On February 28, 1994, the Mike Bird for Governor finance committee met to see what could be done about Bruce Benson's surprise entry into the gubernatorial race. The finance committee was chaired by Gary Loo, a prominent Colorado Springs businessman whose family had owned, and later sold, a highly successful greeting card business. Also attending the meeting was Michelle Provaznik, the paid staff member handling campaign finance.

After much debate, the Bird for Governor finance committee agreed on the following three-pronged finance plan:

Prong one: Use the $70,000 the Bird campaign currently had in the bank to pay for office and general campaign expenses through the June 4, 1994, Republican State Assembly and the August 9, 1994, Republican primary. Most of the $70,000 would be used for staff salaries (in both Colorado Springs and Denver), mailings, telephone calls, travel expenses campaigning around the state, etc. These were the main things that would be needed to make a good showing at the state assembly and run the office through the August primary.

Prong two: Raise approximately $180,000 to use for television advertising in the Denver metropolitan area the three weeks before the primary election. Approximately $30,000 would be used for producing the television spot ads and $150,000 would be used to buy actual time on the air. Dick Dresner and Bob Wickers, the two national political consultants who were anxious to handle the Bird for Governor campaign, had sent a memo which said that $150,000 would buy enough TV advertising over three weeks to be a "moderate, more than adequate" presence in the Denver market.

Prong three: Take advantage of the Bird campaign's many volunteer helpers and get primary election votes in Colorado Springs and El Paso County by telephone campaigning rather than by running TV advertising. This would free up as much money as possible for TV in the Denver metro area, where 60 percent of the state's voters are located. One member of the finance committee pointed out that, because Denver television is carried by cable to other parts of Colorado, Denver TV actually reaches 70 percent of the state electorate.

Mike Bird approved this three-pronged campaign finance plan, and it was followed quite closely. There were only two slight variations. A volunteer telephone bank was organized in Denver as well as Colorado Springs, and a minimal number of TV ads were run in Colorado Springs.

TELEPHONING FOR THE STATE ASSEMBLY

After raising money, the next most important item on the Bird for Governor agenda was winning at least 30 percent of the delegates to the Republican State Assembly in June. Early in February of 1994, a group of Denver lobbyists provided the Bird campaign staff with a computerized listing of Colorado Republicans who had attended two previous Republican state assemblies. The assumption was that any GOP stalwart who had attended two previous state assemblies was likely to attend the 1994 state assembly and thus merited a friendly telephone call or two.

The computer list was a long one, so a telephone bank of Mike Bird volunteers was organized at both the Denver and the Colorado Springs headquarters to systematically call the two-time assembly attendees. Donna Scherer, the wife of campaign manager Jim Scherer, recruited and commanded the phone bank in Denver. The job later was taken over by Scotty Wattenburg. Directing the telephone effort in Colorado Springs was J. Randall Robinson, known as "Robby" to his fellow workers. Robinson started out running the phone bank as a volunteer, but as the importance and time required for the effort expanded, he was added to the Bird for Governor campaign payroll.

The telephone bank was low key, involving only about four to five telephoners and lasting only from 6:30 to 8 P.M. on weekday evenings. Since many of the telephone calls were long distance calls to some of the more remote corners of Colorado, telephoning in the evening when long distance phone rates were lower saved the campaign money.

The telephoning of two-time Republican state assembly attendees proved to be a worthwhile effort for the Bird campaign. A considerable number of respondents said they would be attending the 1994 Republican State Assembly and would vote for Mike Bird when they got there. Others would not commit to Bird but were friendly and willing to listen to a short sales pitch on Bird's political virtues. The phone calls to two-time assembly attendees lasted from early February until the Republican precinct caucuses were held on Tuesday, April 5, 1994.

THE 1994 REPUBLICAN PRECINCT CAUCUSES

The Bird for Governor campaign made a significant effort to get Mike Bird partisans out to their respective Republican precinct caucuses. County coordinators were urged to telephone key supporters and remind them to go the precinct caucus and "talk-up" the Bird candidacy.

