Station:    KHOW, 630 am

Show:       Ross Kaminsky Show

Guests:    Gardner, Cory

Link:        https://www.iheart.com/podcast/the-ross-kaminsky-show-20710514/

Date:        November 06, 2018

Topics:    Election Day, Walker Stapleton, Rural Colorado, Eastern Plains, Western Slope, Greeley, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Durango, Oil and Gas Industry, Killing Agriculture, Wiping out Communities, Jared Polis, Texas, Tennessee, Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Indiana, Kevin Cramer, North Dakota, National Republican Senatorial Committee, Nevada, Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, Radical Left, Economy, Wage Growth

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HOST ROSS KAMINSKY: [00:00:15] Very quickly, folks, before we get to my special guest, don’t forget about nine minutes from now — around 7:57 — I’m going to go stand in front of our building, 4695 South Monaco Street, in front of the radio station, and hand out bite-sized Chick-O-Stick candies. And I don’t know if Cory Gardner is in Denver, but Cory, if you are, you’re free to come to the radio station. I will give you a bite-sized Chick-O-Stick candy, as well.

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM COLORADO & CHAIRMAN OF THE NRSC, CORY GARDNER: [00:00:42] [laughs] That’s amazing, Ross! Thank you!

KAMINSKY: [00:00:42] All right, before we start talking about the election today and all the national stuff, I wanted to just get your take on — you spent a little time over the past week traveling the state with Walker Stapleton in an election I care about a lot. How was that?

GARDNER: [00:00:59] You know, it was great. We were in Grand Junction and Durango and Pueblo and Greeley. A lot of energy, a lot of excitement, and a lot of recognition that our economy is strong and the only way we’re going to keep going forward strong is to elect Walker Stapleton. If you put Jared Polis in place, he’s going to kill our energy industry. He’s going to kill agriculture. He’s going to destroy our ability to continue forward in a business environment as good as it has been in Colorado. And I think it’s very clear choice.

KAMINSKY: [00:01:28] I think it’s — I think it’s one of the clearest choices we’ve seen in a long time. I’m afraid that some voters who don’t have too much information might think, “Well, Colorado has done okay under a Democratic governor. So we’ll just get another Democratic Governor.” Hickenlooper and Polis could hardly be more different on some very important issues and just how how far left they are.

GARDNER: [00:01:50] Well, you know, I look from the lens of my hometown a lot of the times, on energy issues in particular. And I look at the oil and gas industry. I look at what it has done for my community, for Colorado overall — eastern plains and Western Slope, areas that need jobs, that need economic opportunity. You know, we don’t have the Googles and the Amazons going there to create thousands of jobs. We have farmers and we have energy. And Jared Polis wants to destroy that. And what a shame that would be. And you know, it’s not just — it’s not just something that is going to have some impact. We’re talking about wiping out communities. And that’s just not who we are in Colorado.

KAMINSKY: [00:02:27] That’s for sure. All right, so, those of you — you know, here in Colorado I’m sure everybody knows that Cory Gardner is one of our senators. Not everybody knows that Cory wears another hat and that is Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. So he has particular responsibility to try to get Republican senators elected around the country. How are you feeling about that as we head into tonight’s election?

GARDNER: [00:02:51] You know, tonight — tonight’s election we have a little bit of clarity on basically one and a half races. I feel good about where we’re at in North Dakota. I think Kevin Cramer will win tonight. I feel good about Indiana. It’s going to be close, but I feel good about it. But the rest of the races are going to be close.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:07] Wow!

GARDNER: [00:03:08] I mean, it’s Just a close, close environment.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:10] Are you– are you telling me that you feel more confident that a Republican wins Indiana than that Ted Cruz wins in Texas?

GARDNER: [00:03:18] Well, look, I don’t even count Texas or Tennessee.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:22] Okay, because they’re –.

GARDNER: [00:03:22] The toughness of Texas and Tennessee have been creations of the Washington D.C. media.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:26] Okay.

GARDNER: [00:03:26] So, Texas will be Texas. Ted will be fine. He’s going to win.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:29] Yeah.

GARDNER: [00:03:29] Tennesee — Marsha Blackburn is going to win. But, uh, yeah! — so you’re right. I think those two incumbents are going to be fine.

KAMINSKY: [00:03:37] Okay.

GARDNER: [00:03:37] But Arizona, Nevada, those are tough races!

KAMINSKY: [00:03:39] Yeah. And I’ll tell you what: the one that really frustrates me a lot is Arizona. Martha McSally is a pretty — has been a pretty decent Republican Congress critter. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat in that race, is a radical left wing America-hating nut, pretending to be a moderate. And yet that state, which should have figured her out by now, seems like it might not have.

GARDNER: [00:04:09] You know, Ross, I actually had a New York Times reporter tell me that he was disappointed in the Arizona press corps because they weren’t reporting on what Kyrstren Sinema had said, done, and represented. And you know, when a New York Times reporter is telling me this — you know, to hear them complain about press not doing their job — you’ve got to take it to the bank! And I think this is a candidate who has said that she’s fine if somebody goes and fights with the Taliban against this country. She is somebody who compared the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan to the death of somebody who was trying to illegally cross into the United States. I mean, this is just — this stuff is, it’s just beyond the pale.

KAMINSKY: [00:04:54] Yeah, she’s a lunatic. And I will be so sad if Democrat — if that candidate wins in that race. Very briefly, — we got less than two minutes here — It seems to me that what’s going on in this country right now is, on the one hand, trying to get people to vote for a tremendous economy that people actually do give President Trump a fair amount of credit for. And on the other hand, people who just don’t like President Trump — they don’t like his rhetoric, they don’t like his personality. And are people going to go into a voting booth and say, “I dislike this guy so much that I’m going to vote to make the economy worse.” Do you kind of see it — I’ve simplified a lot — but do you think that that’s a lot of what’s going on?

GARDNER: [00:05:37] I think that’s well said. And I think there are elements of the radical left who are going to oppose President Trump, no matter how good it is for this country. There are obviously things that we’re going to agree with and disagree with the president on. But the economy is creating jobs. Money is coming back in, a thousand manufacturing jobs a day added to this country. You’ve got billions of dollars relocating into the United States. Wages are going up. This is incredible. And you’re exactly right. There are elements of the radical left that are going to vote against that economic growth, vote against that economic opportunity, just because of the sheer blindness of their opposition.

KAMINSKY: [00:06:12] Okay. Really quickly, I don’t know if you want to put –. If you had to pick one number, how many seats Republicans will have in the next Senate, what is the number?

GARDNER: [00:06:19] [laughing] Not going to do it! I am not going to do it!

KAMINSKY: [00:06:20] Not going to do it!

GARDNER: [00:06:20] It’s like that old George H.W. Bush Saturday Night Live [impersonation by Dana Carvey] right there.

KAMINSKY: [00:06:25] [impersonating Dana Carvey impersonating George H.W. Bush] “Not gunna do it.”

GARDNER: [00:06:27] No numbers! I feel good about tonight. I’m excited about it. We’re going to have close races, but I feel good where we are. I think the American people have seen progress. They’ve seen opportunity, and they’re optimistic about our future. And that’s why we’re going to have victories tonight.

KAMINSKY: [00:06:39] Senator Cory Gardner, thanks a lot! Good luck tonight!

GARDNER: [00:06:43] Hey, thanks. Take care.

KAMINSKY: [00:06:43] All right, we’ll see ya!