Podcast
The Get More Smarter Podcast - A Weekly Show About Colorado Politics
Hosted by Colorado Pols and The Bighorn Company · EN
The Get More Smarter Podcast is a weekly overview of Colorado politics. The podcast is hosted by seasoned Colorado politicos Jason Bane of ColoradoPols.com and Ian Silverii, former 9News talking head, former Denver Post Columnist, former Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado, and current has-been. Each week they dive into the local and national news, and for some reason, have had Governors, US Senators, Members of Congress, and countless local elected officials as guests over the years. The guys are also frighteningly good at predicting the future. No, really. Are you ready to Get More Smarter?
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BONUS INTERVIEW: Jessie Danielson - Democrat for SOS
4d ago00:34:53Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we continue our quest to interview every Democrat in an important primary election, and this week we’ve got fan-favorite and three-time returning champion State Senator Jessie Danielson back on the show to talk about her run to be Colorado’s next Secretary of State!Senator Danielson represents Jefferson County’s District 22, home of the Get More Smarter Podcast in the Colorado State Senate. As a Democratic state legislator, Jessie has focused her work on economic security for working Coloradans, expanding voters’ access to the ballot, better protections for seniors and the at-risk, environmental preservation and equality for women.Prior to serving in elected office, Jessie was the Colorado State Director for America Votes. Her leadership was instrumental in the passage of 2013’s groundbreaking Voter Access & Modernized Elections Act. She served as then-Gov. Hickenlooper’s appointee on both the Voter Access & Modernized Elections Commission and the Colorado Commission on Aging.Jessie was first elected to the Colorado Senate in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. She currently serves as Chair of the Business, Labor & Technology Committee and Vice Chair of the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee. Jessie served in the Colorado State House from 2015 - 2019, including as Speaker Pro Tem during her second House term.She also previously worked as Political Director for NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, now known as Cobalt. She also worked as a housing coordinator for Connections for Independent Living, a nonprofit organization that helps individuals with disabilities lead full and independent lives.Jessie is a former board chair of Emerge Colorado; she also served on the boards of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado and ProgressNow Colorado and is a fourth generation Coloradan.You can follow Jessie online wherever you get your digital norepinephrine boosters:Campaign Website:https://www.jessiedanielson.com/Social MediaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessiedanielsonforcoloradoInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessiedanielson_co/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jessiedanielson.coThreads: https://www.threads.com/@jessiedanielson_coThat’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Congressional Republicans Wake Up...Sort Of (feat. John Hickenlooper)
3w ago01:23:16Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we were complaining just a few weeks ago about the lack of political ads on the airwaves and now, we’re very, very sorry, because it is nigh impossible to turn on a screen anywhere in Colorado without getting blasted by primary campaign ads…from Democrats only. Then, has Donald Trump finally gone too far? We check in with soon-to-be Ex Senator Bill Cassidy and soon to be ex congressman Thomas Massie to see if Trump still has the pull that he once did in the GOP. In related news, the coalition that brought Trump back to the White House is disintegrating before our very eyes! We ask why this couldn’t have happened around this time two years ago, instead? Then, there are a few reasons why one ought not to commute the sentence of a convicted election denier and overall menace to civilized society, but Tina Peters seems intent on giving us a few more on her way out of prison. But first...in his triumphant return to the podcast, one of our very highest ranking Friends of the Pod is back! We’ve got U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper on the pod today to talk the chaos in DC, the war in Iran, holding ICE accountable, and how he stopped Trump’s $1.8 billion dollar insurrectionist fund with just one amendment.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Jared Polis and the Unpardonable Commutation
May 2001:01:24Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, have you or a loved one attempted to prove the big lie by committing identity theft, knowingly lying about the security of elections, and breaking into your own office to tamper with voting equipment? You may be entitled to a commutation of your felony sentence! Will this unconscionable betrayal of the people of Colorado potentially creating a martyrdom hood ornament for election deniers and would-be thieves in the upcoming midterms affect the election? How could it not? Next, we catch up on the 2026 Republican Governor’s field once more, but reasonable people might ask if this is a good use of anyone’s time. Then, how-loooow-can-he-gooooo? Donald Trump’s GOP has their future in limbo as the President clocks the worst approval ratings of his entire presidential career. What else does GOP stand for? One intrepid listener suggests Group of Pedophiles, and some recent news out of Barb Kirkmeyer’s Weld County Republican Party may well corroborate that accusation. And finally, the second regular session of the 75th General Assembly did in fact adjourn last week; we break down the highlights, the lowlights, and the lowlifes in the microminority.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →The Cajun Karate Master (feat. Amanda Gonzalez)
May 1201:12:30Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, by the time you hear this the state legislature will be just hours away from adjourning sine die. But because we record on Fridays, you’re going to have to wait a week to get the download of what passed, what failed, and what might get vetoed. Then, we dig into some 2026 updates as candidates for state level office report what they raised and spent in the last critical quarter before the primary election on June 30th. Next, even though Republicans have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the governor’s race, that doesn’t mean their primary is any less entertaining. We report from the cheap seats as the gloves come off for who has the privilege of losing to Phil Weiser or Michael Bennet this November, and we’ve got a few other down ballot updates for you as well.But first, she made the topline on the ballot through the Democratic caucus and assembly process and wants to be the one to run Colorado’s gold-standard elections for the next four years after spending the last four years making Jeffco, home of the podcast, the best place to cast a ballot. Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez joins the pod to tell us why she wants to be promoted to the state’s chief elections officer.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →The Primary Election is Coming, but the British are Not
