RNC Announces Major Changes to Presidential Primary Process

Say that three times fast. As our friends from "The Fix" explain:

The Republican National Committee voted on Friday to drastically compress its presidential nomination process in hopes of avoiding a drawn-out and expensive fight that weakens the GOP's eventual standard-bearer in 2016.  The changes include protecting the rights of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada to early votes  in February and making it far more punitive for other states — Florida, we are looking at you — to move up their primaries. The party's national convention will also move from late summer/early fall to no later than the end of July.

The moves were the brainchild of RNC commitee Chair Reince Prieubus, but will it ultimately be a good thing for Republicans? As "The Fix" notes, the Primary changes could end up forcing a candidate upon the GOP that might not be their best option in a General Election (like that's new):

Whether or not that was the right move — a compressed calendar puts a premium on momentum and makes it hard to stop a candidate with momentum even if it's not the candidate the establishment wants — remains to be seen, but Priebus has now left a major mark on how the party will pick its next presidential nominee. It may wind up being his lasting legacy at the head of the party.

What say you, Polsters? Is this good or bad for Republican hopes of winning the White House in 2016?

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Lang Sias, Laura Woods “Tea” Up For SD-19 GOP Primary

Earlier this week, Republican Lang Sias announced his intentions to run again in Colorado Senate District 19 this year against recently-appointed Sen. Rachel Zenzinger. Sias has made several unsuccessful attempts at elected office in Colorado in recent years, including a failed bid for the 2010 CD-7 nomination (won by Ryan Frazier), and in 2012, a hard-fought loss in SD-19 to then-Sen. Evie Hudak. Sias lost by a relatively small margin in 2012, only 584 votes, in a race that saw thousands of conservative votes "wasted" on a third-party candidate. Sias' bad luck running for office has been compounded by gaffes, such as his "Tea Party Endorsed" signage from 2010 which had the "Tea Party Endorsed" part Photoshopped out for 2012–an incident that made national cable news.

Laura Woods.

?Perhaps as a result, it appears that Sias won't have a clean shot at the SD-19 GOP nomination in 2014. Already running in this district is Laura Woods, one of the principal organizers of the recall petition drive against Sen. Hudak last year. Woods reportedly has amassed quite a bit of grassroots and gun-rights activist support from her work on the Hudak recall, and there's no reason as of yet to think she plans to get out of Sias' way. Republicans do consider SD-19 a pickup opportunity this year, but it's expected to be a tight enough race to make any uncertainty problematic.

Which of these Republicans would be the better challenger to SD-19's likable new Democratic incumbent, former Arvada councilor Zenzinger? They'll only get one shot, so Republicans had better choose wisely.

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Sketchbooks primary

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DNA methylation regulates lineage-specifying genes in primary lymphatic and blood endothelial cells

Lab group paper presentation 'DNA methylation regulates lineage-specifying genes in primary lymphatic and blood endothelial cells ' Simone Bro ¨nneke et al.

Lab group paper presentation 'DNA methylation regulates lineage-specifying genes in primary lymphatic and blood endothelial cells ' Simone Bro ¨nneke et al.

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Radio host shouldn’t get all giddy about an HD25 primary until Gerou decides whether to run

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Last Tuesday, KLZ radio host Ken Clark had a conversation with Jonathan Keyser, who's running for CO House District 25.

Clark acted as if Keyser will be challenging Rep. Cheri Gerou in a GOP primary, even though Gerou hasn't filed to defend her HD25 seat.

Clark described Gerou this way:

Clark: "And for those of you that don’t remember, Cheri Gerou is the gal that got into that – oh, I don’t know, she was the one that had some expletives to say at Joe Neville, who is a lobbyist for Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. Her Principles of Liberty scores are just slightly better than the Democrats… She was at the bottom of the barrel for Republicans. She scored less than five points higher than the best Democrat. Um, ya think that’s somebody screaming out to be primaried? Yeah, I do."

Later, Clark said of Gerou:

Clark: "She is the worst Democrat that has an ‘R’ next to her name, that we have in the state of Colorado."

Keyser tried to correct Clark about the Gerou race, saying, "Right now I’m not challenging Representative Gerou. She hasn’t filed. You know, and so I don’t know what her intentions are." 

But Keyser couldn't slow down the Grassroots Radio Colorado co-host:

Clark: "All right. Well, you’re running against Cheri 'Stump the Chump' Gerou, and those are her words, not mine. Those are her words. She called herself 'Stump the Chump' Gerou, so I can only go off of what she says."

One wonders if Clark had any inkling that Gerou might not face Keyser, whom Clark described as a fellow 2012 graduate of the conservative Leadership Program of the Rockies.

ColoradoPols speculated last week that Gerou might decide to "challenge former Sen. Tim Neville (father of RMGO's lobbyist Joe) in a GOP primary for the chance to run in Senate District 16 against Sen. Jeanne Nicholson." If so, Pols noted, the "clash between Gerou and Neville would be an acid test of the much-ballyhooed power of the RMGO in Republican primaries."

If this happens, you think Clark would side with Gerou or Neville?

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