Three Dem superdelegates in Colorado's congressional delegation remain uncommitted after the latest primaries in N.C. and Indiana.  Rep. John Salazar, Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall have said they want to wait until after the final primary on June 3 to name their picks, according to Denver Post reporter Anne Mulkern.

Prices at the pump are fueling the latest battles in Congress. Republicans are calling for ramped-up domestic energy production. Democrats want to increase market supplies by halting contributions to the nation's emergency gas stockpile.

Those positions are likely to collide this week. Senate Democrats will unveil a new energy package with at least one old controversial item, as lawmakers probably will be asked to vote again on ending billions of dollars' worth of oil company tax breaks.

Elected officials in both parties, meanwhile, are splitting on proposals to suspend federal gas taxes over the summer. The proposals are backed by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Democratic contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton rival Sen. Barack Obama opposes the idea.

"It doesn't adhere to party lines," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "The difference is between people who regard it as a gimmick and people who regard it as a sensible way to get people over the high prices in the summer months."

McCain has a bill with his gas- tax-relief proposal. Clinton, who called for a congressional vote on the gas-tax holiday, does not.

A group of more than 200 economists on Monday released a letter opposing the gas- tax holiday. The signers included four Nobel Prize winners as well as economic advisers to presidents of both parties.

In the Colorado delegation, Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar and Democratic Reps. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs and Ed Perlmutter of Golden have rejected the idea of a holiday from the 18.4-cent federal gas tax. They called it a temporary fix lacking a guarantee that oil companies would pass savings along to motorists.

Rep. Diana Degette, a Denver Democrat, said she would be neutral until she learned whether the price difference would result in consumer savings.

Republicans in the state's delegation support the idea of a tax holiday for gas, although Sen. Wayne Allard of Loveland and Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs call it a temporary fix that wouldn't address the cause of the high prices.

Colorado's 22 cents-a-gallon gas tax would remain in effect during any federal suspension.

Colorado Democrats said the best route to more gas and lower prices would be shutting off supplies to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and bringing them to market. Republicans, meanwhile, are pressing for oil exploration in coastal waters, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and Colorado.

"We should make a decision as to whether we want to move this country toward bankruptcy and funding our enemies (by buying foreign oil) or go after the oil in our continental shelf," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Littleton Republican.

Allard, Lamborn and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Fort Morgan Republican, also back increased production. "There's about 3.7 trillion barrels of oil in the oil sands and the oil shale in Colorado," Allard said.

Allard and other Republicans who have introduced oil-production-geared legislation are recycling "failed policies," said Salazar. "There is no way that the United States of America will drill its way to energy independence," he said.

Rep. John Salazar, a Manassa Democrat, agreed that the U.S. needs to end dependence on foreign oil, but not by more exploration.

"We must invest more resources into developing alternative and renewable energy sources," he said, as well as "promote conservation, and develop and use our domestic energy supplies in a . . . reasonable way."

Lawmakers arguing for increased supplies of oil to bring down the price are ignoring supply and demand, said Philip K. Verleger, an Aspen-based energy economist.

"If you lower the price of gasoline, consumers are going to want to buy more," he said.

Higher prices help steer consumers toward conservation and smaller cars, Verleger said. They also spur investment in renewable energy sources.

The transition to a renewables-rich market will take several years, Ken Salazar said. Meanwhile, he said, the nation's economy is teetering.

"The huge increase in the cost of gas and diesel and jet fuel . . . creates the possibility for significant disruptions in our economy," he said. "That is what we should be worried about."

Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Colorado's delegation is driving

U.S. House rules allow lawmakers to lease cars, and they set no requirements on cost or type. Only Reps. Diana DeGette and Tom Tancredo take advantage of the program. Leases are not paid for in the Senate.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland

In D.C.: 2001 Buick Century In Colorado: 1995 Ford Ranger

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Denver

In D.C.: 2004 Buick Regal In Colorado: 1999 Ford F150 pickup

"I like pickup trucks that move junk around."

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver

In D.C.: 2001 Saab In Colorado: 2007 Ford Five Hundred, a government lease with $540-per-month payment

"I wanted to lease a hybrid, but the cost was so much higher, I felt it was a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs

In D.C.: No car In Colorado: Toyota Prius and Highlander Hybrid

"Hybrids burn less gas and pollute less too. What's not to like?"

Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa

In D.C.: Mazda 626 In Colorado: Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs

In D.C.: 1996 Saturn In Colorado: 2000 Saturn and 1994 Ford Explorer

The Explorer "is good in bad weather. It has four-wheel drive."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton

In D.C.: Toyota Prius In Colorado: 2005 Buick. Government-funded car, with a lease of about $580 per month. (Amount information was provided by Tancredo, who said he did not have the exact figure. Amount is not listed in the most recent government-disclosure book.)

