Colorado Republican Debate Tweet Round-up: The Local Angle (2 of 3)

Colorado Springs, Colorado, is not only the most politically conservative in Colorado, but also one of the leading right-wing settlements in America. But, the CNBC Republicans Debate took place at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo., a liberal enclave which is represented by Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo., pict. above), one of the few openly gay current members of Congress.

Here are tweets which are mostly from Colorado sources, mixed in with an update on the Kansas-Iowa State college volleyball game in Ames, Iowa, which was broadcast on ESPN-U tonight.

1) The Colorado GOP: Packed house at the official Colo GOP watch party. CO Republicans are engaged.

2) Denver Political News: Carly Fiorina blasts politicians for talking about tax reform for years, but not doing anything about it.

3) Jared Polis: Jeb and Rubio fighting as only lovers can.

4) Marshall Zelinger (local newspaper reporter): Chris Christie makes an appearance at the GOPDebate. Better make it worth it, not sure when he's gonna be asked another question.

5) Cyclone Volleyball: ISU has sure fire now! 3-0 run has reduced the Kansas advantage to 9-7 in the fourth.

6) Adrian D. Garcia (Coloradoan Reporter, a newspaper in Fort Collins): CNBC to Fiorina: 'Your board fired you, I'm just wondering why you think we should hire you now?'"

7) Foreign Affairs: For those glued to the GOPDebate tonight, the World Series Game 2 is tied 0-0 at the top of the fourth.

8) College Republicans: Thank you, Ted Cruz for saying what we are all thinking.

 9) Colorado Dems: Rand Paul's budget priorities cuts to programs that hurt Coloradans. 

Top 10 Dinner Guests: Will Alexandra Petri Be Running Late.....

Greetings to our blog readers in Ireland, Greece and Pakistan....

Today, we start a new entry series as we look at ten dinner guests we would love to have at our table for dinner; we got this idea from both "Washingtonian" magazine http://www.washingtonian.com and the NPR show "The Dinner Party Download" http://www.dinnerpartydownload.org which runs on radio stations such as WUNC-FM (91.5-Chapel Hill, NC) http://www.wunc.org

Among our guests would be "Washington Post" social life columnist Alexandra Petri http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/ who wrote a vintage column about the art of losing.

The other people who made our top ten include: 1) Ambassador Rudolf Bekink of The Netherlands (pict. top), 2) Film director Sofia Coppola (pict. center) and 3) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Here is our top ten:

1. Rudolf Bekink

2. Sofia Coppola

3. Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va; even though we don't tend to agree with him).....

4) Gillian Jacobs of "Community"

5) Stephan Pastis, comic strip guy

6) Alexandra Petri

7) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)

8) Parker Posey, independent film actress

9) Zeynep Tufekci, UNC professor, expert on Turkey

10) Roy Williams, UNC men's basketball coach

The DC List (3 of 3): Republican Membersof Congress...... and when they turn 103.....

Greetings to our beloved blog readers around the world in Germany, Serbia and Turkey.

This is the last installment in our look at when just re-elected Republican members of Congress will turn 103; the joke is that these will also be the years when their seats are competitive again, because Republicans have drawn up perfect politic maps to suit their interests across the nation.

It should be pointed out that Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va., pict. top) is a man I respect and admire despite personal political differences. It should also be  pointed that I think Cong. Mark Sanford (R-SC, pict, bottom) is a scoundrel and a hypocrite for having an affair on his wife with a woman from Argentina while he was governor of South Carolina. Amazingly enough, voters in that state sent him up to Washington, DC.

There were also some good Democrats who won last Tuesday, including Cong. David Price (D-NC) and Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo).

Here are the years when these ten members of Congress will turn 103:

1. Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va) 2061

2. Cong. Mark Meadows (R-NC, pict center) 2062

3. Cong. Mark Sanford (R-SC) 2063

4. Cong. Steve Womack (R-Ark) 2060

5. Cong. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) 2081

6. Cong. Kevin Brady (R-Tex) 2058

7. Cong. Lee Terry (R-Neb) 2065

8. Cong. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) 2062

9. Cong. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) 2055

10. Cong. Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) 2043

www.foxnews.com/politics/ (Folks we disagree with)

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics

http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/ (Link to columns from my fellow liberal Turkish-American Cenk Uygur)

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com (for more GOP members and when they turn 103)

DC Week (2 of 8): Washington DC Metro Area also Preps for the Rain

These three images above are of: 1) Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), one of the few openly gay members of the House; 2) cats in the rain; 3) Cong. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose far right politics have made him a Tea Party darling.

Here are the tweets:

1. Washington DC News: "Ted Cruz the star of Values Voters Summit"

2. Cong. Jared Polis: "It is an enormous simplification to speak of the American. Every American has his own mind," Ludwig Von Mises.

3. Capital Weather Gang: "Flood warning extended thru 7:45 a.m. Sat. for much of DC metro area w/   rain continuing overnight."

4. The Nation (a liberal magazine): "Shutdown Politics: Support for Democratic Takeover of the House Spikes."

5. Washington Examiner ( a reportedly conservative-leaning  publication): "Senate GOPers push Obamacare delay as alternative to House plan requesting sequester."

