By TCS Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Jared Wright @_JaredWright_

Friday, February 12, 2016

DENVER – Well, you made it to Friday. Ahead for you are two days of not having to wander underneath the Gold Dome. Congrats. If you’re working campaigns … my condolences.

“It’s always difficult to keep Fridays confined within themselves … they tend to spill over …” — Kai Sinclair

Now, your substrata feed straight from the politics pipeline:

State Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, speaks to reporters Thursday as civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, far left, and alleged Bill Cosby victim Beth Ferrier look on. (Roxann Elliott/The Colorado Statesman)

Allred joins Fields to take on Cosby crimes, also strengthening campaign momentum? — Yes, that Gloria Allred. She joined state Rep. Rhonda Fields and alleged victims of Bill Cosby sexual assault Beth Ferrier and Heidi Thomas — both Colorado residents — for a news conference in a state Capitol committee room yesterday. Fields is introducing two bills to address sexual assault statutes of limitations so that crimes like the dozens Cosby is alleged to have committed decades ago can be fully prosecuted in criminal court much farther down the road from their original occurrence. Read the full story and watch the video from Statesman Capitol Bureau Chief John Tomasic here.

While no one should cast doubt on the sincerity of Field’s legislative push here, it is also an unquestionable election year win for the representative who is running for Senate District 29 against fellow state Rep. Su Ryden, the only other candidate in the race — Democrat or Republican — to date. Sources tell us that Fields continues to succeed in the fundraising department, an area in which she outperformed Ryden during the 4th Quarter of 2015. Fields currently has nearly double the funds on hand compared to Ryden, with $40,000 in her campaign account compared to Ryden’s $23,000. Fields has also racked up the endorsements from high profile Democrats including former Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and current Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

Ryden has a number of endorsements, though perhaps not as high-profile from state Sens. Polly Baca and Suzanne Williams and current state Sen. Nancy Todd.

How these bills will impact Field’s campaign directly has yet to be seen, but having a name as widely known as Gloria Allred show up for your press conference is certainly a positive thing in an election year.

The Brady Bunch’s (some of them) first big show — 

Colorado Republican candidates for U.S. Senate

Last night, 7 of the 10 GOP U.S. Senate candidates wanting to take a shot at toppling Sen. Michael Bennet converged on Reiman Theater at Denver University for the first in what should be a number of forums and debates in the Republican U.S. Senate quest.

Ok, so not quite the Brady Bunch, at least in terms of the gender spectrum, but you get the joke … big family.

The 7 in attendance? State Sen. Tim Neville, former state Rep. Jon Keyser, El Paso County Commissioner Peg Littleton, El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, Fountain, Colorado, resident Charles Ehler and businessmen Ryan Frazier and Robert Blaha were all there.

Video of GOP state party Executive Director Ryan Lynch’s introductory remarks by AP’s Kristen Wyatt below:

Analysis? Blaha, Keyser, and Neville performed well, as one would expect a top-tier candidate to perform —they stayed on top of their messages and did not stumble — they looked and sounded like potential U.S. Senate general election candidates. Frazier was at ease, humorous, answered questions well and said some unexpected, but not out of character things. All four of the candidates proved themselves — at least in this early forum — to be serious about the craft of stage-performance politics. We will continue to monitor closely. With a field this full, there should be another 100 of these forums and at least a few debates.

Sandgren off to the races — State Rep. Joe Salazar, to the surprise of few, has now at least one Republican challenger in House District 31 this election year, and one who has an unusual amount of Republican leadership weight behind her this early in the season. Jessica Sandgren, a former teacher from Adams County will seek to unseat Salazar in a district with a disproportionate Democrat to Republican voter registration ratio (trending numbers in comparison to 2014 that Republican strategists have not been pleased with recently), but a large pool of unaffiliated voters that could make the race interesting. Read the full story from The Statesman’s Politics Editor Ernest Luning here.

