In an October 5 article by Stuart Steers about President Bush's October 4 fundraising visit to Colorado for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez, the Rocky Mountain News reported a stream of Republicans' statements criticizing Democrats and praising other Republicans but included no response from any Democrats. For example, the News reported -- with no Democratic response -- that Bush “accused [Democrats] of thwarting the struggle against terrorism by opposing the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and by challenging the government's interrogation tactics against suspected terrorists.” The News added, “Bush said that was part of 'a different mind-set between the two political parties about the threats we face.' ”

Although the News published a separate October 5 article about a protest held outside the venue for Beauprez's luncheon fundraiser -- the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center in Englewood -- neither News article presented the views of Democratic officeholders, candidates, or party officials. By contrast, an article by Chris Frates in the October 5 Denver Post quoted Colorado Democratic Party chair Pat Waak about the politics of Bush's fundraiser for Beauprez:

The event should help close the gap between Beauprez's lagging fundraising and that of his Democratic rival, Bill Ritter. But Democrats hope the visit will give them ammunition to tie Beauprez closely to Bush in the hope that Republicans unhappy with the president will look elsewhere on election day.

“What it does is makes Republicans even clearer about coming out to vote for Democratic candidates, and it certainly mobilizes our base,” said Pat Waak, state Democratic Party chair. “I think it's great. Come more. How about having (House Speaker Dennis) Hastert come back? We welcome them all,” she said.

From Steers's October 5 Rocky Mountain News article, “Bush stands with Beauprez,” which contained the following quotes and paraphrases of Republican statements at the fundraiser:

• President Bush came to town Wednesday to appear at a fundraiser for Congressman Bob Beauprez, telling a crowd of Republicans that Beauprez had been a close ally in Washington and would make a good governor.
  
  “He's a person who understands that, as the chief executive officer of a state, that you have to have a vision and the capacity to make decisions necessary to achieve that vision,” Bush told several hundred people at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center.

• “If America were to retreat [from Iraq], if we were to cut and run, if we were to abandon our friends and allies, 30 years from now, historians will look back -- the country will look back -- and say, 'What happened to them?' ” Bush said.

• Bush also directed partisan rhetoric against congressional Democrats, whom he accused of thwarting the struggle against terrorism by opposing the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and by challenging the government's interrogation tactics against suspected terrorists.
  
  Bush said that was part of “a different mind-set between the two political parties about the threats we face.”

• Beauprez said he was proud to stand by the president.
  
  “In a time of great trial, great leaders emerge,” Beauprez told the crowd. “Washington, Lincoln, Churchill and Bush. We ask God to continue to grant us great leaders. God has answered America's prayers.”

• [BUSH]: “Education is to a state what national defense is to the federal government. Education is by far the most important priority for state government, as far as I'm concerned.”

• [BUSH]: “I worked with (Bob Beauprez) to help overcome a recession, and a corporate scandal, and a terrorist attack on the United States, war, two hurricanes, and high energy prices. And yet, our economy is the envy of the industrialized world.”

• [BUSH]: “What is at stake is your security and our freedoms, because there's a group of cold-blooded killers bound together by a common ideology that wants to strike us again.”

• [BUSH]: “If you don't believe me, if people in Colorado are doubtful about whether Iraq is important to the security of the United States, I would hope they would listen to the words of Osama bin Laden, or the number two man in al-Qaida, Zawahiri, both of whom have proclaimed loud and clear that Iraq is essential to their plans. See, they believe America is weak and if they can kill enough innocent people we'll retreat. That's precisely what they want.”