

[28:23] Speaker 3: No. Nope.

[28:23] Speaker 2: Ron Hanks would not be able to get on the ballot. Go back a few years before she became not good. Um, Lauren Boebert would have not been able-

[28:30] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[28:30] Speaker 2: ... to get on the ballot. So, uh, you know, it, it, it's, to that, so to have Britta sit, flat-out say, I mean, to me, I'm, I, she said the quiet part out loud, right?

[28:40] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

[28:40] Speaker 2: I'm sure the establishment people are saying, "Shut up. No, you're never supposed to say that out loud." But she's like, "Oh, yeah. I support that."

[28:45] Speaker 3: No, yeah.

[28:45] Speaker 2: It's not Britta saying that. That's Britta, the puppet of the establishment saying flat out, which we've been saying, and they've been, you know, instant-

[28:52] Speaker 3: Well, she's made every effort to make sure that the Republican Party will have no money to be able to conduct-

[28:58] Speaker 2: Right.

[28:58] Speaker 3: ... caucuses and, and assemblies and conventions. I mean-

[29:01] Speaker 2: Right. We still have, and just the update on that, that order is still outstanding, um, that, that Klenda, her personal attorney, has the right to go take $231,000 plus 18% interest from the Colorado Republican Party bank accounts, which doesn't have it. The, the party has asked the judge to reconsider ha- them having to post a bond and, and to reconsider that. So it sounds like the judge hasn't put it on hold. He ha- he hasn't suspended it or anything like that. The order still stands. He's just deferring its implementation, I guess, until the status conference hearing.

[29:37] Speaker 3: We don't know that either.

[29:38] Speaker 2: Yeah. We don't know that either. That's what it kind of appears 'cause that's-

[29:41] Speaker 3: Maybe.

[29:41] Speaker 2: ... next week, but maybe.

[29:42] Speaker 3: Maybe.

[29:42] Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe not. I mean, maybe he's just out fishing and hasn't gotten around to it. So that's the latest.

[29:47] Speaker 3: Well, he doesn't, the clerk does. You have to instruct the clerk.

[29:50] Speaker 2: Right.

[29:51] Speaker 3: You know, set a precedents here.

[29:52] Speaker 2: But at the same time, I'm joking-

[29:53] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[29:53] Speaker 2: ... that, that he's fishing and he's not dealing with it, but, but you're right. I mean, so Britta, you know, all along, what's, what we said was, was absolutely right. They want to get rid of the party 'cause it's the only organized opposition to the jungle primaries-

[30:04] Speaker 3: Yes.

[30:04] Speaker 2: ... is the Republican Party. And I-

[30:06] Speaker 3: There may be one that arises from the Democratic side.

[30:08] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[30:08] Speaker 3: Because, you know, the people from Brownstein do not like-They like general primaries too as our friend from Brown seen on op-ed on the Denver Post.

[30:17] Speaker 2: Okay. Oh, Ron Hank says he's got to step off. Thank you, Ron. Good luck out there with the campaign. They're working hard, Ron is-

[30:22] Speaker 3: Oh, thanks.

[30:22] Speaker 2: ... with his campaign. Oh, yeah. Um-

[30:24] Speaker 3: Thank you, Ron.

[30:24] Speaker 2: The other thing I kind of wanted to talk about, um, was (laughs) Victor Marks. Last week we talked about the, the, um, allegations of smurfing that he's-

[30:33] Speaker 3: I love that term.

[30:34] Speaker 2: His big claim to fame-

[30:35] Speaker 3: You've been smurfed.

[30:36] Speaker 2: Yeah. His big claim to fame is that he has-

[30:38] Speaker 3: Do you know where it comes from?

[30:39] Speaker 2: The little, um, you, you... No. Do you know?

[30:43] Speaker 3: They told me. Apparently there were these old women puppets that came in and would, would, you know, raise a ruckus and they all had-

[30:51] Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's-

[30:52] Speaker 3: ... purple hair.

[30:52] Speaker 2: ... they were cartoons. It wasn't women. It was like little cartoon characters.

[30:55] Speaker 3: Well, it's wom- women cartoon characters with purple hair.

[30:58] Speaker 2: No, they were like elves.

[30:59] Speaker 3: It was women again!