There was another debate last night … with a fiery blowout — Hillary Clinton andBernie Sanders again faced off, last night in a PBS NewsHour debate at the University of Wisconsin. The debate drew the CNN headline, “Clinton Clings to Obama.” The headline stemmed from an exchange towards the end of the debate in which Clinton criticized Sanders for “attacks” on Barack Obama. Sanders responded, “Madam Secretary, that is a low blow.” Watch the full exchange below:

Colorado Young Democrats packed Capitol Cigars on Colfax for a lively debate watch party — yours truly was even there to enjoy the occasion, good conversations with Colorado Young Democrats Vice Chairman David Sabados and Young Democrats of America Vice President Danielle Glover.

The heavily statistics-based debate questions — something you would expect from a PBS debate — created a policy wonk’s dream dialogue  — this according to a Politico story by Hadas Gold.

A very imprecise, but perhaps indicative of the manpower and time being spent online by Sanders staff and volunteers, is a Times Magazine post debate poll. With over 60,000 votes cast to this point, Sanders currently leads the poll with 81 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 19 percent.

A sum analysis of Bernie Sanders from Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Political Director Alan Salazar this morning following the debate:

“The only good political movement I’ve seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.” — John Lydon

Events:

Denver DA Race Community Forum — Saturday, Feb. 13, 11:00 am, Community A.M.E. Church, 3100 Richard Allen Ct.

Colorado Democrat’s Jefferson Jackson … I mean 83rd Annual Dinner — Saturday, February 13, 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm MST, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Pl, Denver. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both speaking at the event.

Town Hall Meeting with Rep. Dan Kagan and Sen. Linda Newell — Saturday, Feb. 13, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm,  6060 S Quebec St, Greenwood Village.

Jefferson County Republican Men’s Club Breakfast — Monday, February 15, 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Davies Chuck Wagon Diner, 10151 W 26th Ave, Wheat Ridge: Tom Tancredo will be presenting on “Why he is no longer a Republican.”

South Carolina Primaries — Democrats: Saturday, Feb. 20; Republicans, Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Agriculture Day at the Capitol — Set for Tuesdays, March 16 — get ready for awesome food and great folks to descend upon the Capitol.

Happy Birthday a bit in advance to Janice Sinden, Mayor Michael Hancock’s COS, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow!

More from the wires:

Denver Business Journal’s Ed Sealover reports on a bipartsian legal opinion issued regarding the Colorado hospital provider fee and road funding. Former legal counsels to the past two Colorado governors, Trey Rodgers (Gov. Bill Ritter) and Jon Anderson (Gov. Bill Owens) both say OLLS was wrong and that the fee should not be commingled with general fund revenue.

Complete Colorado’s Simon Lomax reports on an expanding campaign for control of the state legislature led by Tom Steyer and his allies along with the help of Tim Gill and New Belgium Brewing Company.

Roll Call’s Jason Dick reports on a tense Senate floor debate between Republicans Tom Cotton and Charles Grassley yesterday that preceeded the blocking of a bi-partisan juvenile justice bill.

The Hill’s Scott Wong reports on the GOP’s “powwow” on the budget occurring this morning where Speaker Paul Ryan is expected to pitch the budget to fellow Republicans.

The Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning reports on Bernie Sander’s plans to hold a campaign rally this Saturday morning.

The Colorado Statesman’s Ramsey Scott recaps the bi-partisan killing of Sen. Kevin Lundberg’s death penalty bill this week.

Colorado Capitol Watch — From our bill tracking partner at Colorado Capitol Watch:

House Bill Wrap-Up: Today 

Senate Bill Wrap-Up: Today 

Bills Passed 3rd Reading: Today

(House & Senate Bill Wrap-Up Links will update for 24 hours.)

NO New Bills: 2/11

All Bills: 385 as of 2/11  

Bipartisan Bills: 164 as of 2/11

Audio Update: This Week, TodayHouse and Senate Calendars:

HOUSE – Your Feb. 12 Calendar here 

SENATE – Your Feb. 12 Calendar here 

You’re up to date. Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend. More Hot Sheet on Monday …

Tell us what you know! – To submit a tip, event, happening, gossuping, chattering or other interesting tidbit to The Hot Sheet, click here to submit via our contact form … yes, even anonymously if you’re feeling all cloak and dagger.

JW