A weekly dive into the pages of Colorado Politics’ predecessor, The Colorado Statesman, which started in 1898:

Forty Years Ago This Week: “It’s outrageous and disheartening,” said former City of Lakewood Mayor James “Jim” Richey in an interview with The Colorado Statesman.

With the Republican U.S. Senate primary dragging on between Mary Estill Buchanan, Bo Callaway and Sam Zakhem, Richey said that he was absolutely convinced that the dates of the parties’ primary elections should be changed.

“A solid eight months are dedicated to intra-party squabbling during primaries,” Richey said. “And only 60 days between Democratic and Republican nominees.”

Richey suggested a better solution would be to hold primaries in August to cut down on the amount of time primary opponents spend arguing.

Richey ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1978, but lost to Ted Strickland. The primary was so contentious that Richey said he had few memories of it, perhaps having blocked most the stressful race from his mind.

Thirty Years Ago: Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate Josie Heath, in conjunction with the League of Conservation Voters, sent out an 11-page press release detailing opponent Hank Brown’s congressional voting record.

“It’s a green-scam, pure and simple. Hank Brown is trying to fool the voters into believing that he has a pro-environmental voting record,” said Ali Webb of the LCV.

Heath’s report alleged that Brown voted against the green agenda at least 19 times during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But Brown didn’t take Heath’s and the LCV’s statement sitting down, hitting back with a 12-page press release of his own in which he lambasted the former Boulder County commissioner for her “soft” stance on crime. He cited Heath’s support of the Boulder program to provide free needles to drug users in an effort to slow the spread of AIDS.

Brown was playing his law and order credentials and endorsements heavily, having garnered Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan’s endorsement along with William Bennet, former secretary of education and current director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who was slated to speak at a fundraising lunch for Brown.

“We’re hoping this luncheon will be more than just a fundraiser,” Brown said. “We want it to be an anti-drug event.”

Ten Years Ago: Campaign managers for both Sen. Michael Bennet and his Republican challenger, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, said that regardless of their expensive and contentious primary campaigns, both campaigns were going to pull out all the stops, financial or otherwise, to paint their opponents as out of touch with the state’s voters.

Bennet campaign manager Craig Hughes called Buck “an extreme conservative who is far out of touch with mainstream Colorado voters,” and said he planned to build on a statewide network of volunteers and donors to show voters that Bennet is “more concerned with solutions than political gamesmanship.”

Hughes outlined Buck’s positions on Social Security, abortion and student loans which he said would make Buck hard to swallow statewide — especially after Buck and the other Republican primary candidates consistently tried to “outflank each other to the right.”

But John Swartout, newly appointed Buck campaign manager, said that Hughes’ plans to label his candidate as too extreme would flounder.

“I don’t think that sells in Colorado. People want to know what the future’s going to be for them, whether they can get a job, whether they can grow their business,” Swartout said.

Buck meanwhile planned to lampoon Bennet for his allegiance to the Democratic agenda and tie him to the faltering economy. And he went a step further to remind voters that Bennet had never won an election to become senator.

“Appointed Sen. Bennet was chosen by one person to protect the Washington special interests and be a rubber stamp for their agenda,” Swartout said. “That’s what’s extreme — the spending in Washington, the debt — that’s extreme to burden future generations with that debt. In Ken’s mind, that’s what’s extreme.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs Gazette.