GOP Group Supports Colorado Civil Unions Bill (ContributorNetwork)

According to a report from KWGN in Denver, the newly formed "Coloradans for Freedom" Republican group will be hosting a Thursday night party in order to support the reintroduction of civil union legislation this year. Here are some of the details.

* According to a report in the Denver Post, Colorado citizens voted to make gay marriage unconstitutional in 2006. While civil union legislation won't overturn that constitutional amendment, it would allow the legal benefits and protections granted to same-sex couples. Last year's bill offered a process by which unmarried adults, regardless of gender, applied for a civil union license at the county clerk's office.

* The new legislative session starts on January 11, at which time Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, will introduce this year's bill, KWGN reports. Steadman, who is gay, also carried the bill through the Democratic-controlled senate last year.

* House Minority Leader Rep. Mark Ferradino, D-Denver, who is also gay, sponsored the bill in the Republican-controlled House last year, where it failed in committee. This year, he is hoping that the Coloradans for Freedom group will help build support for the bill and that a Republican will be willing to sponsor it and help carry it through the House.

* The failure of last year's bill, according to an April 1, 2011, report from Reuters, came in the House Judiciary Committee, with 5 Democrats voting yes to the measure, and 6 Republicans voting no. The consideration of the bill had included seven hours of testimony from supporters and opponents.

* Members of Coloradans for Freedom include, among others, the Colorado Reapportionment Commissioner Mario Nicolais, the Independence Institute's Mike Krause, and state senators Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, and Ellen Roberts, R-Durango. The message of the group, the Denver Post reported, is that "being gay and forming a civil union is a matter of personal freedom consistent with the Republican philosophy of individual liberty."

* According to Nicolais, the Denver Post reported, the purpose of the group's Thursday night gathering is "not to create conflict within the Republican Party. It's to provide resources to people interested in the conservative argument for civil unions."

* Last year, a poll commissioned by One Colorado showed 72 percent public support in Colorado for civil unions, KWGN reported. A Public Policy Polling survey last month showed the same support.

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Republican Candidates Engage in Group Therapy at the Thanksgiving Family Forum (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Part of a Republican candidates' Thanksgiving Family Forum that took place in a church in Des Moines, Iowa, seemed, at times, to be a session of group therapy rather than a group of politicians explaining why they should be president.

The behavior of the Republican candidates, sans Mitt Romney, shows how much American politics has changed. Edmund Muskie sunk his presidential candidacy by apparently crying in New Hampshire in 1972, giving the impression that he was weak. Now manly tears are required for people wanting to be president.

For example, Herman Cain welled up when he recalled getting the diagnosis of cancer that might well have killed him and how supportive his wife Gloria was at the time. Rick Santorum teared up when talking about how his daughter suffered through a chromosomal disorder and the shame he feels now about how he thought of her as less than a person until she fought back from the disease. She is still alive, something of a miracle. Even Newt Gingrich cried a little at one point.

As each candidate opened about personal tragedy in their lives, other candidates, including Rick Perry, visible sought to comfort them.

Telling tales of overcoming adversity and crises of faith is something new in American politics. Franklin Roosevelt would have died a thousand deaths rather that even mention his polio, not to speak of ruminating about his struggle against it. John F. Kennedy concealed his various health problems from the public, rather than use them to political advantage. As late as 2000, George W. Bush did not go on at length about his drinking problem, which he did describe in his memoirs, seeking to conceal a DUI conviction that almost sunk his campaign.

What has changed? Is it because Americans are suddenly comfortable with having leaders who have feet of clay and are ready to admit it? Possibly it involves a political act of jujitsu, admitting weakness in order to convey strength. The idea is that if one had experience a personal crisis or a personal failing and overcome it, one has become stronger for it. By so doing, one is seen as being prepared for the greater traumas that are inherent in being president. How effective it is remains to be seen. But for now, the confessional has become a feature of political life in America.

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GOP-leaning group hits Democrats in new TV ads (AP)

WASHINGTON – A Republican-leaning fundraising group with ties to GOP strategist Karl Rove has launched a new phase of its $20 million ad campaign attacking Democrats.

Crossroads GPS is running television ads targeting five Democratic senators up for re-election in 2012. They are Bill Nelson of Florida, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

The group also is running ads on national cable TV outlets and in presidential battleground states including Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Virginia criticizing President Barack Obama. It's also targeting a handful of House districts.

The ads will begin running Friday. Crossroads is spending about $7 million on the effort.

Crossroads and an affiliated organization, American Crossroads, spent $38.6 million in 2010 against Democrats.

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GOP-leaning group launches ads criticizing Obama (AP)

NEW YORK – A Republican-leaning independent fundraising group announced Friday it would launch a $20 million television campaign criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the economy.

The ads, produced and financed by Crossroads GPS, will begin running Monday in 10 states, many of which are presidential battlegrounds.

Spokesman Jonathan Collegio said the group would spend $5 million initially on cable television nationwide and on broadcast TV in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Virginia. Crossroads will spend a total of $20 million on the campaign over two months, Collegio said.

The 30-second ad illustrates how unemployment, the national debt and gas prices have all gone up since Obama took office in January 2009. It also suggests the $850 billion federal stimulus plan failed, with Obama acknowledging there weren't as many "shovel ready" infrastructure projects to fund with stimulus dollars as the administration had originally hoped.

"It's time to take away Obama's blank check," the announcer says.

The campaign represents Crossroads' first major national effort to shape the political debate in Washington. Crossroads GPS is an affiliate of American Crossroads, a Republican-leaning group with ties to Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's former top political adviser. Together, the groups spent more than $38 million to defeat Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections.

In a statement, Crossroads GPS president Steven Law said, "President Obama may have inherited a recession, but his policies have made things worse for everyday Americans by running up the debt and causing economic uncertainty."

The ad airs as Republican and Democratic congressional leaders are negotiating an increase in the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

Obama plans to get involved in the negotiations next week as Democrats warn of catastrophic economic consequences if the ceiling is not increased. Republicans leaders say they will not agree to any debt ceiling increase unless it's paired with deep spending cuts.

American Crossroads was one of many groups formed to help Republicans after the Supreme Court eased restrictions on corporate spending in political campaigns in early 2010. Crossroads GPS, organized as a nonprofit group, is not required to disclose its donors.

Obama has criticized the Supreme Court ruling and the kind of unregulated, undisclosed spending it allowed. But Democrats lost control of the House and lost several Senate seats in 2010, in part because of the spending imbalance between Republican and Democratic leaning groups.

Several new Democratic groups have formed this year hoping to go compete with Crossroads and other conservative groups. One of those is Priorities USA, founded by former Obama White House aides Sean Sweeney and Bill Burton.

In a statement, Burton blamed Rove and other Republicans for the country's economic mess and said the Crossroads ad campaign showed they don't want to help fix it.

"Whether it's by running millions of dollars in negative ads about the economy or by walking away from critical economic talks in Congress, Washington Republicans are demonstrating an unwavering commitment to stopping any real progress on the economy," Burton said.

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