[31:00] Speaker 2: Okay. It wasn't. They were elves. (laughs) But, okay. Uh, that's what I thought. They, uh, they used to be s- I'm sure it's still out there somewhere, smurfs. Um, but anyway, what a smurf is, essentially it's a s- it's a straw donor. It's what it appears. So they, they came up with, um, thousands, tens of thousands of dollars, depending on who you're talking about, maybe over a million dollars worth of Victor Marks' campaign donations come from people who would be like the same person. It would be like Julie Hayden and one of the donations would come from Julie Hayden at 123 Main Street, Westminster. Another one, Julie Hayden, 123 Main Street, Cheyenne.

[31:34] Speaker 2: Another one, Julie Hayden, 123-

[31:35] Speaker 3: Right.

[31:35] Speaker 2: ... Main Street, Eerie. Uh, you know what I mean? A completely different, which would indicate that those are not real p- maybe one is a real person, but, uh, th- certainly the others aren't. Um, and I know, um, Ross Kaminsky actually, I think did a good job. He called some of them.

[31:51] Speaker 3: Really?

[31:51] Speaker 2: Uh, uh-huh. And they said, "What? No, they did not donate to the campaign." So-

[31:55] Speaker 3: Really?

[31:55] Speaker 2: Yeah. So that's out there.

[31:57] Speaker 3: That's neat.

[31:57] Speaker 2: Victor, Victor Marks says it's just-

[31:58] Speaker 3: Disapproval.

[31:59] Speaker 2: ... it's just like a clerical data entry thing.

[32:01] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[32:01] Speaker 2: But what's interesting is, so he's, he's got that, but that really calls into question just how much support does he have, right? If he actually doesn't have-

[32:09] Speaker 3: Well, normally, you know, a lot all the stories are exaggerations of the past.

[32:13] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[32:13] Speaker 3: They're not total fabrications. Everything seems to be an exaggeration. But when he raised 2.2 million, you go, you know, money talks and-

[32:20] Speaker 2: Right.

[32:20] Speaker 3: ... you know, that's, that's, that's kind of, uh, real money has to be given and, and, uh-

[32:26] Speaker 2: Well, and he was-

[32:26] Speaker 3: And then it end, it ends up who knows what was washed and like it's contributed then, and then given to, um, Victor Marks as, as, uh, you know, to pay his son and pay his living-

[32:38] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[32:39] Speaker 3: ... pay for his suits and all that stuff.

[32:41] Speaker 2: His own, his, his security detail.

[32:43] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[32:43] Speaker 2: But it really raises into question, I mean, like you said, money talks and these are small donors.

[32:48] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[32:48] Speaker 2: And you got to assume, well, if you're, you know, if you're into it enough that you're going to donate money, then you're certainly going to vote for the guy. But now it looks like maybe he doesn't have-

[32:56] Speaker 3: Right.

[32:56] Speaker 2: ... all of those donors. He's got the money, but we, it's not clear ho- where that money came from.

[33:02] Speaker 3: Right.

[33:02] Speaker 2: I mean, there's certainly a lot of questions, um, about, you know, uh, are those donors real? So where I'm going, today then he put out an email, his IEC, his independent expain- exp- i- e- what? Independent Expenditure Committee-

[33:16] Speaker 3: Committee.

[33:16] Speaker 2: ... which is sort of separate theoretically from the candidate.

[33:19] Speaker 3: Can't coordinate.

[33:20] Speaker 2: They can't coordinate with the campaign. Um-

[33:21] Speaker 3: Not sure.

[33:22] Speaker 2: Yeah, really. Um, but they put out, they had a poll done, a survey done, and they show that Victor Marks... And I, I wasn't clear who they surveyed. I don't know if this was in general or-

[33:33] Speaker 3: Uh, the, the, uh, people at Victor Marks', uh, headquarters.

[33:37] Speaker 2: Yeah. (laughs) And his family. Victor Marks had 59% of the vote to Barb Kruckemeyer's 15%, Scott Bottoms 16%-

[33:46] Speaker 3: That's not even close to being reality.

[33:48] Speaker 2: ... with, with 19% undecided. Well, that just goes back to the state assembly. So even if the people who are at the state assembly who voted overwhelmingly in favor of Scott Bottoms-

[33:57] Speaker 3: Well, clearly, I guess.

