{"id":116847,"date":"2014-10-30T22:19:55","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T04:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jeb-bush-stumps-for-gop-candidates-in-castle-rock\/"},"modified":"2014-10-30T22:19:55","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T04:19:55","slug":"jeb-bush-stumps-for-gop-candidates-in-castle-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jeb-bush-stumps-for-gop-candidates-in-castle-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeb Bush stumps for GOP candidates in Castle Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Former
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks Wednesday during a get-out-the-vote rally for Republican candidates, in Castle Rock. U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner and gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez were among those joining Bush at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.<\/span>Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CASTLE ROCK \u2013 Republicans joined the get-out-the-vote effort Wednesday with their own political celebrity landing in Colorado, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.<\/p>\n

Up until the rally at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, Republicans had not seen the same large-scale rallies as Democrats, who have been boasting names like Hillary and Bill Clinton, and first lady Michelle Obama.<\/p>\n

But Republicans appeared just as eager to motivate voters to the polls, facing toss-up races for U.S. Senate and governor.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma, remains in a furious battle against Democratic incumbent Mark Udall for U.S. Senate. Bob Beauprez, a former congressman, continues his quest to unseat Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.<\/p>\n

Bush \u2013 a potential 2016 presidential candidate \u2013 alluded to the significance of Colorado\u2019s election, pointing to the balance of power in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, which Democrats hang onto by a thread.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe added benefit of a Senator Gardner is that there is a demotion for Harry Reid,\u201d Bush said to a crowd of about 500, surrounded by piles of hay inside the fairgrounds\u2019 livestock arena.<\/p>\n

The rally was not Bush\u2019s first recognition of the heavily Republican-leaning Douglas County. Last year, he supported conservative candidates for the Douglas County School Board. He serves as chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.<\/p>\n

Bush said the future of the nation depends upon the Republican vote in swing states like Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country can lead the world. That\u2019s what this election is about,\u201d Bush said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about the past. It\u2019s about what the future can look like, and we can mold the future together by electing principled conservatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Gardner appeared confident he will replace Udall. Several polls have Gardner with a consistent edge over his Democratic opponent. But he said the time for Republicans is now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere running out of next elections, and that\u2019s why this election is so important,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n

He spoke of a Republican movement that begins with turning Colorado from a purple state to red.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado has the opportunity to be the tip of the spear, the vanguard of a movement,\u201d Gardner said to thunderous applause.<\/p>\n

Beauprez agreed, suggesting that Colorado government is in need of some weeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go through everything government does \u2026 and if it isn\u2019t pro-job, pro-freedom, pro-individual liberty, we\u2019re going to grab it by the roots, we\u2019re going to rip it out, and we\u2019re going to throw it away,\u201d Beauprez said.<\/p>\n

The rally offered other Republicans a chance to speak in the limelight, including secretary of state candidate Wayne Williams, attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman, and Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who is seeking re-election.<\/p>\n

Five Republican congressional candidates also spoke, though U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton of Cortez did not attend the event. Of the candidates, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora faces the most spirited battle as he defends his seat against former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, a Democrat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gardner: \u2018We\u2019re running out of next elections\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[266,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-116847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-election","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116847"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=116847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}