TLIAPOT:Just Another Freak In the Freak Kingdom

Another great update! I guess this means no Fear And Loathing ITTL? Glad to see Freak Power expanding and influencing at least the Colorado Democrats. As President Mo Udall yes!
 
INTERLUDE: THE GREATEST ESCAPE EVER THWARTED
When he was apprehended in August of 1975 in Salt Lake City, Ted Bundy had already killed over 22 women across the states of Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. The first murder prosecutors were able to charge him with was the murder of Caryn Campbell in January of that same year. Her murder happened at Snowmass Village, Colorado, so he was transferred to the closest jail to that location in Glenwood Springs. He was then transferred to the courthouse in Aspen for the preliminary hearings. There, since he had been representing himself, he didn't wear handcuffs. However, while the court was in recess, he asked if he could use the court library. However, a sheriff's deputy followed him in, and found him attempting to jump out the second story window. The deputy caught him just in time. [1] Sheriff Hunter Thompson warmed his counterpart in Garfield County to watch for any other attempts to escape (amongst other tangents regarding the case).

Sure enough, back in Glenwood Springs, he began to plot his escape, expanding a hole between the bars in his cells to crawl out. However, the Garfield County Sheriff, remembering his earlier escape attempts and Thompson's admonishment, acted upon reports of strange sounds near his cell, and found him practicing his escape. The hole was covered, and he was put under surveillance. When the court convened again, and Bundy requested a change in venue, the presiding Judge accepted, but to Colorado Springs (which gave harsher sentences for murder). After one final escape attempt, he was sent to Colorado Springs for his trial....

[1] IOTL, Bundy jumped out, and fled around the Aspen area, before returning.

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Next Time: The 1978 Colorado Senate Race

Sorry for not updating. I tried and failed to write this earlier, but I couldn't find the right way of writing it.

As for the somewhat abrupt ending, I need to research more, and figure out how his trial may turn out. I will definitely bring it up after the Senate Race.

Anyway, I will try to return to regular-ish updates now.
 
PART V: The 1978 Colorado Senate Race
Thanks. I should have the next one up in a couple days.
Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway...

Part V: The 1978 Colorado Senate Race

An October, 1978 article in the Washington Post was titled "Truth Is A Casualty in Colorado's Bitter Senate Race".[1] Democratic incumbent Floyd Haskell and Republican opponent Representative William Armstrong had grown increasingly vitriolic with their campaigns. As the article stated, the truth was increasingly lost in this shuffle. Haskell accused Armstrong of opposing help for old Americans, based on a single vote he had made against a version of the Older Americans Act (which Armstrong had in fact voted for in its final incarnation). Armstrong, in turn, attack Haskell as being weak on the military, given several votes he had made to delay its testing (Haskell had actually supported the missile).

In the middle of this polarized election came the announcement that Aspen mayor Joe Edwards was going to run. The rather strong state-wide support for Freak Power gave Edwards a base upon which to run, though neither Thompson or Edwards were certain that they would win. Regarded as non-factors at worst by Armstrong (whom Thompson said "was somewhere to the right of Charlemagne"), Edwards had relatively low support outside the movement. However, Haskell understood what a third party could potentially do, given he himself had been barely elected in 1972 against two third party candidates (from Raza Unida and the American Independent Party). So, to prevent his downfall, Haskell posited himself firmly in the more moderate liberal Udall camp. While attacking Armstrong on the right, he also slammed Edwards to the Left.

However, this strategy would prove mostly unsuccessful. While Haskell managed to secure some moderate, he ended up not inching on Armstrong as he intended (remaining 4% behind) nor preventing support from more liberal members towards Edwards. A factor was the Senator demeanor: largely disinterested and shy (which was not representative of him as a whole).

In the end, the results were as predicted:

Representative William Lester Armstrong (R-CO-05)- 58% (480,801)
Senator Floyd Kirk Haskell (D-CO)- 36.2% (297,133)
Aspen Mayor Joe Edwards, Jr. (FP)- 4.3%(35,909)

While ultimately losing, the fairly decent showing proved that the Freak Power movement could potentially grow to be a major factor in Colorado politics. For now, Edwards and Thompson had left their current posts, but continued to be involved in growth of the party.
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NEXT PART: Interlude: Meanwhile....

[1]A lot of the info from this post came from that Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...ddc-90fc-3d22e746d0d0/?utm_term=.eb29519adfc6

Election data from :http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=5306

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Once again, sorry it took a while to get this out. I won't know when the next one is out, but I will be working on it.
 
THIS
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