[33:58] Speaker 2: Well, okay, clearly in favor of Scott Bottoms, I mean, it was kind of flip-flopped there, right?

[34:03] Speaker 3: Yeah, 46 to 30.

[34:04] Speaker 2: And so they, I guess they weren't calling them in the survey.

[34:06] Speaker 3: No.

[34:07] Speaker 2: They didn't get called. But again, and, you know, when you see, and I'm, I'm just gonna call him out on this. Jeff Hont is, uh, at 710 KNUS Radio.

[34:14] Speaker 3: Who we love and who-

[34:15] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[34:15] Speaker 3: ... we want to stay.

[34:16] Speaker 2: Jeff's a great guy, but he's, you know, slatheringly putting this out. Nobody's asking Victor Marks-

[34:20] Speaker 3: He, he is so in the tank.

[34:21] Speaker 2: Right.

[34:21] Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Jeffy, but you're s- and, and, you know, I'm not the first one to say that. In fact, you know, I mean, Ryne Shilling who we, uh, got to talk to Saturday night, um, and a lot of other people say Jeff in the tank for-

[34:35] Speaker 2: Which is okay, you get to be, but then just go ahead and say that. You know?

[34:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, just-

[34:39] Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and acknowledge, ack- acknowledge that, right? As opposed to, well, you know. Uh, but I, but anyway, I think this poll is just really interesting. And once again, you got to wonder what's going to happen with Victor Marks. It's like he doesn't appear to have that kind of actual support. Um, and I don't know what happens in the primary when people actually vote. Um, uh, you know, he, he's clear-

[35:03] Speaker 3: Can I-

[35:04] Speaker 2: Oh, go ahead.

[35:05] Speaker 3: Can I just ask real quick, uh, where's Jenna Griswold?

[35:09] Speaker 2: Uh, well-

[35:09] Speaker 3: What she always is?

[35:10] Speaker 2: She said, she said it was okay. Apparently, she gave him a mulligan. Well, and I, I think Jacob, and she gave him a mulligan and said that they could kind of re-enter everything. Now, I'm not clear when that has to be done. She's not going to look into it. Um, uh, and I think frankly, Jacob, if you're a Democrat, you want Victor Marks to run, right? He's clearly, I think-

[35:29] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[35:29] Speaker 2: ... the, the most-

[35:31] Speaker 3: Easily beaten.

[35:31] Speaker 2: ... easily targeted Republican candidate.

[35:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, but, but, no. Yeah, but she's not campaigning all of a sudden. I don't see any ads for her anymore.

[35:40] Speaker 2: Uh, for women. Huh.

[35:40] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[35:41] Speaker 2: Didn't she have a pretty solid advantage though? I thought I saw, or was that one of her polls too? Her poll said she was in-

[35:46] Speaker 3: No, she was, she was claimed to be a liar by Kevin, by, uh, Kyle Clark.

[35:51] Speaker 2: Right.

[35:51] Speaker 3: And, uh, since then, I haven't seen a thing about her.

[35:54] Speaker 2: Ah. You know, I don't know. I, I'm not sure. I, I, I got to admit, I don't follow the Democrat stuff that much, so I wouldn't really notice the ads.

[36:03] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[36:03] Speaker 2: Um, and if they don't show on the Golf Channel, I don't get to watch anything else anybody, so I don't see.

[36:07] Speaker 3: (laughs) And you don't turn on anything.

[36:09] Speaker 2: I don't-

[36:09] Speaker 3: Don't try to blame me.

[36:10] Speaker 2: No, no. No, that's true. I don't, I don't see it. I don't know. What do you think?

[36:15] Speaker 5: I think she dropped out.

[36:17] Speaker 2: Ah, in other names -

[36:18] Speaker 5: I, I don't s- I don't see any... Oh, and the other thing was that, um, Phil Weiser. Remember the commercial? His first commercial said that he sued Trump, but that Trump mostly won.

[36:28] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[36:28] Speaker 5: He cut, he cut that out in the second commercial.

[36:31] Speaker 2: (laughs) Yeah.

