The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, and David Beard.
Leading Off
Campaign Action●CO-Gov: Somehow, Coloradans will need to make do without having a cosplaying rich guy as their governor. DaVita CEO Kent Thiry, whose company is the world's second-largest kidney dialysis firm, announced on Monday that he would not seek the GOP nomination for this open seat. Thiry is known for some rather eccentric behavior: He makes his employees sing DaVita's corporate song"hundreds" of times a year (it's "terrible," in the words of CBS MoneyWatch), and he regularly wears a "Three Musketeers" costume around the office. Apparently, he's not the only one who likes to suit up: In a skit performed at an employee meeting some years ago, according to the New York Times, "a DaVita musketeer killed a federal bureaucrat." Oh, the race we could have had!
It's possible that Thiry's absence will nevertheless have an impact on this race. The Denver Post's Mark Matthews writes that Attorney General Cynthia Coffman would likely have been chasing after the same moderate primary voters as Thiry, and that she may be more encouraged to run now. A number of Republicans are already running, and local political observers expect that state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a cousin of George and Jeb Bush, will join them. Former Colorado State University Athletic Director Jack Graham, who lost the 2016 Senate primary 38-25, reportedly is also interested. As far as we know, neither Coffman, Stapleton, nor Graham have ever dressed up as Porthos during work hours, but American politics is nothing if not unpredictable.
