Less than a week before ballots are due, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told several hundred avid Republicans that Colorado voters have the chance to turn the tide of history by sending U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner to the Senate and former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez to the governor’s mansion.

“This is a historic election that’s going to make a huge difference in the future of this country,” said Bush at a rally for the GOP on Wednesday evening at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock.

“This country can lead the world. That’s what this election is about. It’s not about the past; it’s about the future can look like,” Bush said, “and we can mold the future together by electing principled conservatives.”

Gardner is locked in a close race to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, while Beauprez is polling closely in his bid to send Gov. John Hickenlooper packing.

Bush, a potential presidential candidate in the next election, got in a jab at a possible 2016 opponent, calling recent remarks made by Hillary Clinton — she was in Aurora campaigning for Democrats last week — “breathtaking” without mentioning her by name.

“A candidate — a former Secretary of state — who was campaigning in Massachusetts said, ‘Don’t let them tell you that businesses create jobs,’” Bush said, and the crowd booed. “The problem in America today is that not enough jobs are being created. They are created by businesses; where people’s incomes rise — where they can live a life of purpose and meaning independent of government. That should be the mission. The only way that we do that is to create a climate of economic growth where everybody — everybody! — has a chance at earned success. And that’s why Cory Gardner has to be elected to the United States Senate.”

An added bonus to a Gardner win, Bush said, is that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid will no longer be the majority leader in the Senate.

Virtually the entire statewide and congressional Republican ticket kicked up some dust as they trooped across the stage inside the livestock building at the fairgrounds, stacked with bales of hay and packed to the rafters with several hundred vocal volunteers.

Bush touted the importance of the Colorado vote and sounded notes aimed toward a national vision of a resurgent conservative movement.

“If you believe, like I do, that this is the greatest country, then we need to prove it. We need to start fixing some big things so this country takes off, and that’s why this election matters,” he said. “Imagine a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a Republican-controlled Senate, beginning to paint what that agenda looks like. Imagine in Colorado: conservative governance at the State Capitol. My guess is that you’ll see people begin to believe in America again and that this country will take off.”

“I have a secret for you,” said Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call. “Ready for it? We’re winning. So, what do you do when your opponent is on the ropes? You keep hitting him.”

Gardner, who leads Udall just outside the margin of error in most recent public polling, stressed the urgency of the Nov. 4 deadline to turn in ballots across the state.

“We are running out of next elections,” he said. “We are running out of time to solve our nation’s greatest challenges.”

Iterating his plan to “get this country growing, moving, innovating,” he added, “We don’t have to settle for minimum wage when we can achieve maximum opportunity. We don’t have to settle for second-best. We’re running out of next elections, and that’s why this election is so important.”

Colorado, he predicted, can be “the majority-maker,” providing the key sixth Republican win that will hand the Senate gavel to Republicans.

“Imagine a nation that rises,” Gardner said, invoking the Founding Fathers and their empowering vision. “This nation deserves a government we can be proud of, and we can build it together.”

An energetic and beaming Beauprez, striding about the stage, told the crowd, “It’s up to you to close the deal.”

Saying that he and his wife, Claudia, have lived the dream in Colorado, Beauprez lamented that state residents are discouraged lately “because government is on the people, instead of, by and for the people. Would you like to get back to that thing we’ve always called freedom?” The crowd clearly agreed.

The state, Beauprez said, was within a few days of beginning to be great again.

“Do you believe and trust in government, or do you believe and trust in people?” he asked, and members of the crowd gave him the answer he wanted: “People!”

“As I understand, the job of the governor is less to govern the people than it is to govern the government. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t want to run your life, but I sure want you to have the freedom to run your own,” Beauprez said. Then, with a smile and an assured nod, he concluded, “Let’s be great again. Let’s claw back that lost territory. Let’s make Colorado a red state again.”

Beauprez loaned his campaign an additional $317,000 in recent weeks, campaign finance documents filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office show, bringing the total he’s chipped into his campaign to $844,000. He reported $225,000 in contributions during the most recent biweekly reporting period, making for a grand total of $1,642,000 raised since he jumped into the race this spring. He had $88,000 left on hand.

Hickenlooper, who hasn’t loaned his campaign any of his own money, reported raising $5,210,000 through the last reporting period. The final reports on this year’s state races are due on Dec. 4.

After the rally, Call said the party was in a better position than he’d hoped as the election deadline looms.

“The enthusiasm, the growing desire among Colorado Republicans to see a victory come November, is motivating the kind of turn-out and ground-game operation that we’ve been working hard to invest in to make happen,” Call told The Colorado Statesman. An optimistic vision laid out by the candidates, he added, was “the compelling closing argument in the final days of this campaign.”

Although all eyes are on next Tuesday’s vote, Call said that Colorado Republicans won’t be resting once the votes are counted.

“The reality is we have to, as a party, be engaged in a year-round, 365 days a year campaign. We are going to maybe take a day or two off, but the reality is, starting on Nov. 6, we’re looking to 2016 and beyond, recruiting great candidates and building the ground game,” Call said. “I do know a number of our staff are probably being deployed to Louisiana and maybe a couple of other states where we anticipate potential run-offs. We’re working to help Republicans to victory all around this country.”

It’s part of a retooled strategy to win in a purple state, where Democrats have excelled for the last decade in top-ticket races.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have the kind of investments and help and support from so many good people around this nation who understand that a win and a victory in Colorado will help to put our country back in the right direction,” Call said.

Congressional candidate George Leing, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Jared Polis in CD 2, speaks to the crowd at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock.

Photos by Ernest Luning/The Colorado Statesman

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com

See the Oct. 31 print edition for full photo coverage.