Fifteen years ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … columnist Norman Duncan revealed in a front-page story why he had changed his registration after being a “SERIOUS Democrat” since childhood. “I found it harder and harder to support the party I perceived as a total captive of special interests,” Duncan wrote, faulting the party for backing affirmative action long after it was clear the policy wasn’t working as intended and for supporting teacher unions when they were more interested in protecting the jobs of educators than in teaching children. Though he had first registered as unaffiliated, Duncan saved the biggest surprise for last, announcing that he had registered Republican in time to vote for John McCain in Colorado’s upcoming presidential primary. Noting McCain can be angry and petulant but also humorous and honest, Duncan said he’s “been waiting for John McCain for quite a few years.” But he didn’t agree with his new political party any more than he had with the old one, Duncan added, calling out the GOP’s fealty to the NRA and its attempts to “hijack the Christian religion to support their own narrow and selfish ends.” In the end, he concluded, “I’m a ‘flaming moderate.’”…

… Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush committed a “personal foul” by appearing at Denver Broncos headquarters during a campaign stop, wrote reader and Broncos season ticket holder Susan Santos. “The pep rally held for Bush this week was entirely inappropriate,” she wrote. “The team should not be used for political purposes by either Republicans or Democrats. I don’t care whose cousin is VP of Business Operations.” She noted that Democratic candidate Al Gore was in town recently but the Broncos didn’t rally for him. …

Twenty-five years ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton headlined the Colorado Democrats’ Jefferson Jackson Day dinner but wasn’t ready to say he wanted to run for president two years hence. In an interview with The Statesman’s Art Branscome, the “youthful, bushy-haired” Clinton, described as bearing more than a passing resemblance to JFK, predicted that President George Bush might be riding high after the collapse of communism but could be beaten in 1992. The incumbent’s prospects, Clinton said, will depend on how well he manages the peace dividend and turns his attention to economic difficulties at home. “The real question is whether we are prepared to lead the world we have made,” Clinton said at the dinner, suggesting that under Bush the answer would be a resounding “no.” …

… Colorado Springs Mayor Bob Isaac, a Republican, was taking his time weighing a run against Gov. Roy Romer just weeks before precinct caucuses. Among the mayor’s perceived assets were his reputation for calling it as he sees it, but one such call was raising alarm among Republicans. Isaac had endorsed U.S. Sen. Gary Hart in his bid for reelection in 1980, praising the Democrat’s “character and integrity.” Pundits wondered whether Isaac might be the classic “sacrificial lamb,” requiring the popular Romer to devote time to his own race rather than help the Democrats secure the Senate seat being vacated that fall by Republican Bill Armstrong. U.S. Rep. Hank Brown was the presumed GOP nominee for that seat, though Democrats were still deciding. According to a Statesman poll of Democratic Central Committee members, Buie Seawell led the pack, trailed by Carlos Lucero and Josie Heath.

Thirty-five years ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Republican Senate candidates were training fire at each other while incumbent Democrat Gary Hart “basks” in his office, eight months from the election, news editor Jody Strogoff reported. All the Republicans say they’re running against Hart, contender Joel Hefley told The Statesman, “But at this point we’re running against each other.” State GOP chairman Phil Winn chided Republicans in a memo urging candidates to stop “the destructive in-fighting.” The kind of “destructive criticism” Winn was seeing has derailed Republican candidacies in the past, he wrote, warning that “Continuing in this negative course will only lead to a Hart victory in 1980.” Curt Uhre, campaign manager for Secretary of State Mary Estill Buchanan, was facing attacks from other campaigns for his role in the 1978 election of Kansas Sen. Nancy Kassebaum. “He wasn’t the big gun we thought he was,” Hefley said after acknowledging he’d personally investigated Uhre’s bona fides. Candidate John Cogswell “reluctantly” shared a poll that showed that rumored candidate Howard “Bo” Callaway was underwater with voters by a 3-to-1 margin. And candidate Sam Zakhem proclaimed he was “really shocked” that someone had leaked Winn’s letter, though he agreed that Republicans ought to stop bickering. Candidate Frank Lee, for his part, vowed to stick to the 11th Commandment and not speak ill of fellow Republicans….

… Arapahoe County Republican District Captain Bill Owens begged to differ with a friend who thought it a gesture of sportsmanship when the American audience had applauded Soviet athletes during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. After reviewing a plethora of “Soviet-backed violence and terror” atrocities committed around the world, Owens said there was no getting around it: “The history of the Soviet Union is there begging for review — and condemnation — by all decent and civilized people.” While Owens acknowledged that many Soviet athletes are probably personable and charming, they represent a nation “which must, by any measure, be ranked among the most evil in history.” Instead of applause, he concluded, the contingent “should have been greeted at Lake Placid by an awesome and eerie silence.” …

… A Denver Republican Party fundraiser featuring comedian Bill Cosby was sold out, organizers said, but names were being taken for a waiting list. The $27.50 tickets included a full buffet dinner and a night of laughs at the Turn of the Century nightclub.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com