Ritter solidly ahead in Post poll
By Karen E. Crummy
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Article Last Updated:10/29/2006 05:14:08 PM MST

Heading into the final days of Colorado's governor's race, Democratic candidate Bill Ritter continues to hold a substantial lead over Republican opponent Bob Beauprez, according to a new poll.

But Beauprez has narrowed the race a bit and picked up support in the Colorado Springs area, a traditional Republican stronghold where he was trailing Ritter three weeks ago.

The poll, conducted last week for The Denver Post by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, shows former Denver District Attorney Ritter leading U.S. Rep. Beauprez 50 percent to 38 percent. The congressman was up 3 percentage points from a similar poll conducted three weeks ago.

"We think the race is a lot closer than that," said Beauprez campaign manager John Marshall. "We have a great turnout planned and a consistently successful get-out-the-vote effort. We feel good about the next 10 days."

Ritter campaign manager Greg Kolomitz said he too believed the race was still competitive.

"Anyone who understands politics and follows politics in Colorado understands this is going to be a close race ... and we are going to continue to act as if it's a 1- or 2-point race," he said.

Final voter registration numbers in Colorado show 36 percent are Republicans, 30 percent are Democrats and 34 percent are unaffiliated.

Divide on gay issues

Statewide races for secretary of state and state treasurer are essentially tied, with about a quarter of those polled undecided, the poll showed. Even incumbent Republican Attorney General John Suthers is up just 3 percentage points over Democrat Fern O'Brien, with 25 percent undecided.

The poll also shows a majority of Coloradans support a ban on gay marriage while a majority oppose legalizing marijuana.

Forty-seven percent also support giving same-sex partners legal rights similar to married couples and 43 percent support requiring school districts to spend at least 65 percent of their budgets on classroom instruction.

The poll, conducted Tuesday through Thursday, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

When attacks backfire

In the governor's race, some political watchers noted that Ritter has been very successful at shifting focus from himself to Beauprez on the issue of plea bargaining.

Beauprez has repeatedly attacked Ritter because his office approved plea bargains from legal and illegal immigrants that knocked down some drug, traffic and other charges to a non- deportable felony charge of trespassing on agricultural land.

Ritter has said the plea agreements represented only a tiny fraction of the thousands of cases handled during his tenure. Two weeks ago, he filed a complaint with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation alleging that the Beauprez campaign may have illegally obtained information relating to those agreements from a restricted law enforcement database.

The FBI has launched a criminal investigation.

"The turn of events for Beauprez in the past week cost him his best attack on Ritter," said political analyst Eric Sondermann. "It's hard to see what the next path is for Beauprez."

When asked what action was "more offensive," Ritter's record of plea-bargaining immigrants or Beauprez's use of potentially illegal information, 27 percent pointed to Ritter, while 37 percent said Beauprez.

Jerry Houser, 61, said he is voting for Beauprez - even though he is a registered Democrat.

The rancher from Campo said that dealing with illegal immigration was his top priority, and Beauprez seems tougher on the issue than Ritter.

He also noted that the controversy surrounding the plea bargains has had some effect on him.

"What Ritter did, well, he might have tried his best, but trusting a lawyer is like trusting a rattlesnake," Houser said. "No one has proven that Beauprez has done anything wrong, but if it comes out that he has, it could affect my vote."

Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.

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