Thirty Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Legislators should be “ashamed” of moving the primary election from September to August, wrote Susan Duncan, president of the Denver Election Commission, in a guest commentary. “These are the dog days of August, when sensible people are paying attention to baseball – not politics,” she wrote. “If they’re not watching baseball, they’re involved in some other worthwhile activity, such as getting a tan. They are certainly not tuned into politics.” Just a week before the inaugural August primary, Duncan said all indications were pointing to a record low turnout, as the election commission had received only one-third the average number of requests for absentee ballots. “This is August,” she wrote, when Coloradans want to be “picnicking, not politicking,” “vacationing, not voting.” Two years earlier, when the proposal to move the primary was under discussion, a staffer at the secretary of state’s office had “pooh-poohed” Duncan’s concerns, arguing that most Coloradans took their vacations in February, not August. “Just another indication of the country club mentality that besets our current federal administration and too many of our Colorado elected officials,” she lamented. If turnout was as low as expected, Duncan suggested there would be blame to go around – the media hadn’t gotten the attention of a distracted electorate, candidates hadn’t raised enough money to get their message on the air during summer reruns – but she laid it at the feet of legislators. “If you believe, as I do, that a low turnout helps the incumbent, you may not have to ask why our legislators voted as they did. Shame on those who discouraged so many, perhaps more than 80 percent of Denver’s eligible voters, from helping to decide who will be the candidates on the November ballot.” …

… Former Adams County Republican chairman Hal Shroyer was beyond upset with former U.S. Rep. Jim Johnson, a fellow Republican, who had just endorsed U.S. Rep. Tim Wirth for the open Senate seat and given the Democrat a $1,000 campaign contribution. “I haven’t been so shocked and disappointed since first being told there wasn’t a Santa Claus,” Shroyer wrote in a guest commentary pleading with Johnson to “please change your wicked, wicked ways.” The GOP had been good to Johnson, Shroyer maintained, and whether it was “jealousy” of Wirth’s Republican opponent U.S. Rep. Ken Kramer “or a temporary state of insanity,” Johnson had some explaining to do. Shroyer listed all the times he’d stuck his neck out for Johnson or gone the extra mile for the Republican, including being called a “wild-eyed liberal” in the press for defending Johnson’s vote to give away the Panama Canal. “Jim, I remember when we rode horseback for two days above timberline trying to convince Hank Brown that he should run for your congressional seat,” Shroyer wrote. “How you can support a loyal Republican like Hank and give financial support to a liberal big-spender like Tim Wirth is a mystery.” …

… State Treasurer Roy Romer, the lone Democrat running for governor in the upcoming primary, was thrown a curve ball on a recent campaign swing through Manassa after answering the standard questions about jobs, agriculture and education. Then came the wild card: “What do you feel about Satan worship?” the local asked. Romer, taken aback, said he carefully framed his answer. “Whatever you do in your home is no business of government, even if it is Satan worship,” he said. “But if you hurt anyone else, then it becomes an issue where government should be involved.” …

… On the campaign trail with gubernatorial candidate Steve Schuck in Gunnison, a local woman identified only as Mrs. Miller asked him where he stood on “senior issues.” Smiling, he responded, “Funny you should ask about that. We just finished a final draft on aging issues. Our position paper will be out prior to the primary.” He added that he resented the term “senior citizens,” but Miller shot back that she preferred it to “old woman.” Schuck told a group of Miller’s friends that senior citizens are, unfortunately, the most wasted resource in America. “We’ll have to pick up more responsibility at the state level,” he said. “But are you familiar with the issues?” Miller wanted to know. Schuck’s wife, Joyce, chimed in to say she told her husband every day about senior matters, noting that she has done extensive work on senior activities. Then it was on to Montrose, where Schuck’s scheduler had penciled in “shake and bake” for the afternoon, and indeed the candidate spent a couple hours shaking hands and baking in the mid-summer sun. …

… While he understood why Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Schuck made frequent reference to his wife, Joyce, on the campaign trail, GOP primary opponent Bob Kirscht didn’t think his own divorced status would affect his chances to win election or his ability to govern the state. “My two daughters will be good at entertaining,” Kirscht smiled. Besides, he dates one woman steadily, he said, “and I lead a good life. I know how to entertain people, and that’s only one facet of being a good governor.” …

… Meanwhile, The Statesman tagged along with the third gubernatorial primary candidate, state Sen. Ted Strickland, when the Republican sat for an interview at a Loveland radio station, where he was introduced by his colleague state Sen. Wayne Allard. Then Strickland and Allard toured local businesses, where the complaint was common: business was slow. “We’re the only state without a governor actively pursuing business,” Strickland said. Then he met with House Speaker Bev Bledsoe and state Rep. Ron Strahle for a “shopping spree” campaign aides had scheduled. It seemed his advisors wanted Strickland to buy a new pair of cowboy boots for his appearance at the Adams County Fair the next day, “something with more rounded toes.” In the end, Strickland vetoed the new boots. “I don’t know why I can’t keep the ones I have,” he said, pointing out he’s had them for years and they’re worn in.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com