Posted on 08/24/2009 5:59:03 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Prominent conservative blogger Ben DeGrow writes Monday afternoon that former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez won’t be taking on Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet next year.
But that doesn’t mean the crowded field of GOP challengers won’t be growing. Former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton has decided to join the race and will announce her plans next month, writes DeGrow, a policy analyst at the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute, in his Mount Virtus blog.
“I have received word from a reliable source or two that Jane Norton is definitely going to announce her candidacy for U.S. Senate,” DeGrow wrote Saturday. “My guess is this will mean Bob Beauprez opts to stay out of a crowded phone booth field,” the blogger presciently wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at coloradoindependent.com ...
This is a good development. Jane Norton is a fairly known quantity in Colorado, and I think she would be at least even-odds to defeat Michael Bennet. The thing to watch for is whether Bennet dips into his vast personal fortune and self-funds, like Herb Kohl and Jon Corzine have done.
No thanks Jane - we’ve already got a conservative in the race: Ryan Frazier
http://www.frazierforcolorado.com/
Beauprez is a loser. Good news.
Losing in a bad year after having to run to succeed a RINO incumbent who damaged the party brand and getting through a brutal primary doesn’t necessarily make a candidate a “loser.”
Is Jane Norton related to Gale Norton, W’s Interior Secretary?
I don’t know. Jane Norton is married to former U.S. Attorney Mike Norton, who ran two near-successful campaigns for Congress during the 1980’s. Gale Norton uses her maiden name in her campaigns. So they may be in-laws.
I saw “Norton” and “Colorado” and I thought “oh no not Gale”. Ha.
I don’t know much about Jane.
Beauprez may have lost badly in 2006 but he was polling well here.
He sounds good but I’m concerned he’s not prominent enough.
According to one internet source, it says the Nortons are not related (given the lean of the article, if they were, they’d have gleefully noted it).
I know little about her myself. But you know my opinion of her running mate, Owens. I was none too happy when Owens replaced (or rather, ran out) Joe Rogers from the ticket. He seemed a promising Black Republican (as was the late Vikki Buckley, who told the story how the GOP did nothing to help her as a Black Conservative, and she got the Sec of State office via hard work after starting as a clerk and former welfare recipient. In fact, she probably worked herself to death, since she died of a heart condition not long after winning her 2nd term, again, with little help from the GOP).
As far as I can tell, there's nothing RINOish in Jane Norton's background that would be embarrassing like Gale Norton, but she was simply a non-entity as Lt. Governor and most Coloradoans will probably still think of the more famous Gale Norton once Jane's name is mentioned, despite the fact Jane held a much higher state office and was a heartbeat away from the Governor's mansion for four years. Try googling her and there's nothing interesting. Her bio on wiki is three sentences long and doesn't even have a birth date or photo.
I'm still of the mindset that Ryan Frazier is the best of the current crop of Senate candidates. Yes, it's rather difficult to go from city councilman to Senator (though in Illinois several people have used the even weaker post of "county recorder of deeds" as a launching pad for statewide office), but Frazier has an impressive life story, articulates conservative values very well, and is not a conventional GOP candidate.
Under normal circumstances, Frazier would a big underdog, but we are blessed with the RATs putting a political cipher in that Senate seat. I think running Jane Norton against him would give Bennet an "equal" (meaning invisible to voters) on our side.
Owens didn’t just dump Rogers, he had the law changed so that he could. Prior to 2002 there was a primary for LT Governor, Rogers won the last Republican one in 1998 by 58 to 42 over one Jim Congrove. They then changed it so the gubernatorial nominee appointed his running mate.
I am assuming Owens’ was pushing for the state constitutional amendment that achieved this change.
I don’t know what his problem with Rogers was. It’s shame he went on to a last place finish in the inaugural 7th district house primary.
They didn’t get along from the start, and Owens seemed to go out of his way to try to run him out and even tried trumped-up allegations against him over some nonsense (was it over phone calls or some such crap ? I’m momentarily forgetting). It did the trick, and Rogers was so damaged, it resulted in that disastrous showing in the newly-drawn 7th when he was forced out in ‘02.
Whoever we put up is going to have little name recognition so Norton could be a good choice.
If Zero and Ritter keep driving the Dims' popularity down 2010 could be a good year for us.
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