The Western Conservative Summit crowd heard a touching tribute to retiring Colorado Christian University president Bill Armstrong on Friday night, a man who has served Colorado long and well. The 10-minute-plus video features some of the best-known names in Colorado politics, from pollster Floyd Ciruli and state GOP icon Dick Wadhams. “I think he built the modern Republican Party we know today,” Wadhams says in tribute of his boss during the 1980s. Armstrong was a young Colorado radio station owner who became a force in state and national politics, serving at the right hand of Ronald Reagan during Armstrong’s 12 years in the U.S.