July 22, 2008 - 1:17pm
What happened to the 7th?
By Wally Edge
Category: HouseTags: John Lerew, Rick O'Donnell, Ed Perlmutter, John Kerry, Bob Beauprez, George W Bush, Al GoreTop Story: Opinion
The recently created 7th Congressional District was drawn to be a very competitive district -- and some considered it the most competitive in the country -- but this year's race appears to be anything but competitive.
In 2000, Vice President Gore narrowly carried the district over George W. Bush by 49.8 percent to 48.9 percent. In 2002, Bob Beauprez (R-Arvada) won the seat by just 121 votes, representing a miniscule 0.07 percent margin. U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) won the district by 51.4 percent to 48.2 percent over President Bush.
Republicans held the district since 2002 but lost control in 2006 when Beauprez vacated the seat to run for governor. That year, Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Aurora defeated Republican Rick O'Donnell by 54 - 37 percent.
Recent trends suggest the district is becoming more Democratic. The percentage of voters registered as Democrats increased from 33.5 percent in 2004 to 34.0 percent in 2007, while Republican registration dropped from 31.8 percent to 30.5 percent during the same period.
Now it appears that Republicans have all but given up on trying to win back the district. Perlmutter's Republican challenger, John Lerew, has raised under $6,000 so far and had under $3,000 in cash on hand as of the end of the 2nd quarter.
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Clarification
In 2000, the area within the boundaries of what became the 7th Congressional District cast 103,592 votes for Al Gore and 101,632 for George W. Bush, or roughly 50 percent to 49 percent.
Gore did what?
How could he have narrowly carried a district that didn't exist until after the 2000 census?
It does seem curious that
It does seem curious that the GOP would put up such an underfunded (and nearly invisible) candidate in a district that is, at the least, contestable. Kerry might have beat Bush there, but Beauprez won 55%-47% in 2004.
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