I had lunch today with Ali Hassan. This is the first time I have interviewed someone who has posted a lot on the blogs and the difference between the impression from Ali's posts and Ali in person is substantial. It made me realize that we get a very two dimensional picture of people from their blogging.
Ali is incredibly personable. Talk to him for any period of time and you are going to like him. You may disagree with him, but you are unlikely to dislike him. He is also very positive and vivacious (a description you rarely hear for a politico). That combination is very powerful for a politician.
He also tells you what he's thinking. Part of this is his youth, but part is also the way he is. It means he says things he later regrets, but it also makes him a lot more interesting. Some candidates use focus groups to remove every little bit of personality and edge and in so doing become almost a non-entity. Ali is at the other extreme. You could say he's our state's Arnold Schwarzenegger – and if he continues with his movie efforts, he could come to follow the Governator's career.
So let's jump to the key question – is Ali going to run for treasurer? When politicians say they haven't decided yet, for many they have – they're just waiting for the right time to make the official announcement. And for many others they may believe they have not decided but as they talk it becomes clear that they have made the decision, they just don't realize it. But for a few it is clear that it is just an option they are considering. Ali definitely falls in that last group. If I had to bet, my bet is he will not run. However, things could play out so that he does. Or we could see him running for something else in the future.
He sees the treasurer's race as being in the hands of others. The most significant determiner being how the economy and Obama are doing and secondarily the races for Governor and Senate. I think he gives those other races more import than they deserve because McCain's disastrous stance on the economic meltdown took his numbers from ahead to behind in his House race (according to his polls).
With that said, when I told him that I thought this would be tough for anyone because Cary Kennedy had done a good job with the state investments in this economic climate, he immediately pulled out some documentation and then proceeded to tear into many of the investments and how Cary reacted to the meltdown. Now hindsight is 20/20 but it can also be an effective campaigning approach against an incumbent. It also shows that he has put in quite a bit of effort already about how he would run for the office of treasurer.
The other really interesting part of the conversation was what didn't happen. Many times it starts with the politician asking me about me – building up the rapport, showing interest, etc. But then it jumps in to what they are working on politically – the issues, their efforts, their outreach, their estimate of what is happening. It's all politics. This is not a bad thing and is to be expected. But in Ali's case, the conversation was all over the place. It was a really interesting conversation and we discussed a myriad of issues. But politics was just one of the topics. Ali is not all consumed by politics which makes him a more well rounded human being, but possibly a less effective campaigner (although maybe not).
With that said, he is justifiably proud of the effort he put in running for the House, especially the 22,000 doors he knocked on. He said when the campaign ended he was in such bad shape that they had to put an IV in him. And the worst was standing on the street corners waving, breathing in all the exhaust fumes. He's definitely shown he will put in the grunt work to get elected. He also said that when he runs again he will put in a serious effort to fundraise as he sees that as an important component to winning.
He then talked about his goal of seeing a high-speed train, one from Ft. Collins to Pueblo and one from DIA to Grand Junction (with a stop in Vail of course). To me the key part of this is it indicates that Ali is old-school Republican. He sees the importance and value in the government making investments in our system. Ali will work to sell his maglev train, but in doing so he will also be selling the idea of the government increasing its investment in the state.
Ok, so in Ali we have an interesting person with some good political talents and a nice bank account. Depending on the mood of the state, who else can run, etc he could win a seat or two. Someone who will have an impact, but nothing major. But as I kept returning to our conversation a thought started germinating and the more I considered it, the more it seems like a distinct possibility.
Organizations rarely radically change themselves from the top down. And the instigators of the change are rarely the "old men" who have been there for years. Ali is a pro-gay rights, pro choice, pro state investment Republican who is very personable and has good political skills. He also has a very loud personality, says what he's thinking, and has a ton of energy. He could be the Colorado GOP's Howard Dean – the person to take over the party if they do as bad in '10 as they did in '08 – and bring them out of the wilderness of wingnutville.
Or he may go make films for 10 years and then come back and consider politics.