Due to lack of money, there were no mailings or television and radio commercials urging Bird supporters to attend their precinct caucuses. But little political ground was lost as a result. The kind of party activists who go to precinct caucuses on a regular basis are not the kind of people who need a lot of urging or reminding. The Bird campaign decided to save its energy and long distance telephone money until the actual delegates to the state assembly had been named at the various county assemblies.

The only real question about the 1994 Republican precinct caucuses was whether loyalist Republicans were going to respond to their mailings from Bruce Benson and try to get signatures for Benson's ballot petition signed at their precinct caucus. To the dismay of the Mike Bird camp, a surprising number of Benson supporters showed up at their caucuses and tried to get some signatures.

Most of the Benson supporters appeared to have been carefully briefed on just what to say at their precinct caucuses. Reports to Bird headquarters the next morning revealed that Bensonites were likely to ask two questions of anyone who would listen. One question was: "Who is the best candidate to beat Roy Romer?" The other was: "Can Mike Bird raise enough money to beat Roy Romer?" It seemed clear that Benson supporters were making a major effort to discredit Bird on the issue that Bird could not raise enough money to win the general election.

A typical report came from a precinct in a strongly Republican area of Colorado Springs. A caucus attendee had just given a short speech strongly supporting Bird's candidacy for governor. When the speaker sat down, another caucus attendee got to his feet and reportedly said: "We like Mike, too, but..." The speaker went on to raise the question of whether Bird could get together enough money to win.

Mike Bird supporters did have some fun things to talk about the day after the precinct caucuses. In many precincts in Colorado Springs and elsewhere in Colorado, it had been ardent Bird supporters who had received the big mailing from Bruce Benson urging them to talk up Bruce's candidacy at their precinct caucus. The Bird supporters compared notes on exactly what they did with the materials they received in Benson's big envelope. In most cases, they just hid it away and never mentioned it at their precinct caucuses unless asked about it.

PHIL KLINGSMITH DROPS OUT

THE LONG COUNTY ASSEMBLY TRAIL

For those candidates who take the caucus/assembly route to a major political party nomination for statewide office in Colorado, the most intense part of the process comes in late April and early May. During this three-week period county assemblies are held in both political parties in all 63 counties of Colorado. Mike Bird set out to attend every Republican county assembly he possibly could, with his wife, Ursula, or a trusted staff member attending the county assemblies that would not fit into Bird's crowded schedule.

When traveling to county assemblies, Mike and Ursula Bird were usually accompanied by a student intern who helped with the driving, handed out Bird campaign brochures, etc. One of the hardest working interns was Jennifer Sands, a political economy major at Colorado College who accompanied Ursula Bird on most of her longer campaign jaunts around the state.

Most of the Republican county assemblies were scheduled for a Friday night or a Saturday morning, but not all of them. Republicans in Gilpin County (Central City), nestled in the mountains west of Denver, held their county assembly on a Monday night. Republicans in Custer County (Westcliffe), located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in southern Colorado, gathered together on a Wednesday evening. Dolores County (Dove Creek), in southwestern Colorado, and Routt County (Steamboat Springs), in north central Colorado, each held their Republican county assemblies on a Sunday.

The most intense times were the three Saturdays during the period. On Saturday, April 23, 1994, two of the most important Denver suburban counties, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, held their Republican county assemblies. The situation was truly wild one week later, on Saturday, April 30, 1994, when Republican county assemblies were held in Boulder, Denver, Douglas (Castle Rock), El Paso (Colorado Springs), Larimer (Fort Collins), and Pueblo counties. This latter Saturday was particularly important because all of the counties were heavily populated counties located at the foot of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.