[36:34] Speaker 5: (laughs)

[36:34] Speaker 2: I s- I saw that too and then somewhere Michael Bennett was attacking him, saying, "There are plenty of other AGs who filed way more than you."

[36:40] Speaker 5: Yeah.

[36:40] Speaker 2: So it's kind of like, yeah if you've got-

[36:42] Speaker 5: Yeah, that's...

[36:43] Speaker 2: You don't need to bring that up anymore.

[36:45] Speaker 5: Yeah.

[36:45] Speaker 2: All right. Hey, thank you, Jacob.

[36:46] Speaker 5: Yeah, bye.

[36:47] Speaker 2: Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you for pointing that out. Um, yeah, you would think Jenna Griswold would be a flawed candidate, but (laughs) she was-

[36:53] Speaker 5: Well...

[36:53] Speaker 2: ... like Secretary of State. She's crooked and corrupt. No one... She's a Democrat. That's not really, that doesn't really factor into-

[37:00] Speaker 3: What is, what is she running for this time?

[37:01] Speaker 2: Secretary of State.

[37:02] Speaker 3: Oh.

[37:02] Speaker 2: No, no, A- AG.

[37:04] Speaker 3: Oh, she'd be great.

[37:05] Speaker 2: Yeah. She hasn't... Well, kind of like the current AG never actually did any trials.

[37:08] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[37:09] Speaker 2: You know?

[37:09] Speaker 3: You don't have to.

[37:09] Speaker 2: I'm not even sure does she... I'm sure she must have her... I think you probably have to have a law degree, don't you?

[37:14] Speaker 3: No.

[37:14] Speaker 2: Okay. Well, so there we go. Jenna Griswold-

[37:16] Speaker 3: She probably has one, but, but we don't need that.

[37:18] Speaker 2: Yeah. (laughs) She read the, she read a law book somewhere.

[37:21] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[37:21] Speaker 2: Um, and it is, what's kind of sad is they'll probably win. I mean, if, if she's-

[37:24] Speaker 3: Oh, it's interesting.

[37:24] Speaker 2: ... running, she'll probably-

[37:25] Speaker 3: Sure.

[37:26] Speaker 2: ... win. There's some interest and it'll be, see what happens to Diana DeGette, um, and some of those.

[37:30] Speaker 3: I think that one's really interesting. I mean-

[37:32] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[37:32] Speaker 3: I have no idea and-

[37:33] Speaker 2: And, and just Dede Winne, yeah.

[37:34] Speaker 3: And, and I'm not s- you know, certainly Phil Weiser has the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, uh, which showed up at the, uh, assembly they had and-

[37:46] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.

[37:46] Speaker 3: ... and she lost badly to the s- socially conservative-

[37:50] Speaker 2: Almost didn't make the ballot.

[37:51] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[37:52] Speaker 2: Almost didn't make the ballot.

[37:53] Speaker 3: So there are gonna be a lot of people voting for Phil Weiser. Whether it's enough, I don't know. I don't know. It's, it's an interesting-

[37:59] Speaker 2: You mean for the Diana DeGette, um, challenger, whose name I don't know?

[38:03] Speaker 3: Well, I'm just saying-

[38:04] Speaker 2: Oh, I say well, Phil-

[38:04] Speaker 3: I'm saying those voters will also vote for Phil Weiser.

[38:07] Speaker 2: Vote for Phil. Yeah.

[38:08] Speaker 3: So I'm not sure Michael Bennett is a cinch. But I mean, those people don't want a jungle primary, 'cause then-

[38:13] Speaker 2: Right.

[38:13] Speaker 3: ... what they'll get... So you may have the, the grassroots of both parties going, "Bullshit" to it.

[38:18] Speaker 2: Right. Right.

[38:19] Speaker 3: Um...

[38:19] Speaker 2: But although, uh, sadly I think the progressive wing of the Democratic Party does have access to money in a way that the grassroots of the Color- or the Republican Party doesn't.

[38:28] Speaker 3: Well, he meant to treat.

[38:29] Speaker 2: Al- although Trump has hurt them with getting rid of all the NGOs, you know, and USAID and stuff like that.

[38:34] Speaker 3: Well, he didn't get rid of all of them.

[38:35] Speaker 2: Well, no. He didn't get rid of all of it, yeah.

