by When I went to bed last night here in the East, it was early in Colorado and the recall votes were still being counted. Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) was slightly ahead with just a few votes in and Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) was behind with a total of about 12,500 votes counted. I fully expected to wake up this morning to hear it ended up as a split – Giron surviving and Morse out.
The news was so much better – both Giron and Morse are out of office.
Not only was I surprised that both were gone but Giron lost by a larger margin in her heavily Democratic district than did Morse in a district where he had only marginally won in earlier elections.
With 100% of the vote in, the results were as reported in the Denver Post:
Ballot Issue State Senate 3 - Recall Giron 100% reporting Yes 56.0% (19,355) No 43.9% (15,201) Ballot Issue State Senate 11 - Recall Morse 100% reporting Yes 50.9% (9,094) No 49.0% (8,751)
The results are a clear win for the grassroots, for gun rights, and for basic freedoms. They are also a loss for Mayor Bloomberg, in particular, and for the elites in the press, politics, and the gun prohibition movement, in general. None of this would have to come to be if Morse and Giron had not so arrogantly dismissed the concerns of their own constituents which, in turn, pissed off the Victor Heads and Tim Knights of Colorado enough to do something about it.
This historic recall was grassroots politics at its finest.
Great start. Don't get cocky and repeal the #$%^ laws.
WOOHOO! Favorite comment of the evening:
Somewhere, Bloomberg is lying on the floor, in the fetal position, clutching a Big Gulp.
Despite what the polls and the party leaders said, I never doubted we would win. If you had been in that first town hall meeting with Giron in March, where we packed a small library with thousands of pro-gun supporters, it was palpable. Initially, the Republican party, the NRA and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners doubted that a recall was even possible. Fortunately, the NRA and GOP had a change of heart, but they obviously weren't at that first town hall meeting–where we saw the beginning of true activist patriotism in this county. This is and always has been a grass roots movement. It was never about party or about realpolitik, it was only about the Second Amendment.
To hear Victor Head talk, it wasn't even all about the Second Amendment. It was about being ignored and belittled by someone who you elected and who claims to represent you. It was about not getting straight answers to simple questions, and showing up in great numbers to persuade someone, who then shows that they've clearly made up their mind and will hear no dissent or discussion.
The Second Amendment issue may have been the catalyst, but it was about the "public servants" who believed themselves the masters, and were summarily sent packing.