Twenty-five Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … So far only one Republican had emerged to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth, who was gearing up to run for a second term in 1992, but plenty of others were sniffing around. Former state Sen. Jim Brandon and Denver GOP activist Gloria Roemer – both fresh from losing 1990 congressional races – were testing the waters in Grand Junction at the Colorado Federation of Republican Women’s annual convention, although Roemer found the water inhospitable. “Let’s just say, I’m not the chosen one,” she frowned. Brandon said he’d also been approached by a group of county chairs who’d been interviewing prospective candidates and would make his decision by year’s end. The lone announced Republican Senate candidate, state Rep. Ken Chlouber, had a scare in Grand Junction while campaigning with his racing burros Snoopy and Mork after leaving them to graze in a field while hobnobbing with the GOP women. When he returned, Mork was lying motionless on the ground, but it turned out the burro had bumped his head on a nearby trailer and knocked himself unconscious. Before long, Mork was on his feet. Meanwhile, dozens of members of the Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club – including Mort Marks, Bill Owens and Mike Coffman – signed a letter urging state Sen. Terry Considine, who had recently suffered a horse-riding accident and was on crutches, to “hurry up and walk so you can run – run against Tim Wirth.” Independence Institute President John Andrews, “still smarting” from his landslide loss to Gov. Roy Romer a year earlier, was at the Arapahoe meeting but declined to sign the letter, saying he would make up his mind on his own potential run by the end of the year. And in another Senate race development, Wirth hired his deputy state director and political director, Jim Carpenter, to manage his 1992 campaign. Carpenter was Wirth’s director of operations in his 1986 Senate bid. …

… Consultants were starting to line up with Democratic presidential candidates in anticipation of Colorado’s first presidential primary in just four months, and the candidates were starting to show up throughout the state. Mike Stratton and Will Dupree of Stratton Reiter Dupree & Durante had signed on at the national level to advise Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, as had Sue Casey, another local veteran of former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart’s presidential campaigns. John Frew, who managed Tim Wirth’s 1986 Senate campaign, and former U.S. Rep. Ray Kogovsek were co-chairing the campaign of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. Chris Gates was organizing the race in Colorado for former California Gov. Jerry Brown, while Denver attorney Penfield Tate III was working for Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder. Still, numerous bigwigs appeared to be sitting on the sidelines until New York Gov. Mario Cuomo decided whether he would be running or not, since pundits agreed he had the best chance of beating President George Bush. …

… Since the Colorado Legislature was heading back to the Capitol for a third – third! – special session after having failed to come to agreement on congressional reapportionment maps, the Statesman decided to float its own proposal – “at least no worse and a heck of a lot more rational than most of the others that have surfaced” – designed to meet federal criteria and evade Gov. Roy Romer’s veto pen. For some reason, although the state had six congressional districts, the Statesman plan included seven wedge-shaped districts converging “at the center of Colorado politics,” carving up the Statesman offices in the block north of the Capitol. The boundary lines meant each office at the newspaper would have its own representative, and if staffers “become fed up with their congresspersons, they can merely move down the hall to another office.” CD 1, the “snobs and spinach greens” district, kept communities of interest intact by grouping Aspen, Boulder and parts of Capitol Hill. The petite CD 2 included the state’s Republican Hispanic and black residents, while CD 3, the “media and airport” district, included Romer, Denver International Airport, Denver Chamber of Commerce President Dick Fleming, the two Denver dailies and most TV and radio stations. The “beautiful people” lived in CD 4, stretching from Cherry Hills Village to Vail. The higher education-focused CD 5 zigzagged to include CU President Judith Albino’s residences. The “Mensa” district, CD 6, would be populated by a number of names that appeared to be regular writers of letters to the editor. And CD 7, for mysterious reasons, would include the state’s handful of Mongolian residents. Gambling towns Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City, however, didn’t fit in any of the districts and would be annexed to Nevada. …

… Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, led Gov. Roy Romer and a class of 23 youngsters in an exercise class at Barnum Elementary School in Denver, part of a stop on the Terminator’s 50-state tour to promote physical fitness. “I didn’t expect you to get down on the floor with us,” Schwarzenegger told Romer during the heart-pounding workout, which included knee bends, jumping jacks and sit-ups. “You’re doing good!” A dozen push-ups later, Romer was still keeping pace with the action star, although a few of the kids had sidelined themselves. “When you go home and see your parents watching television, walk into that TV room and say, ‘Mom, dad, get out of that couch and exercise with us!'” Schwarzenegger told the star-struck schoolchildren, drawing laughter and cheers. Although Romer, a Democrat, and prominent Republican Schwarzenegger occupied opposing sides of the political fence, they agreed on the message and appeared to be getting along famously. “It’s good to talk with someone so tuned in to both education and physical education,” Schwarzenegger said. “Life is a wonderful experience, and you can’t taste the fullness of it unless your body is healthy enough to carry you around,” Romer noted. Despite the young age of the students – they were 7 and 8 years old – they all seemed to have seen Arnold’s latest monster hit, the R-rated Terminator 2. “He was big!” said one tyke. Their teacher, Janet Pommerehn, said she had to keep reminding students that Schwarzenegger the actor was distinct from the combat-ready characters he played, particularly after one asked, “Will he bring all his guns?”