"You get to drive the Prius in the HOV lanes. It's great." As for the Buick, "It's a nice American car."

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden

In D.C.: no car In Colorado: 2003 Audi station wagon

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan

In D.C.: 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora In Colorado: 2004 Chevy Tahoe

"I call the Tahoe my grandbaby wagon. My husband, Steve, and I love to pack it up and travel all around Colorado with our family."

Visitors to national parks in Colorado and other Western states could soon be packing heat, as the Department of the Interior moves closer to implementing a rule that allows guns in some parks.

As the Jackson Hole News & Guide reports today:

The proposed rule change published Wednesday in the Federal Register would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry loaded guns into national parks and wildlife refuges in states that allow firearms in parks; the rule change would allow loaded guns in Grand Teton and Yellowstone as Wyoming does not ban guns in parks.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has directed his department to
rewrite the policy for the national parks, with the idea that
federal regulations should "mirror" state laws on guns in parks.
That would mean guns could be allowed in national parks in states
where they are allowed in state parks.
   
Colorado allows guns in its state parks, as do about two dozen
other states, including much of the West.

Public comment on the proposal is being accepted for 60 days.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn has decided to petition onto the Republican primary ballot. Lamborn faces Jeff Crank and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn in the race for the 5th Congressional District.

In a letter to friends and supporters, Lamborn said the El Paso County Republican Party was overwhelmed when six times the normal number of Republicans showed up for February caucuses.

The El Paso County Republican Party said, in a news release, that "there . . . were challenges that were overcome and we achieved success."

Denver Post reporter Erin Emery can be reached at eemery@denverpost.com

Congressman Ed Perlmutter and wife Deana have officially filed for divorce, the congressman announced today.

What follows is a joint statement released to the media:

"Since making the decision to separate in 2005 we have continued to work on our marriage, including counseling, however over the past year we have come to the difficult but mutual decision to file for divorce.

"After being married for 27 years, we make this decision with the utmost respect for one another and a shared commitment to the best interests of our three daughters who are ages 26, 21, and 16. We remain close friends and will continue to be involved in each other's lives and will share parental responsibilities for our daughters while maintaining our separate residences in Golden.

"We ask for respect of our family's privacy regarding this decision and hope that everyone will understand that we will have no further public comment on this personal matter."

Perlmutter and his wife met at the Berenbaum, Weinshienk & Eason law firm, where he worked after graduating from the University of Colorado. There he has specialized in bankruptcy, construction and real-estate litigation. Deana was his secretary. They married in 1980.

After months of battling on the issue, Colorado's two senators today agreed on a proposed law that could bring more than $32 million to the state.

Sens. Wayne Allard, a Loveland Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Denver Democrat, will offer legislation that would require the federal government to turn over a portion of revenue from oil and gas leases at a key site on the Roan Plateau.

"We know that in Colorado, these funds will have a huge impact on our local communities," Allard said.

The money would come from drilling leases on the former Navy Oil Shale Reserve. The funds are monies leftover after cleanup of the Anvil Points Research Facility in Rifle.

Under the proposed law, the state and federal government would split what's left after cleanup, now about $65 million and growing by about $1.5 million a month.

Of the state's share, 80 percent would be split equally between Garfield County and Rio Blanco County. Moffat and Mesa Counties would each get half of the remaining 20 percent.

"This bill ensures that our West Slope communities can use those funds to maintain the natural habitat, infrastructure and quality of life that make Colorado the best state in the nation," Salazar said.

Salazar had earlier offered a bill giving the money to Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, arguing that those are the places most affected by the energy development at the site. During a recent tour of those communities, Salazar told residents they deserved the money.

Allard had offered a separate bill earlier. He said that he wanted the money to help Western Slope communities but didn't specify which ones in his bill.

For weeks, Allard criticized Salazar for blocking the senior senator's bill on Anvil Points, saying it threatened the state's ability to get the money that the federal government now is eyeing.

U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told Allard and other senators this morning that the government did not share the state's view that it was entitled to half the money after the cleanup costs.

Kempthorne also said he expects the cleanup to be certified in June.

Rep. John Salazar, a Manassa Democrat, will offer the same bill in the House.

Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com

Sen. Ken Salazar doesn't like mayonnaise. And his parents didn't have to eat pumpkin when they asked his future in-laws whether he could marry their daughter.

These are the type of tidbits you learn about someone when you spend three hours together in a car.

Salazar today rolled out a bill dealing with energy drilling on Colorado's Western Slope, an issue he focused on recently as he spent a day driving through the northwest part of the state.

I dove into old notes to find something he said during that trip. While I was there, I thought I'd share what else I found.

I spent the day with the Democratic senator as he traveled on the West Slope during the Easter congressional recess. It provided a view of Salazar I don’t see much of when he’s in the Senate.

