Can Joe O'Dea pull off a win in Colorado for the Senate in November?  It's going to be tough, but the Colorado construction firm CEO is optimistic.

O'Dea is running against D.C. insider and incumbent Senator Michael Bennet.  Bennet is not a native Coloradoan; he was born in Washington, D.C.  He came to Colorado and was appointed to various government positions, including his Senate seat, until he had to run in 2016 and again this year.  Seems he wants to keep living and working in his hometown, but there's nothing to say he'll work any harder for Coloradoans in the future than he has in the past.

On the other hand, O'Dea is a fourth-generation Coloradoan who lives and works in the state full-time.  His idea is that we need to rebuild Colorado and the USA with the sweat equity of the working class from the devastation Democrats have wrought.

Much of what Bennet has done for the state is protect wilderness, including work on the Democrats' Colorado Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act.  That's good, but Bennet pulls stunts election after election when he has nothing else on which to run.

On October 12, 2022, he and other Democrat politicians brought Joe Biden to Camp Hale near Leadville, Colo., to dedicate a new national monument.  Democrats virtue-signaled about honoring the famed 10rh Mountain Division soldiers of WWII who trained at Camp Hale.  On top of that, they tossed in virtue-signaling about caring for Native Americans.  Plus there was no urgent need on this, except a midterm election is coming up.

The reality is pretty confusing, and only someone who knows Colorado well could describe it.  My husband Peter Boddie is a Colorado hydrologist and geographer.  Together, we wrote two books covering Colorado hiking and ski history.

Peter Boddie said, "It is called the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument and contains two parts: Camp Hale includes the valley floor, the site of the 10th Mountain Division, and some of the surrounding mountains but barely touches the Continental Divide; the second part includes a large portion of the Ten Mile Range (turned down previously as a wilderness area by Congress) between Breckenridge and Copper Mountain, which does not include the Continental Divide.  It does include a small portion of the Continental Divide Trail, which goes over the Ten Mile Range in order to avoid the giant Climax Molybdenum Mine, which actually sits on the divide, and it does pass through Camp Hale.  

"It seems Democrats went searching for something to support Michael Bennet and other Democrats just for the photo op.  They cobbled together some areas beyond Camp Hale so they could justify a national monument, which only the president could designate."

O'Dea agreed, saying during an interview with Fox News's Neil Cavuto that the visit of Biden to Camp Hale with Bennet was merely a photo op.  "I'm disappointed that our president doesn't take a tour over maybe in Grand Junction to see what his fossil fuel policies have done to the economy in Grand Junction.  We've got thousands of jobs that have left Colorado because of these policies.

"Colorado is getting a double whammy.  We've got record inflation here; it's almost double the national average at 15.6%.  Working Americans are feeling it. ... We've lost 10% of our buying power here in Colorado over the last six, eight months because of the reckless spending and all of the policies that Michael Bennet and Joe Biden have put into place."

Cavuto wondered if it bothered O'Dea that his campaign has not yet connected with people.  O'Dea responded, "I beg to differ.  It's connected.  When I go around this state — I've been to all sixty-four counties — people are angry about their fuel bill, they're angry about their heating bill, they're angry about the gas bill at the pump.  They can't afford groceries right now.  People are angry.  They're unsure.  Fiscally unsure.  We've got record crime here in Colorado.  We're the number two state in fentanyl overdoses.  Those are the things that are resonating with working Americans here in Colorado.

"I built a huge coalition; it's good Republicans, it's independents, and it's also some disgruntled Democrats that are getting behind this campaign.  They're ready for change here in Colorado.  We're a purple state.  And we're going to get across the finish line in November."

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press, LLC.

Image: Joe O'Dea.