Frazier gives Perlmutter a run for his money

What a difference a year makes — just ask Republican Ryan Frazier, who has Democrat Ed Perlmutter on the run.

Bob Martinez, former state GOP chair.

I was looking through my photographs today for a picture of Jon Caldara at an anti health-care reform press conference and came across pictures of Frazier

announcing he was pulling out of the U.S. Senate race, and running in the 7th Congressional District instead [1].

The date: Oct. 15, 2009. The location: a Ford dealership in Brighton.

Standing a respectable distance away were supporters for Congressman Perlmutter. They wore Perlmutter campaign shirts and waived Perlmutter campaign signs.

One of them told me Frazier was going to get a certain part of his anatomy kicked. A number of Republicans privately concurred.

So here we are, just days away from the election, and check out the political landscape.

Frazier, an Aurora city councilman, got of the Senate primary because former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton got into it, drying up donations. Everyone thought she was a shoo in, but she lost the primary to Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, who in recent weeks has become under fire for gaffes and flip flopping.

A number of Republicans believe Frazier has run an impressive campaign. A poll in August had him in a statistical tie with Perlmutter [2], enabling Frazier to raise money to try to take him out.

Whether Frazier prevails on Nov. 2 isn’t known yet. The national mood favors Republicans, but Perlmutter is the incumbent and knows plenty of people in the 7th District, where he grew up and raised his own family.

But these days nobody Republican or Democrat believes the race will be the blowout predicted on the day Frazier announced he was running for Congress.

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