The Colorado Republican Party has a nice custom which facilitates candidates for statewide office being able to make an appearance at as many Republican county assemblies as possible. The minute a statewide candidate arrives at a county assembly, word is flashed to the person chairing the assembly. As soon as there is a convenient moment to interrupt the proceedings of the county assembly, the candidate for statewide office is allowed to briefly address the county assembly. This custom prevents statewide candidates from having to stand around and wait minutes, or perhaps hours, for a chance to speak to the county assembly. The time saved allows the statewide candidate to be on his or her way rapidly to another Republican assembly in another county.

Because there are such tremendous variations in the populations of Colorado counties, there are large differences in the character of the various county assemblies and how much time they take. The smaller the population of a county, the more likely its county assembly is to be a polite and orderly affair that is over in an hour or two. In the large counties on the Front Range, however, county assemblies can involve one thousand or more delegates crowded into a large assembly hall. These larger assemblies can start at 9 A.M. on a Saturday morning and last well into the afternoon.

As might be expected, candidates for statewide office make the more heavily populated counties the top priority in deciding which county assemblies to go to. Although only from two to five minutes are usually provided for a statewide candidate's speech to a county assembly, that is enough time for a skillful speaker to make himself known to his or her audience.

County assemblies in the smaller counties often can be more fun and more productive. There usually is not a time limit on speeches by statewide candidates. Also, the party activists in the smaller, more remote counties are often quite flattered when a candidate for a major statewide office takes the time to appear at their county assembly.

The Bird for Governor county coordinators had important roles to play at their Republican county assemblies. They were asked to head over to the assembly meeting place about an hour early and put up a number of Mike Bird signs and posters. Then they were urged to set up a card table (lightly populated counties) or get a booth (heavily populated counties) and recruit a volunteer to give out Bird campaign literature and answer any questions delegates might have about Mike Bird. The county coordinators also were asked to get some college or high school students to stand at the main entrance to the assembly hall and offer Bird for Governor lapel stickers to all the delegates as they entered the assembly hall. If Mike or Ursula Bird were going to make an appearance at the county assembly, the county coordinator was asked to make a brief introductory speech.

Most of all, the Bird for Governor county coordinators were asked to, as soon as they possibly could, get the names of the men and women who were selected at the Republican county assembly to go to the Republican State Assembly. These names, addresses, and telephone numbers of state assembly delegates were transmitted to Bird headquarters in Colorado Springs. Each state assembly delegate immediately was sent a mailing urging him or her to support Mike Bird at the state assembly.

As the names of the Republican state assembly delegates became available, a specific plan of attack was decided upon for each county. A member of the Denver or Colorado Springs headquarters staff would review each delegate's name with the county coordinator. A plan of action was developed for each name, whether it was to be a call from Mike Bird, an additional letter from headquarters, a call from the phone bank, or a personal call or other contact from the county coordinator.

COUNTY ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGNING EVALUATED

This factual description of how political party county assemblies function in Colorado fails to catch the intensity and the excitement of a candidate for statewide office trying to visit and speak to as many of them as possible. For Mike Bird, and to a certain extent his wife, Ursula, the last two weeks of April in 1994 and the first week of May was a period of hyperactivity and hyperreward.

Long days were filled with driving from one assembly to another, with some of the assemblies a considerable distance from Denver and Colorado Springs. If time permitted, Mike Bird would spend some time at the entrance to the assembly hall, shaking the hands of delegates as they entered and chatting briefly with those who wanted to talk. Many of Bird's speeches were to county assemblies with a thousand or more delegates in attendance, an exciting and stimulating environment in which saying the right thing in a speech could produce a solid round of applause and cheering.

THE 1994 ALAMOSA COUNTY

REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY

Shortly after 9 A.M. on Saturday morning, April 30, 1994, the Alamosa County Republican Assembly came to order. The assembly was held in a science lecture hall seating about 200 persons at Adams State College, located in the city of Alamosa, the county seat of Alamosa County.