[38:37] Speaker 3: There are plenty out there.

[38:38] Speaker 2: But he's, no, he's, there's still plenty more that can, that can do that. Now, it's going to be interesting and I saw Jacob earlier had put something out about the midterms. I don't think anyone knows anything about the midterms. There's so much going on right now. Um, and things are, you know, the, the economy is sort of a moving target and I think it still all comes down to, as always, the get-out-the-vote and ballot harvesting, right? I mean...

[39:00] Speaker 3: Well, and they're good at that and we're kind of, we think it's illegal somehow.

[39:04] Speaker 2: Right.

[39:04] Speaker 3: I mean, you can cheat illegally and it makes it easy to cheat, but unless you ballot harvest legally, then you have no chance of having, as I've bragged or, or confessed so many times, I was the first one to use ballot harvesting in Colorado in 2001 when Danette Davidson, um, yanked the, uh, requirement that you had to have a reason for an absentee ballot, and I guarantee it works. You can be 100% honest and if you do it and your opponent doesn't, uh, you're gonna win and vice versa.

[39:36] Speaker 2: Right. Ba- And even, I remember way back before we had the open primary, the semi-open primary, when I was back a reporter and I would cover... The Democrats just had, because of the, the money-

[39:47] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[39:47] Speaker 2: ... and the NGOs and the unions and the-

[39:49] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[39:49] Speaker 2: ... you know, uh, Planned Parenthood-

[39:51] Speaker 3: It's true. Yeah.

[39:51] Speaker 2: ... and all that. They had people for the gr- when you needed a ground game. I remember the Recov- the Republicans were sitting at Republican headquarters dialing, calling people.

[39:59] Speaker 3: Yes. Mm-hmm.

[40:00] Speaker 2: And eating pizza.

[40:01] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[40:01] Speaker 2: And the Democrats had people in their headquarters and they were sending them out into the neighborhoods.

[40:05] Speaker 3: Yes.

[40:05] Speaker 2: And they were sending them, th- at the time even they said they were going to send them to the, each door that they thought there was a Democrat voter, um, they were going to send three times, you know, once for single voting, twice for big day.

[40:14] Speaker 3: Well, they came here, 'cause your, your, your-

[40:16] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[40:17] Speaker 3: ... your daughter is, is a Democrat, um-

[40:20] Speaker 2: Or was. I don't think she is anymore.

[40:21] Speaker 3: Was, um, and, and they came by three times. I mean-

[40:24] Speaker 2: Right.

[40:24] Speaker 3: ... oh, come on.

[40:25] Speaker 2: Yeah, they came by on Halloween, too.

[40:26] Speaker 3: Halloween, yeah.

[40:27] Speaker 2: Just to make sure.

[40:28] Speaker 3: Trick or treat, give us the goddamn ballot.

[40:29] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[40:30] Speaker 3: Um, so that, that was kind of incredible stuff.

[40:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's interesting. We'll see what happens with Victor Marx. Uh, as I've said, the, um, a- a- an election is, is a marathon, right? And you can be well-produced and you can avoid debate and you can avoid policy and you can kind of yank people in on the basis of emotion, but that only goes so far. I mean, you can only keep saying that for so long and eventually, you know, as months go by and weeks go by, people start to say, "Well, what does he actually..." You know what I mean? And people start to care more about individual policies. It's like, "Well, what, what does he care about?" What, what, if, if the Colorado economy, you know, the state legislature, they're having to cut, well, what would he cut? Where would he cut it? You know, wh- would he fight for TABOR?

[41:12] Speaker 2: All that kind of thing, I think-

[41:13] Speaker 3: So if you believe this poll, right, and they don't, the, the, Victor at least you don't make it credible, you know? He, it's 45,000 people he's recognized. You know, it's, he has seven belt degrees, you know, jujitsu and weapons and it's never a little lie. It's a big... If you believe he's ahead by 44 points, he's 44 points up, you know, great. Uh, we got some stuff we can sell you.

[41:37] Speaker 2: (laughs) I was gonna say, I was laughing. I was like, he probably wanted to say he had 100% and then his campaign manager said-

[41:41] Speaker 3: No, we can't do that.

[41:42] Speaker 2: We can't.

[41:43] Speaker 3: It's not the Soviet, old Soviet Union. We can't.

