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Lamborn sails to win in reliable GOP district

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 4, 2008 at 11:42 p.m.
Updated November 5, 2008 at 1:13 a.m.

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Times may be tough for Colorado Republicans, but they weren't threatened in the 5th Congressional District.

First-term Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn scored an easy victory over retired Air Force Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, a Democrat. Lamborn led by a 3-2 ratio with almost all precincts reporting.

The 5th Congressional District, created in 1972, represents El Paso, Teller, Fremont, Chaffee and Lake counties, plus part of Park County. Democrats never have come close to holding the seat in the area, where Republicans have an overwhelming voter-registration advantage.

Lamborn won a brutal six-way primary for the nomination to succeed retiring 20-year GOP Rep. Joel Hefley in 2006 but left a wake of bitter rivals who accused him of running an overly negative campaign.

His greatest hurdle to winning a second term was expected to be primary challenges from former Hefley top aide Jeff Crank and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn, who finished second and third in the 2006 GOP primary. But the two split the anti-Lamborn vote.

Lamborn, 54, ran on his record: that of an unabashed conservative who brags of being the congressman who voted most often against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He credited his anti-tax and pro-family values, as well as a more unified Republican Party, for his big victory.

"I worked hard. People here saw the good job I was doing," Lamborn said.

Bidlack, 50, hoped for a lift from the national pro-Democratic mood and from his ability to link Lamborn to unpopular President Bush. He challenged Lamborn to multiple debates, but they held just one.