6. Washington Blade (a gay political journal): "Still no action from Obama as Natl Guards deny benefits for gay spouses."

http://www.cruz.senate.gov/ (Not an endorsement)

http://polis.house.gov/constituentservices/colorado-flood-information.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/

http://www.thenation.com/#

http://washingtonexaminer.com/

http://www.washingtonblade.com/

Election Day by the #s (2 of 4)_ Mitt Romney Wins Yanceyville, NC, but....

One of the great ironies of the election cycle is that two swing states, Colorado and North Carolina, were able to send an openly gay member of the House in Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo., pictured top) and a member who declared that gay college student Matthew Shepard's murder in Wyoming was a hoax in Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, pictured bottom).

I happen to follow both members of Congress on Twitter, for what that's worth. Polis got 56-percent of the vote over Kevin Lundberg (R). The Colorado congressman has also been an advocate of legalizing marijuana. His state passed a bill to actually legalize pot, but it is expected to meet many legal hurdles since marijuana is still outlawed at the federal level in America.

Foxx, who has been supportive of the Turkish side of the Rashomon Nightmare with the Armenian lobby, which means I may have been the only Turkish-American to have voted for her opponent Elisabeth Motsinger as I consider social issues to be even more important than ethnic politics. But, even though I reside in North Carolina, I was fortunate not to be in Foxx's district.

As it is, my vote may not have mattered too much as Foxx won by a 58-42 percentage margin, which was enough to make "The High County Press," newspaper in Boone, NC, declare that Foxx had 'obliterated' her opponent, as Eric Alterman of "The Nation" has declared 'what liberal media/", though "The Advocate," a gay politics magazine criticized Foxx's reelection as a sing that American tolerance for gays and lesbians still needs to evolve.

Somehow, I don't foresee Polis and Foxx having lunch at Ray's Hell Burger (pictured center) in Arlington, Va., where President Barack Obama has dined with a camera crew following him.

As for the presidential election, Mitt Romney did reclaim tiny Caswell County (Yanceyville), North Carolina, which is not in Fox''s district. Romney won back the Tarheel State, but only by the thinnest of margins.

Here are the numbers:

69.6 %- The percentage of votes Obama got in Boulder County, Colorado,Polis' home district.

23.2%- The percentage Romney got in Boulder County

51.2%- The percentage Obama got in Colorado

50. 6%- The percentage Romney got in North Carolina

254- The number of votes that Romney won by in Caswell County, NC.

91,606- The number of votes that Obama got in Forsyth County (Winston-Salem), NC

79,177- The number of votes that Romney got in Forsyth County

75.9%- The percentage of votes Obama got in Durham County, NC, the state's most progressive jurisdiction.

23.3%- The percentage Romney got in Durham County.

70.8 %- The percentage Romney got in rural Stokes County, the most conservative county in NC

27.9 %- The percentage Obama got in Stokes County

70.4 %- The percentage of vote Obama got in Orange County (Chapel Hill, Hillsborough), NC

28.2 %- The percentage of vote Romney got in Orange County

60.8 %- The percentage Obama got in Mecklenberg County (Charlotte), NC, where the Democratic National Convention was held

38.3 %- The percentage Romney got in Mecklenberg County.

51.7 %-The percentage Romney got in New Hanover (Wilmington), NC.

47.1 %- The percentage Obama got in New Hanover County

http://www.hcpress.com

http://advocate.com

http://www.yesweekly.com

http://www.boulderweekly.com

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.rayshellburger.com

Heath Care Voices- Members of Congress

I conclude my health care megablogathon, which includes two entries on "The Daily Vampire" as well with six quotes from six different congressional reps.

Though there were exceptions like Cong. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Cong. Patrick Lynch (D-Mass), Democratic congressional reps tended to vote for the bill while all Republicans, even some moderates who were first in favor until political pressures mounted from the right, voted against it.

"The bill will undeniably and ultimately lead to the rationing of health care in America," Cong. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.)

"Today marks a victory that has been a long time coming," Cong. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).

"I am opposed to a government takeover of our health care system and I will continue to be a strong advocate for putting patients first," Cong. Lee Terry (R-Neb.)

"I believe Congress can do better than the over 2,400 page nearly $1 trillion bill," Cong. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

"For nearly a year now I have listened to my constituents about the need for health care reform, and heard from seniors, students, and small business owners in my district- all of whom are struggling to fund quality and affordable health care," Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)

"This plan is good for America....for too long, health care has been a privilege, not a right in America," Cong. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.)

Colorado Congressman Comgratulates Lindsay Vonn Before the Games Were Aired

Cong. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) congratulated American skier Lindsay Vonn on winning a gold medal in women's donwhill shortly after she won the race through Twitter. But, he did so before the race was televised on NBC. Of course, either the way the Colorado Republican Party was probably going to criticize him!

Polis made news when he became the first openly gay man elected to Congress as a freshman during the 2008 election cycle.

Vonn, who is from Boulder, Colo., represents Polis' district.

Here is the complete tweet which was retweeted by several media outlets in Colorado:

"Congrats to our Congressional District's first Vancouver Gold Medal Winner: Vail's own Lindsay Vonn! Go Lindsay! Go Team USA!"

Polis also said in a later tweet that he had learned that he would be featured on this week's episode of MTV's "Real World."