Peer in as I roll down the window.

I'd planned to follow the senator and his posse for the day, and had rented a car. His brother, Rep. John Salazar, came on the trip as well.

After the first stop in Steamboat Springs, I spied a cowboy hat and jeans-wearing Sen. Salazar walking toward me. He asked for the keys to my car and offered to drive me to the next stop, a coal mine in Moffat County.

Salazar’s staff looked slightly confused. Then panicked. Senator alone with journalist apparantly not good.

His spokeswoman Stephanie Valencia raced toward my car. She climbed in the back seat. I grabbed shotgun. Salazar got behind the wheel of the Geo Metro and zoomed off.

Valencia quickly proved she was the most valuable person as she spoke to another aide and coordinated the pick-up of sandwiches for lunch. (We couldn’t eat them for hours, but that’s getting ahead.)

Salazar requested roast beef and swiss, no mayo. I had just placed the same order. Which spurred a brief conversation in Spanish.

Mayonnaise “no me cae bien,’’ I told Salazar, using pigeon Spanish that he had to correct. I explained that I learned this phase in Spanish immersion school, during a lesson on idiomatic expressions. My favorite, I told him, was one that means a significant other has just kicked you to the curb. “me dio la calabaza grande.” He gave me the big pumpkin. Salazar hadn’t heard the expression, but said it makes sense. Then I found out he believes in traditions. Or at least his family does.

“When parents go ask for a woman’s hand in marriage, like when I was getting married, when I was proposing to get married my mother and father went to Hope’s home,’’ Salazar said, referring to his wife Hope, “and asked her parents if it was OK for them for their daughter to marry me.

“Whenever you do that, if the parents of the bride to be do not want her to marry you, what they will do is they serve you calabasas,’’ he said. “So then you get the hint. Then you know that you shouldn’t make the ask, because the answer is going to be no. And that way you’re not offended. So that’s the tie-in.’’

Salazar’s been married more than 25 years, so I’m guessing his parents didn’t get pumpkin that day.

As he powered west on US-40, Salazar rattled off factoids about this part of the state. He knows the names of some of the residents who live out there and how long they’ve been there.

He knows the man who made the Spanish tiles on his ranch rooftop.

Salazar wanted to interview me. How do I decide what stories to write? Do I pick them or do editors assign? Does his press staff do a good job? Don't worry, I tell him. The Salazar press shop hands down wins the award for the most press releases issued every day. They practically shut down my mailbox.

Salazar's known as a moderate guy politically. Sometimes he votes left, sometimes right. As a driver, he's pretty moderate too. I didn’t check the speed limit, but speeds there for the most part were fast and faster. His speeds seemed about right for a highway that winds between mountains.

At one point, however, Valencia didn’t think he was driving fast enough.

After a stop in Meeker, she offered to take over driving. Salazar was running about 40 minutes behind after packing too much into one day.

“He drives like my grandmother,’’ Valencia told me.

After Salazar got behind the wheel in the car, Valencia asked him, “you don’t want me to drive, sir?’’

Salazar asked whether she had really wanted to drive.

“She thinks you drive like her grandmother,’’ I told Salazar, ratting her out. Then I tell Valencia, “You didn’t 'say off the record.'’’

Before the day was over, Salazar drove me on three legs of the trip, each about an hour long. I’ll add further parts of my travel journal as time and your interest permits.

With Congress confronting the nation's real estate downslide, Rep. Ed Perlmutter is trying to help the kind of people whose money he used to go after as an attorney.

The Golden Democrat previously represented lenders in bankruptcy cases involving consumers unable to pay their debts. He also worked for banks, credit unions, mortgage companies and homebuilders forced into bankruptcy.

Now he represents a slice of Colorado walloped by housing price declines. Perlmutter's district includes Adams County, which according to realtytrac.com in February had the state’s highest foreclosure rate. One in every 133 Adams County households faced a foreclosure filing. Realtytrac.com said that’s 4.2 times the national average. Meanwhile Arapahoe County in his district posted the state’s second highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 171 households receiving a foreclosure filing.

Perlmutter sits on the House Financial Services Committee, which on Wednesday heard testimony about how the country’s mortgage foreclosure crisis is affecting the economy.

The committee is considering legislation aimed at containing the nation's mortgage mess. It would provide Federal Housing Administration-backed loans some homeowners could use to refinance. Lenders in most cases would have to agree to reduce the total mortgage amount for the home to qualify.

Perlmutter answered questions about his unique views on the problem and what he thinks should and shouldn't be done.

Q. Your district has some of the highest foreclosure rates. Tell me about what you see in neighborhoods when you are there.

A. If you were to go into the areas of substantial growth in Adams or over in Aurora or Araphoe, that’s where you’re going to see a number of the foreclosures.