[41:45] Speaker 2: (laughs) We can't say you have 100% and he's like, "Why, why don't you get 95?" They're like, "No." (laughs)

[41:50] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[41:50] Speaker 2: We're gonna make it s- and it's like, you know, it's... And I'm, again, it wasn't clear who they were polling, um-

[41:56] Speaker 3: Well, apparently they were polling, uh, attendant voters.

[41:59] Speaker 2: ... types of polls. As you said, there are push polls and then there are legitimate polls, right?

[42:03] Speaker 3: And then there's this poll.

[42:04] Speaker 2: And then there's this poll and, and again, if you're Victor Marx, you don't really actually want to know how you stand. You want to know, you want to be able to trump it.

[42:10] Speaker 3: Well, the whole point is, is to give it a sense of momentum.

[42:13] Speaker 2: Right.

[42:14] Speaker 3: And, and, oh my God, I, you know, everybody-

[42:16] Speaker 2: Everyone's-

[42:16] Speaker 3: Everybody wants to be with a winner. Nobody wants to vote for-

[42:18] Speaker 2: Right.

[42:18] Speaker 3: ... a loser.

[42:18] Speaker 2: For p- Yeah.

[42:19] Speaker 3: Um, and it's kind of, oh, my God, and, and poor Scott Bottoms-... barely gets above five percent. I mean-

[42:25] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[42:26] Speaker 3: Poor guy. He, he-

[42:27] Speaker 2: He was defeated by the Association.

[42:28] Speaker 3: Yeah, he beat him, crushed him, crushed him, he soundly defeated him at the, at the as- at the assembly, but now i- it's all of a sudden 59-6.

[42:38] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[42:38] Speaker 3: Oh, sure. I mean, they don't even come close to kind of pretending they're honest and, and you know, wouldn't Goebbel say, you know, if, if you, if you re- make a big enough lie and repeat it often enough, people will believe the truth, so-

[42:51] Speaker 2: Right.

[42:51] Speaker 3: ... this may, this may-

[42:52] Speaker 2: This may work. Well, and sooner or later, though people are gonna-

[42:54] Speaker 3: Poor Jeff Hunt. I mean, having to read that. Oh, it's independent and I want you to know that it's associated... Okay, so that's why you're telling it ..........................

[43:03] Speaker 2: Right. Well, yeah, a- and, and again-

[43:05] Speaker 3: And poor Billy. Poor Billy. He-

[43:06] Speaker 6: Can I say one more thing? I forgot to say.

[43:08] Speaker 3: Sure.

[43:09] Speaker 6: All right, 'cause I was just told I don't have to go to work. Um-

[43:12] Speaker 3: Oh, no, no, no, no!

[43:14] Speaker 6: (laughs) Actually, it's a restaurant near you guys. I'd like to invite you one day, but we'll see. Um-

[43:20] Speaker 3: You should.

[43:20] Speaker 6: ... um-

[43:21] Speaker 3: You can work for free food, so...

[43:24] Speaker 2: I think he said tree.

[43:24] Speaker 6: I know. (laughs)

[43:26] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[43:26] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[43:26] Speaker 6: But we'll work it, we'll work it out.

[43:27] Speaker 2: All right.

[43:27] Speaker 6: But what happened was, um, in, in California, not only is there a primary, there is also, or the governor, I's sorry, the gov- the, uh, the election, there's also a Save Act on the ballot-

[43:40] Speaker 3: Yes.

[43:41] Speaker 2: Oh.

[43:41] Speaker 6: ... in California. That's gonna draw a lot of Republicans and a lot of Democrats.

[43:47] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[43:47] Speaker 6: I mean a lot of Independents.

[43:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, 'cause-

[43:49] Speaker 6: And then we'll see.

[43:50] Speaker 2: California's interesting, you know, you'll see the Democrats will probably wanna change the system again once they start losing. They're like, "Oh-"

[43:55] Speaker 6: That's right. Exactly.

[43:57] Speaker 2: "... let's go back to the start page."

[43:57] Speaker 6: That's exactly where was it. Okay, bye.

[44:00] Speaker 3: And that's, that-

[44:00] Speaker 2: Make sure you have a good time at work.

