Ward Connerly, the anti-affirmative action millionaire from California, steamrolled into Colorado like a heavyweight champion. Like Clubber Lane from the movie Rocky III, Connerly and his Amendment 46 seemed unstoppable with prior statewide ballot victories in California, Washington, and Michigan. The undefeated champion was the odds-on favorite in Colorado, boasting tremendous financial resources and deceptive ballot language that gave him a huge 18 point lead in the early polls.

Connerly usurped language from the 1964 Civil Rights Act to create this backdoor attack on equal opportunity initiatives. This measure looked to undermine the very principles of the Civil Rights Act and the movement that spawned it. It would have eliminated programs like the Colorado Pay Equity Commission that works to reduce the pay gap between men and women, numerous college scholarship for minorities, and government contracting opportunities for both women and minorities.

Connerly teamed up with the Independence Institute, the rough-n-tough mouthpiece for the right-wing conservative movement in Colorado. The team seemed invincible like Clubber Lane.   Who would take them on, who would fight for civil rights? Colorado has some heavy hitters too, but many seemed to be engaged in other ballot fights, and others seemed to be afraid of losing to these giants. 

Then, like Rocky Balboa coming out of retirement, the local, longtime protectors of equal opportunity came together to take on the challenge.  Now, these weren’t the usual big names of civil rights in Colorado.  These were the small grassroots organizations and community members that make up Colorado Unity.

The Colorado Unity coalition formed in 1996 to educate Coloradans about the importance of a diverse society and equal opportunity for all in our great state. The coalition, lead by 9to5 National Organization of Working Women and the Colorado Progressive Coalition, laced up their gloves to take on the giants.

From the first bell, Connerly and his team came out swinging: hiring high-priced lawyers to win title board hearings on ballot language and paying national firms to collect nearly 130,000 signatures with their below the belt tactics. The hometown coalition fought back with a lawsuit challenging the signatures and an alternative ballot measure of their own.  But late in the fifth round, the local coalition was hit with a devastating combination that sent them to the canvass.  Their signature challenge fell short and their alternative measure unexpectedly did not make the ballot.  It seemed that our local coalition was out for the count.  The bruised coalition stumbled to their feet and barely made it out of the round.

Still leading big in the polls, Connerly and his team looked at the struggling coalition and figured they could coast to an easy victory.  For the coalition, the knock down seemed to refocus them.  In the next round, they began a grassroots education effort on the benefits of equal opportunity and how Amendment 46 would be bad for Colorado.  Like drilling body blows, this ground effort went largely undetected by most observers.  Even Connerly and his team underestimated the impact this body shot canvassing would have in later rounds.

Despite the polls continuing to show overwhelming support for Amendment 46, Connerly’s lead was shrinking and the coalition kept up their door-to-door body attack.  By the tenth round, the coalition’s tactic seemed to be taking a toll on the giants and their legs seemed to weaken.  Then, the coalition unleashed a flurry of punches by collecting more than a hundred endorsements from prominent officials and organizations around the state. The coalition dominated the debates by being quicker to the punch with facts that were as precise and accurate as Ali’s jabs.

In the championship rounds, the coalition discovered Connerly’s weak spot by exposing the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan of his efforts in Michigan. With the devastation of an Oscar de la Hoya left hook, the coalition sent the giants to the ropes. The momentum of the fight changed, and Connerly and his team were on the defensive. The crowd rose to their feet, for the first time paying close attention to the match up. The coalition found it easy to shoot straight right-crosses through the giants’ weak defense and sent them down to one knee.

Going into the twelfth and final round, the coalition knew that Connerly and this team would not give up so easily.  The giants attempted to regain support by appealing to their right-wing extremist friends in the media to promote their cause. But the coalition maintained their aggressive body attack by educating more and more voters at the doors. Then, with just moments to go in the fight and for the first time, the coalition seemed to be ahead on the score card with a poll in the Denver Post. The crowd was now cheering for the coalition and they garnered a last burst of energy for the final seconds. The coalition and their supporter’s launched a tremendous final door-to-door push that delivered a vicious uppercut that sent the giants down one last time.

But Connerly and his team would not lie still. The giants stood up and the bout went to the score cards. The final count would be close and it took an unusual amount of time to tally the score.  The coalition’s corner was nervous, they wondered if they had mounted a big enough comeback to win. Indeed, the coalition wished they had a couple more rounds to really knock the giants out.  But in the end the judges, our very own Colorado voters, defeated the deceptive measure by more than 35,000 votes. Colorado voters handed Connerly his first ever statewide defeat, and at the same time upheld our states’ deep commitment to civil rights. 

This article is dedicated to the hundreds of canvassers and volunteers that knocked on more than 250,000 doors – they deserve credit for delivering the “body punches” in this great victory.

Editor’s note: Carlos Valverde, Jr. is the Co-Executive Director of the Colorado Progressive Coalition and can be reached at carlos@progressivecoalition.org