The more recent loans in these newer neighborhoods were based on price appreciation of homes and not so much about the income of the borrower. And it’s been a nightmare. The value of these homes have dropped … the individual doesn’t have the income to pay, and then you get a foreclosure.

Those foreclosed homes then affect other homes in that neighborhood. We see fewer new homes being built because there’s this stock of foreclosed properties out there.

Q. Tell me about your background as a bankruptcy attorney. How does that influence your perspective on the mortgage crisis?

A. People over about a 20-year period forget the lessons they learn. Back in the 80s in Colorado in particular there was this belief that real estate prices always go up. And they just don’t. There are always times when the market corrects.

That same kind of euphoria was seen in real estate markets across the country from the late 1990s all the way to about two years ago.

Q. What are your thoughts about what Congress is proposing to ease the housing foreclosure mess?

A. We really do need to stem the bleeding. That’s number one. Number two is that we don’t in our desire to help support, underwrite the economy and the home building businesses, that we don’t overcompensate and over-regulate.

I think we need to assist homeowners, where we can provide a FHA-guaranteed-loan at a new lower home price, to try and stabilize a neighborhood.

Q. Are there any proposals in Congress that you consider particularly problematic?

A. (The bill we’re considering) on FHA, I think there are a lot of good things in it. There are a few things in it that are problematic. There’s a lot of pressure put on appraisers and how they might look at various properties. They’re going to be extra cautious and I don’t want to see them writing down properties in a way that exaggerates the drop in values.

Q. (In the bill you’re considering) What’s the motivation for the lender to write down the loan amount?

A. The motivation … is to avoid a foreclosure and the time and the cost of a foreclosure, to have an FHA-mortgage insurance, which then protects them from any further defaults or drops and makes it easier for them then to go sell the loan and get the cash back.

Q. Why would Congress have a role here vs. letting the free market work it out?

A. If you’re prepared to suffer the pain that a free market drop might cause, then the free market is the proper approach. What we’ve seen ... is the pain of a deep recession is more than the country could bear.

When the Federal Reserve over a weekend … has to come in and bail out a Wall Street firm to the tune of $30 billion, then the question is should we be assisting some homeowners out there in Adams County or Aurora … and keep the neighborhood filled with owner-occupied properties.

Q. How much are homeowners to blame here vs. the lenders?

A. There’s a lot of blame to go around on all sides.

Q. You’re a freshman (member of Congress). You don’t really have much juice here. In the end you’re not going to be much of a decision maker. How are you going to influence people you’re working with in Congress?

A. I beg to differ. I’ve been participating in all of these lending kinds of discussions. Leadership of the House as well as the chairman of this committee respects my background. I do think I have some influence here.

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave will help decide what will be included in sweeping farm legislation House and Senate lawmakers will meet to merge.

The Fort Morgan Republican was named today to the conference committee melding farming legislation from the two chambers. She is particularly interested in programs for sugar, as her district has sugar farmers.

Sen. Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat, today said he visited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to urge action on farming legislation, which passed both the House and Senate but has stalled for several weeks.

There are several differences in the two bills, including the level of price supports farmers should be paid.

Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com

Colorado's congressional delegation is on a pork diet, according to annual Pig Book earmark rankings released Wednesday by Citizens Against Government Waste. The nearly $95 million in earmarks brought home by state lawmakers in 2008 put the state at 47th - down from 21st in 2007 - on the group's "pork per capita" ranking, with an average of $19.34 for each of the state's roughly 4.86 million residents.

The group, which rails against what it sees as excessive government spending, singled out dozens of notable "pork" projects, including $492,000 set aside in the FY 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations Act by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., for the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum.

"The intention of this proposed museum is to highlight the role of Rocky Flats in manufacturing nuclear weapons during the ColdWar. After production at Rocky Flats ended in 1992, it was discovered that the area suffered from environmental contamination associated with nuclear weapons. After a period of remediation, the idea is to create a museum on an adjacent piece of land.

According to its website, the Rocky Flats ColdWar Museum will include artifacts such as “glove boxes, storage containers, photographs, building diagrams, respirators and protective suits, radiation measuring instruments, hand scanners, gloves, signs and the Tepee from anti-nuclear demonstrations, and a security station.”

Individual rankings based on earmarks included in FY 2008 appropriations:

RANK NAME No. of Projects Total (in millions)

HOUSE

158. Udall, Mark 24 $27.6

163. Musgrave 29 $26.6

164. Salazar, John 21 $26.3 (Tied among 2)

193 Perlmutter 19 $22.8 (Tied among 2)

227. DeGette 14 $18.9

243. Tancredo 10 $17.6 (Tied among 4)

248. Lamborn 8 $17.2 (Tied among 5)

SENATE

67. Salazar 112 $111.9

72. Allard 75 $95.7 (Tied among 2)