Twenty Years Ago This Week: In a twist of fate that surprised political pundits, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Miles defeated state Attorney General Ken Salazar at the Colorado Democratic Assembly to gain the coveted top-line ballot position in the primary election. Even the candidates themselves seamed stunned as the results were announced.

Miles’s supporters said that the result proved that grassroots politics trumped name recognition.

A former Colorado Springs high school principal, Miles received 52% of the vote even though Salazar was nominated from the floor first. It was clear from the backing of party officials and elected leaders that Salazar was – and would remain – the party favorite.

In a speech reminiscent of one he gave on the steps of the state Capitol in downtown Denver after U.S. Rep Mark Udall announced an end to his re-election campaign, Salazar called for unity amongst the party and touted his own long experience as Colorado’s preeminent law enforcement official.

Former Gov. Roy Romer had publicly announced his endorsement of Salazar, citing Salazar’s strong values and longtime family history in the district.

But Miles, who had already been actively campaigning for the seat for two years, seemed to electrify the assembly delegates with an emotional speech and professionally-produced, accompanying video.

As he paced the stage, Miles hammered home the absolute necessity for change.

“We have been silent too long in this party,” Miles thundered. “The wages of our silence have been war, numerous failed policies, and an America that has lost its way.”

Miles also spoke harshly of President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq War, calling on his fellow Democrats to join him in embracing both the change and the discomfort necessary to end the catastrophe.

Ten Years Ago: Climate activists descended on a meeting of the conservative Centennial Institute to take part in a debate over banning hydraulic fracturing. Wes Wilson of progressive organization Be the Change, laid down a figurative gauntlet when he argued that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was no different than Black slavery in the United States.

“Slavery had a lot of economic benefits, but it had an ethical problem,” Wilson said. “Fossil fuels are an ethical problem.”

Former Sen. Josh Penry, R- Grand Junction, from oil and gas advocacy group Vital for Colorado said he was stunned and infuriated that his industry would be compared to slavery.

“You hear from these people cancer, earthquakes, birth defects, flaming faucets and now a comparison of 110,000 people who are working every day … making a good living for their families, as being akin to slavery,” Penry lamented. “The slavery thing to me shows me the lengths to which they’ll go, and that’s why in the end, the longer the debate goes, the more confident I am … this will be a non-debate and gas development will be a large party of our community.”

Former Senate President John Andrews, R-Englewood, director of the Centennial Institute moderated the debate and explained to the assembled attendees, “I believe in negative rights, specifically life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which means the government does not interfere with those things. I don’t believe in positive rights, such as a right to health care, or a right to a good job, or … a right to clean air.”

But Wilson argued that citizens do have a right to clean air and pointed to the oil and gas industry as a leading polluter.

“We know that the industry releases toxic gas, and it imposes it on you,” Wilson said. “Does that sound American?

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 Gazette.