Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Updates on the runoff endorsements

In the three runoff City Council races, frontrunners lead each race by substantial margins. For that reason, the challengers need endorsements from the now-expired candidacies of their general election opponents in order to have any hope of winning.

Council District 3: JoAnn Phillips now has the endorsement of three former candidates: Kathy Sandoval, Mark Roggerman, and Antoinette Alire. These candidates represented 11%, 10%, and 2% of the votes in the May general election. Added to Phillips own total of 15%, this coalition represents 38% of the electorate. Compared against Lopez's 45%, the gap has narrowed considerably. One also wonders whether questions surrounding Lopez's official residency will swing the tide in favor of Phillips.

Council District 7: Julie Connor has declined to endorse either candidate, leaving her 19% of the vote unaccounted for. Shelly Watters is left to battle Chris Nevitt without further support. With Nevitt needing just one sixth of Connor's union-friendly, small-donor constituency to obtain a majority, it's hard to see how Watters could overcome the 20% deficit from the May election, when she received 27% to Nevitt's 47% of the vote.

Council District 8: Greg Rasheed has endorsed Sharon Bailey, doubling Madison's deficit from 8% to 16%. With virtually no news coming out of that race since the May election, there appear to be few dynamics working on Madison's behalf.

1 comment:

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...

JoAnn Phillips might have a chance if she made it easier for someone to find something out about her. When I was researching candidates, I found out a little, but I'm not even entirely sure that what I did learn referred to her, or merely someone else with the same name.

I'm sorry, but even if you are endorsed by the Denver Post, if you are running for public office in a jurisdiction (a council district) with more people than the vast majority or counties and cities in the State, you need a website. You can win a race on word of mouth in Bailey or Salida. It is foolhardy to try to do that in Denver.