[44:01] Speaker 3: ... and, and, and we've got to do next show, and Julie promises, because she's the one in charge of getting the studio, we've got to put on the, um, uh, campaign by, by the guy's house burnt down for LA Mayor. Um-

[44:16] Speaker 2: Oh, okay.

[44:17] Speaker 3: What, what is his name?

[44:18] Speaker 2: Pratt?

[44:18] Speaker 3: Yeah. Pratt. It's hilarious, it's an AI generated ad. We gotta have that on the next show.

[44:24] Speaker 2: Okay. I'll look for it. Yeah.

[44:24] Speaker 3: Because it's hilarious.

[44:25] Speaker 2: Okay.

[44:26] Speaker 3: It's kind of a Batman, Joker thing. It's hilarious.

[44:30] Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you know, the Republicans or the Democrats are funny. For a while remember they wanted to get rid of the electoral college.

[44:35] Speaker 3: They still do.

[44:36] Speaker 2: They, they still do but, but now they might not win, so they, I mean, you know, now that they're losing the popular vote, they don't really want the popular vote.

[44:43] Speaker 3: No, they do. They do.

[44:44] Speaker 2: They do, they just ain't been quite about that point.

[44:45] Speaker 3: They keep on saying, you know, "We would've won" and then they go, "But you lost the popu-" "Well, you know, we didn't try."

[44:51] Speaker 2: "We didn't try hard," yeah. "We had Joe Biden, what can you say?"

[44:54] Speaker 3: "We had Joe Biden and that's not true."

[44:55] Speaker 2: "What can we say?" Um, okay, well that's going to wrap it up for us. I think on Wednesday one of the things we'll talk about, Chuck is working on for the Gr- Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle, great story kind of taking a look at like essentially the RTD and Democrats trying to destroy Denver, um, by, by making-

[45:10] Speaker 3: And the state if they could, but it's an amazing thing on these so-called bus rapid transit and right now rider ship is down significantly. Right, they don't have any riders. It's down over 20%. Um, and they, you know, it really is an empty bus company. They run a lot of routes, uh, because people, uh, you know, they can have a representative on the board and so they get routes that have... And they want to cut their, their ridership or their routes anyway 20%, but, but not, not in Denver. There they want to bankrupt everything.

[45:42] Speaker 2: And Jacob thank you, and happy Mother's Day to everybody out there, too. Real quick, and then, because I'm going to have to wrap it up here, um, Thomas has the Pratt &-

[45:48] Speaker 3: Right now. Play it. Right now.

[45:50] Speaker 2: We'll play it right now 'cause I'll forget.

[45:51] Speaker 3: Yeah, Julia will forget. Sure.

[45:52] Speaker 2: Listen, all right, here we go. Just to wrap it up with something fun. (dramatic music plays)

[46:02] Speaker 6: (laughs) Please, I'm begging you. There's homeless drug addicts in front of the schools. My children aren't safe. (crowd laughing)

[46:11] Speaker 3: Look, if you were a transgender migrant, I could get you a free pussy.

[46:15] Speaker 5: Let's move the drug addicts closer.

[46:18] Speaker 6: Bass already solved crime, I endorse her. Next. (dramatic music plays) (gun cocks) (car explodes) (dramatic music plays) (crowd laughs) (car explodes)

[46:36] Speaker 1: Please, I just want to rebuild my home. It's been over a year. (crowd laughing)

[46:45] Speaker 4: Mom, look. (dramatic music plays) (guns firing) (cars exploding) (dramatic music plays)

[46:57] Speaker 6: This is a machine. If we want to burn this town to the ground, we'll throw the... (dramatic music plays)

[47:34] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[47:34] Speaker 3: That was great.

[47:35] Speaker 2: That was great. That was pretty good. Hey, Thomas, thank you.

[47:38] Speaker 3: Thank you, Thomas.

[47:39] Speaker 2: On that note-

[47:40] Speaker 3: We'll hang on a high note-

[47:42] Speaker 2: We w-

[47:42] Speaker 3: ... we'll leave.

[47:43] Speaker 2: All right. We'll see you all on Wednesday. Thanks-

[47:45] Speaker 3: Bye-bye.

[47:45] Speaker 2: Great job, Thomas. Bye, everybody.