May 601:01:02Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, with a little less than 70 days left until the Colorado Primary Elections, we wonder…where the hell are all of the ads? Do the candidates know that they have to spend all the money they raised to win the only elections that matter in Colorado, the ones that happen between Democrats on June 30? Then, the Supreme Court dealt yet another blow to the Voting Rights Act, this time allowing Republican states to just draw Black districts out of existence, but surely they wouldn't do something like that, right? In local news, the Colorado GOP still doesn’t have a chairperson and won’t until May 30th at the earliest; with the worst political environment since 2018 coming for them, we guess some candidates will have to make sure their postage deals with the Arizona Republican Party are still good! And finally, it’s always a good time to Blame Biden for the absolute disastrous shape of not only the country, but the entire world, even though Donald Trump has been president for like a year and a half already.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Fundraising and Prognostication for the Primary (feat. Christy Powell)
Apr 2801:08:17Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, is Donald Trump the least popular president in history, or just the least popular president in history so far? We dig in to the President’s latest pathetic polling numbers. Then, in a unique twist for our FAFO of the week, it includes, well, pretty much everyone! Except, you know, us, and if you’re listening to this show, probably you, too! In Colorado news, Republicans are still wildly unserious, not ready to govern, and, luckily, won’t be given the opportunity to any time soon. But first, it’s she! Fan favorite and Best Friend of the Show Christy Powell is BACK to run down the latest campaign finance numbers and help us prognosticate what it might mean for the primary elections which are now just fifty-ish days away!That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Where is the Floor? (feat. Dwayne Romero)
Apr 801:15:05Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, Democrats are UP and Pam Bondi is out as the "America Last" President fires yet another member of his cabinet -- one that friend of the pod Joe Neguse also took to task, earning him the new nickname, THE CABINETSLAYER. Then Donald Trump, the peace president who was going to eliminate the national debt and start NO NEW WARS is asking Congress for 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS for his dumb unconstitutional war on Iran, leading to what could be called the Easiest No Vote in History. In the meantime, Trump falls to Watergate/Katrina-level presidential approval numbers. Then, our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado, Gabe Evans, blows up the DHS funding showdown narrative Republicans were trying to pin on Democrats; as it turns out, despite being in unified control of government, voters are not as dumb as Gabe and the GOP want them to be. And finally, Tina Peters will remain behind bars, but for an undetermined amount of time as an appeals court orders her resentencing. But first, a late entry into the race to take on the "Bread Sandwich" himself, Democrat Dwayne Romero joins us to talk about his campaign for the third congressional district. That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Blame it on Biden
Apr 100:47:56Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, as Democrats prepare for their state assemblies you can bet a bunch of lawyers are preparing legal briefs in case their candidates don’t make the ballot through the most straightforwardly indefensible and undemocratic system of nominating candidates we can think of. Abolish the caucus and assembly process! Then, for Donald Trump and his friends: Mail Ballots. For the rest of us: Long lines in November weather with no water or pizza. The Colorado budget is fucked, again, as lawmakers stare down the barrel of another $1.5 billion dollar hole thanks to conservative pressure groups and Donald Trump sucking at being President. But if you don’t want to blame the people responsible for this, you can just blame Joe Biden. Everyone’s doing it! And finally, Colorado Republicans remain silly and our 6th favorite member of Congress from Colorado decides once again that facts are dumb. But first, let’s start with something fun this week, because everything is truly, horribly, awful... That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Toasting and Un-Toasting the Bread Sandwich (feat. Alex Kelloff)
Mar 2501:12:50Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, the Bread Sandwich was toast, and now he’s…untoasted as Donald Trump un-undorseses him for the seat he already has in Congress. Then, what would you do with $200 billion dollars? If the answer isn’t “probably start World War III,” well, then you have a better fiscal policy than the President of the United States! Speaking of our 47th favorite president ever, he went ahead and embarrassed the entire nation several more times, including making a “joke” about Pearl Harbor to the Japanese Prime Minister. Colorado Republicans remain the least serious political party in the country, and we’re including Oklahoma Democrats. And finally, our favorite local television station may about to become our least favorite local television station, unless our Attorney General continues his streak of winning lawsuits against the Trump administration.But first...he’s running for the opportunity to take on Rep. Jeff "Bread Sandwich" Hurd in the race for the Third Congressional District. Alex Kelloff joins us to talk about being a fourth generation Coloradan and how he can win in November.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcribe →Colorado Republicans Have No Confidence in Anything (feat. Evan Munsing)
Mar 1801:15:42Tap to summarizeSend us a message! Really!This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, by the time you hear this episode we may be at war with Cuba, or Ecuador, or Transylvania, because there is seemingly no country that the FIFA Peace Prize President won’t bomb! Also, the Colorado GOP hasn’t won a major election in Colorado in over 12 years, but they’ve defeated their own party chairperson yet again...and just months before a critical election. Then, if you thought International Women’s Day could be the last bastion of bipartisanship in Colorado politics, you’d be wrong! We also have some more 2026 updates as caucuses turn to assemblies and assemblies turn to conventions and these processes get neither more democratic nor less inscrutable to decide who actual voters get to vote for. But first, in our third and final installment of “who wants to be the CD8 Democratic Nominee, we’ve got Evan Munsing on the show to tell us why Democratic Primary voters should pick him to run against our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado this November.That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your 8th favorite Member of Congress from Colorado! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
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