The year was 1979. The Eagles’ top song “The Long Run” was a hit on the radio. The Denver Broncos finished second in the AFC West Championship under coach Red Miller. And it was the last year that Democrats held a majority on the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

The Eagles were right: it has been a long run indeed for Republicans.

Fast forward 37 years to a high-profile 2016 election year filled with wall-to-wall coverage of presidential candidates. During such a busy year, an election for the CU Board of Regents would seem almost an afterthought.

But among the down-ballot races in Colorado this year, the real sleeper race may be the statewide, “At-Large” open seat on the Board of Regents that could flip the political power of the nine-member panel that oversees 61,000 students, four college campuses and a $3.5 billion university system budget.

The battle for control of the CU Regents is not unlike the battle being fought for the White House. This year’s contest pits longtime Democratic Party political strategist and former House Majority Leader Alice Madden against a political newcomer and wealthy entrepreneur Heidi Ganahl.

Both women are graduates of CU, but many of their philosophies are fundamentally different as one might assume between a Democrat and Republican.

Madden played an instrumental role in “The Blueprint” — a plan hatched by Democrats that resulted in a takeover of the Colorado legislature from which Republicans have still never recovered.

After she left office, the shrewd Madden went to work at the Center for American Progress as a climate-change fellow. She worked at CU’s School of Public Affairs as a chair in the area of sustainable development. She also served in the Obama administration’s Department of Energy where she helped craft energy policy.

During her time in those positions, Madden spent time rubbing elbows with conservationists and other environmental activists. She has ties to billionaire Thomas Steyer through her work at the Center for American Progress, where Steyer is a large donor and board member. Steyer has spent nearly $10 million in Colorado elections in just the past two years.

Madden is a self-described environmentalist, stating in her own campaign for CU regent that voters ought to know if all nine regents “believe in man-made climate change.”

Environmentalist activists have been making a push to get the CU Board of Regents to divest from any corporations, states, or nations that are connected to fossil fuels. A look at the political playbooks of groups such as Fossil Free, 350.org, and WildEarth Guardians illustrate a policy area where Madden could become comfortably and actively involved quite quickly on the Board of Regents. But, the candidate has done well to steer herself clear of the divestment issue in this campaign, seeing it as a potential lightning rod issue. She told The Daily Caller News Foundation in March that “Any and all investments made by CU should be based on receiving a sound financial return.”

Heidi Ganahl has a private sector background that is contrasting to Madden’s more government career track. Although successful today, Ganahl went through adversity and near financial ruin after losing her husband in a plane crash. She recovered, and went on to found the nationally recognized Camp Bow Wow — one of the first dog day care organizations now worth an estimated $100 million.

In her campaign, Ganahl talks about education, the future of students, and their ability to attain the American dream.

With her business track record, Ganahl says she would focus her attention on student performance and success. As a board member of the University of Colorado Foundation, Ganahl has raised funds from the private sector to support CU students so that they can have the same opportunity at a bright future that she has had.

Political analysts suggest that this election cycle favors those who have worked outside the mainstream political track like Ganahl, but Madden is playing her campaign smartly and is well-connected. The down-ballot race for regent may very well come down to voter turnout in the presidential election.

An excited anti-establishment electorate on the GOP side could certainly help maintain an age-old Republican majority on the CU Regents’ board. But Madden’s fundraising and political prowess should not be counted out. She is, after all, a woman who once helped flip Colorado’s state legislature to blue.

For a sleeper election that most voters have never heard of, the impact of the CU Board of Regents election could be a significant one, and the results will be felt by parents, educators, and Colorado’s students for years to come.

— jennifer@coloradostatesman.com