Thirty Years Ago This Week: After gathering enough signatures to be added to the Democratic primary ballot against incumbent U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder in the 1st Congressional District, Tom Simpson called out his opponent for failing to accept a debate with him.

“As the only Democrat opponent Pat Schroeder has faced in over two decades, I want to know, what is Pat Schroeder afraid of?” Simpson asked.

But Jeff Dorschner, Schroeder’s campaign manager, questioned Simpson’s claim, telling reporters, “No organization has even come to us and asked us to debate Tom Simpson.”

Dorschner added that in the one debate request the campaign had been made aware of, the congresswoman had been unable to accept the invitation by the Adams County Democratic Forum because, “… Pat is in Washington D.C., doing what folks sent her there to do.”

Simpson was making waves in Colorado Democratic Party circles as a self-professed supporter of Lyndon H. LaRouche, a political activist often labelled as a conspiracy theorist. Simpson had actively handed out the book The Awful Truth About the ADL at campaign events, which boldly claimed that the Anti-Defamation League was, “…emphatically not a Jewish civil rights lobby,” but from its inception had “been an arm of the British secret intelligence agencies and secret enemies of the United States.”

Twenty Years Ago: The five-way Republican primary in the 3rd Congressional District concluded with Greg Walcher ahead of former state Rep. Matt Smith, R-Grand Junction, by only 279 votes.

Retiring U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, Smith’s brother-in-law, had already formally endorsed Walcher with news of the results, but Smith argued that there might be as many as 1,000 provisional ballots to be counted and that the result could change.

“There are more than enough provisionals, but we don’t know whether they’re Republican or Democrat. I’m just siting here until we know. Our team is ready to go,” Smith said.

But former Mesa County Republican Party treasurer and former Clerk and Recorder Monika Todd said that, in her experience, a Smith victory would be “highly unlikely.”

“Absentee ballots are always the first ballots counted,” Todd said, “and they almost always set the trend. It’s rare that you see that change as the election-day vote comes in. And when it does happen its because something happened in the campaign very late.”

Walcher also received a large, post-primary boost for his campaign as Ted Haley, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party was prepared to immediately support Walcher as their candidate in the race.

“While I respect the fact that Matt Smith … may desire to further explore the election results, the Colorado Republican Party must make its own independent analysis,” Halaby said. “Time is of the essence. It would be a serious mistake to allow any undue delay in commencing a full-blown campaign in what will be a hotly contested horse race. Greg Walcher is an outstanding candidate who has earned the immediate backing of all Republicans.”

Smith told The Colorado Statesman that the Republican Party “…has to do their thing and I have to do my thing. My staff and I are being very methodical about this. We will issue as statement as soon as possible, but we’re not going to rush the process because every vote counts.”

McInnis said that he would work for Walcher but that, “… it will be a very difficult race. But I believe he will win. Matt was outspent, but he worked tremendously hard.”

Democratic congressional candidate John Salazar, a former colleague and friend of Smith’s in the state legislature, said that he supported Smith’s decision to “wait and see” before conceding the race.

“I believe in America’s democratic process enough to wait until everyone’s vote has been counted,” Salazar said.

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.