DACA, Obama's executive action sparing some young illegal immigrants from deportation, and he doesn't support a path to citizenship. (When I pressed him on this, he said he was for "some kind of earned status," but as for citizenship, "I don't know that that is a universal demand by anybody.") While he claims he opposed the shutdown, he wasn't outspoken about ending it.

"The tactic of Democrats in Colorado has been to create a narrative about the Republican candidate six months before the election"—that they're in the pocket of Big Oil or a social-issues-obsessed ideologue—"and then opportunistically wait for the Republican to fulfill it," says Rob Witwer, a former GOP state legislator who's been close to Gardner since they came to the statehouse together. Past candidates like Tom TancredoOn 14 December in Brussels, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced the first-ever recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize introduced by the Finnish Government. The prize goes to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in recognition of her long-standing work as a defender of human dignity and human rights and commitment to women and girls globally. Read more

International Gender Equality Prize ceremony in Tampere on 6 March

Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, first-ever recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize introduced by the Finnish Government, is to be honoured at an award ceremony on 6 March in Tampere. An international expert panel on violence against women will be held in connection with the event, and the whole event will be webcast live.