Alamosa city and Alamosa County are located in southern Colorado in the San Luis Valley, a large agricultural area crossed by the Rio Grande River, which flows right through the middle of Alamosa city. The two principal agricultural products of the area are potatoes and barley. Much of the barley is shipped to the Coors beer brewery, located in Golden, and the Budweiser beer brewery, located north of Denver. Alamosa is also famous for, and benefits economically from, being located close to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, a natural area at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that resembles the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara Desert in Africa.

Alamosa County may be big in growing potatoes, but it is "small potatoes" when it comes to the Colorado Republican Party. It has only 14 delegates of the more than 3,000 that attend the Republican State Assembly. Nonetheless, the Bird for Governor campaign gave the Alamosa County Republican Assembly the same kind of attention it was trying to give each of the other 63 Republican county assemblies in Colorado.

The Bird county coordinator in Alamosa County was Farris Bervig, the owner of a hardware store located in a small shopping center in west Alamosa city. Bervig did not know Mike Bird personally, but he was more than happy to help out when a close political ally in Alamosa asked him to join the Bird for Governor cause. Luckily for Mike Bird, Farris Bervig was the mayor of Alamosa city and thus very well connected politically in the community.

Farris Bervig and the volunteer drove over to Adams State College, found the lecture hall where the Alamosa county assembly was going to take place, and began putting up Bird for Governor posters and signs. In a major coup, Bervig scotch taped an "I Like Mike!" poster right above the coffee and donuts table. Almost all the delegates got a cup of coffee and a donut, and they had to look directly at the "I Like Mike!" poster as they did it.

An Alamosa County citizen named Adolph Newton appeared and set up a Benson for Governor sign on a small desk. He had a Benson ballot petition with him, and a number of Alamosa County residents signed it. Newton made it a point to be friendly with the Bird volunteer, noting convivially that he mainly was just getting Benson's name on the primary ballot, that he "liked Mike," and that he still did not know which one of the two he would vote for in the Republican primary in August.

Farris Bervig stood at the door of the lecture hall and shook the hand of each delegate as they entered. Being the mayor of Alamosa and a prominent local businessman, Bervig was on a first name basis with almost everyone who came in. He possessed the smooth manner and easy ability to make light conversation that characterizes most successful local politicians in the United States.

Typical of a Republican county assembly, or any other public meeting in Colorado, the United States flag and the Colorado flag were placed at the front of the room. The Alamosa County Republican chairman, Bob Owens, was seated at a table at the front of the room along with other officials in the Alamosa County Republican Party. A man of honesty and frankness, Bob Owens told the Bird for Governor volunteer that he was supporting Bruce Benson for governor but would run the Alamosa County assembly in a completely even-handed fashion. He said he was backing Benson because "only Bruce has the money to defeat Roy Romer in November."

Although county chairman Owens was for Benson, there was plenty of Bird action at the podium. The Bird county coordinator, Farris Bervig, wearing a large "I Like Mike!" button, was the person in charge of adjusting and testing the microphone and the public address system. Bervig also was chairman of the Rules Committee, and he read the rules to the assembled delegates with his "I Like Mike!" button still prominently displayed.

Because Mike Bird was the only candidate for statewide office to send a representative from out-of-town, Bob Owens told the Bird volunteer he could speak as long as he wanted. The result was a short, snappy ten minute speech reviewing Bird's political career and his reasons for running for governor. When the speech was finished, the Benson representative got to his feet, said he would not give a speech, but told the delegates: "Take all of Mike Bird's attributes, which you just heard, substitute the name Bruce Benson, and you've got your Republican candidate for governor."

No one was present to speak for Dick Sargent, not even a local resident of Alamosa County. A number of letters were read from candidates for statewide office who apologized for not being able to be present but asked for the support of Alamosa County's delegates when they would get to the state assembly in Denver. The man reading the letters made it a point of saying how much Alamosa County Republicans appreciated it when a candidate or his representative came down to speak to the Alamosa County Republican Assembly personally.

