SUMMIT COUNTY - Joan Fitz-Gerald's strong showing at last weekend's Democratic Party assemblies in the key Front Range counties of Boulder and Jefferson cemented her position as front-runner in the race to succeed Mark Udall as Colorado's 2nd District Congressional representative.

In Boulder County - home of opposing candidate Jared Polis - Fitz-Gerald garnered 61.1 percent of the delegates for May's congressional district assembly, bringing her total delegate count to 481.

"It was beyond my wildest expectations," the former Colorado State Senate President said.

Former State Board of Education Chairman and millionaire entrepreneur Polis, while less familiar to High Country voters, has been the race's biggest spender, and was expected to give Fitz-Gerald a run for her money in the Front Range portions of the district.

Although his 285.5 delegate total exceeds the threshold to win a spot on the Aug. 12 Democratic primary ballot, Polis bested Fitz-Gerald in only one of the 10 county assemblies that feed into the 2nd Congressional District. Broomfield County alone gave the edge to Polis, while in both Grand and Clear Creek counties the Boulder businessman failed to capture any delegates at all.

At the Summit County assembly last month, Fitz-Gerald garnered 29 of the available 38 delegates.

Recently in the news for triggering the "Millionaires' Amendment" in campaign financing by contributing nearly $400,000 of his personal money to his campaign, Polis said he was encouraged by the results at the county assemblies.

"This is great news for my campaign," he said. "To come into this race as the underdog candidate taking on the special interests, and emerge from county assemblies with over 30 percent feels great."

Fitz-Gerald and Polis both chose to go through the caucus process - of which the county assemblies are the second step - in order to win places on their party's primary ballot. Boulder environmentalist Will Shafroth opted to bypass the caucuses and assemblies and will instead seek inclusion on the August ballot by petition.

Because the Republicans have yet to field a serious candidate for Udall's seat, the August primary has been the main focus in the race. Now that Polis and Fitz-Gerald have assured ballot spots, both candidates indicated their campaigns are changing gears.

"This race is just beginning and we are gaining momentum and going full steam ahead for the next five months," Polis said.

In the Fitz-Gerald campaign, Saturday's results allowed a brief respite in what is shaping up as one of the most expensive primary races in the country.

"We actually took a moment to breathe," the candidate said Monday. "And now we're recharged and back at it."



Harriet Hamilton can be reached at (970) 668-4651, or at hhamilton@summitdaily.com.