Wolf drops GOP Senate bid ( Coloradoan goes for Congress instead )

Rocky Mountain News ^ | December 6, 2007 | Lynn Bartels

[george76]

Former Delta County commissioner to try to unseat Salazar for House seat instead.

Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolf has dropped his longshot bid to become a U.S. senator and now is seeking the Republican nomination in the 3rd Congressional District.

Wolf said his decision to try to defeat U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, has received "plenty of support" on the Western Slope and in southern Colorado.

That's a much different response than he received this fall when he said he intended to challenge Bob Schaffer for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate.

Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, dismissed Wolf's candidacy, saying the amount of money Schaffer had raised and the campaign he had built made him the "de facto nominee."

Wolf, a fifth-generation Coloradan who lives on a ranch near Cedaredge...

Salazar is siding with "fringe" environmentalists and is taking too much campaign money from unions.

[george76]

Salazar is listening, Wolf said, but to the wrong people.

[snowrip]

A Wolf in the fold...

[Uri’el-2012]

Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, dismissed Wolf's candidacy, saying the amount of money Schaffer had raised and the campaign he had built made him the "de facto nominee."

Note the leadership by Dick Wadhams

[rfp1234]

Is this the same Wadhams who managed George Allen’s 2006 campaign?!

[NeoCaveman]

Is this the same Wadhams who managed George Allen’s 2006 campaign?!

yes. But remember the candidate can always and often does over rule the campaign manager.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Schaffer's primary challenger switches to run against John Salazar. Wolf, as with so many of our GOP candidates, is probably going to be underfunded in this coming cycle, unfortunately. Still, that shouldn't deter us in this instance that every Dem running in CO should be tied to Pelosi/Ritter.

[Uri’el-2012]

Dick Wadhams

[rfp1234]

Thanks for the link. The Thune win alone is compensation for Allen’s loss. This guy’s overall record is decent.

[AuH2ORepublican]

The CO-03 is more conservative and Republican than the state as a whole, so Wolf should have a decent shot of defeating fluke Congressman John Salazar (who won in 2004 because of GOP division and his brother’s coattails).

[Clintonfatigued]

I expected that something like this would happen. DJ can attest to my track record.

[colorado tanker]

The Colo. 3rd has Pueblo and Aspen, two historically Democrat areas, and the San Luis Valley which has Dem votes. It has trended Republican in recent years, but is competitive.

[colorado tanker]

Wadhams is from Colorado and he has been very effective here.

[Uri’el-2012]

Colorado 3rd CD

[cookcounty]

Governor Ritter (D)is botching things in Colorado, 2008 could be a bad year for his comrades.

[colorado tanker]

There it is! Hiya, Xenia.

[Uri’el-2012]

Hey CT

I'm in the 3rd CD;
We have our own problems and division based on personalities.

If there are FReepers in the 3rd CD,
they need to do grassroots work to defeat Salazar.

[Uri’el-2012]

I'm in the 5th not the 3rd

[AuH2ORepublican]

True, there is a Democrat tradition in the district (especially its eastern part), but President Bush got 3% more in the district than he did statewide in both 2000 and 2004 (he got 54% in 2000 and 55% in 2004).

[colorado tanker]

It’s a district we should be able to win. Salazar got in when the Republicans were terribly divided, which can be a problem in such a big district with no large population center.