Delegates from Alamosa County to the Republican State Assembly in Denver were self-nominated from the floor by raising their hands. Far from there being any competition, it was a strain to find 14 people who were willing to take the time and spend the money to head up to Denver to the state assembly. A long round trip automobile ride (about 500 miles) and at least one night in a Denver hotel was involved. The Alamosa County Republican Assembly was just able to recruit the 14 delegates needed and did not bother looking for 14 more alternate delegates. The 14 delegates named were simply told to "get an alternate delegate to go in your place if you cannot go."

There was no way of telling whether the just-selected delegates were for Bruce Benson, Mike Bird, or Dick Sargent, because their only identifiable characteristic was that they had raised their hands and said they were willing to go to the state assembly. The Bird for Governor campaign would get their names and addresses later and contact them by both mail and telephone from the campaign headquarters in Colorado Springs. It turned out that the real excitement was going to be the race for the Republican nomination for Alamosa County sheriff. Two of the candidates were dressed eastern style in suit coats and neckties. The third candidate was dressed in western garb with cowboy boots and a ten gallon hat. Two of the three candidates for sheriff received more than 30 percent of the vote at the Alamosa County Republican Assembly and qualified for the August primary ballot. One of them was the man in the western wear. He and one of the suit-coat-and-tie guys would settle it at the ballot box on August 9, 1994, the same day the Republican candidates for governor were going to settle it.

The final item of business at the 1994 Alamosa County Republican Assembly was a straw vote for governor. There was no electioneering. The county chairman simply read the names of the three candidates and people raised their hands to show their support. The tally was Mike Bird, 15 votes; Bruce Benson, 8 votes; and Dick Sargent, 7 votes. County coordinator Farris Bervig had done his work well. The only down note was that, as he said he would, Alamosa County Republican chairman Bob Owens publicly cast his vote for Bruce Benson.

It was 11:30 A.M. when the Alamosa County Republican Assembly came to an end. The entire proceedings had taken only about two hours and a half. There were plenty of donuts left over, so Farris Bervig and the Bird for Governor volunteer sat down and talked and ate some of the donuts for lunch before parting company.

Was the Alamosa County Republican Assembly a viable political institution or a curious remnant of an outmoded political party nominating system? Who could say for sure? One thing was clear. Activist Republicans in Alamosa County, Colorado, had come together for a pleasant morning to socialize and attend to party business. They had heard a speech from a representative of a serious candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. They had chosen - although one might better say forcefully drafted - their county delegation to the Republican State Assembly in Denver. They had put two candidates for county sheriff on the primary ballot and eliminated a third, thus sending a voting cue to Republican voters in Alamosa County. They had conducted a straw vote for governor, thus giving a minor amount of positive publicity to a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor who was delighted to have that publicity and intended to exploit it. The activist Republicans had taken the Alamosa County Republican Assembly seriously, and so had the Bird for Governor campaign.

HAVING IT BOTH WAYS

In deciding to petition on to the primary election ballot rather than go the caucus/assembly route, Bruce Benson relieved himself of the responsibility of having to try to go to as many county assemblies as possible. He did not absent himself from the process altogether, however. Even though Benson was going to bypass the Republican State Assembly, he raised lots of eyebrows by showing up and doing some campaigning at a number of Republican county assemblies, particularly those in the heavily populated counties on the Front Range.

Benson volunteers would come early to the assembly hall and put up Benson signs and posters right next to the Mike Bird and Dick Sargent signs and posters. While Benson was shaking hands, his campaign volunteers were busy asking county assembly delegates to sign Benson's ballot petition, and considerable numbers of delegates were signing it.

The majority of the Adams County assembly delegates apparently were not as upset with Bruce Benson having it both ways as these two delegates were. The motion to exclude Benson from the county assembly failed on a voice vote that was not even close.

Not only did Benson attend several of the more important Republican county assemblies, but he allowed his supporters to enter his name in the straw polls held at some of these county assemblies. Most disturbing to the Bird and Sargent campaigns was the fact that Benson came out first in many of the straw polls he entered.