Posted on 05/21/2015 4:02:31 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Republicans are trying to recruit Rep. Mike Coffman to challenge Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado. If he stays put in the House, that gives the GOP a crop of candidates who could have a harder time in what will be one of Republicans’ few offensive opportunities in 2016.
Coffman will have breakfast Thursday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will surely make the case to convince the four-term lawmaker to try and join him across the rotunda. Asked about recruitment efforts, Coffman quipped, “Pressure, pressure, pressure.”
Coffman is taking his time. He told CQ Roll Call a decision would come “probably within the next month.”
“Still thinking. Never say never. But I haven’t ruled it out,” he said.
Coffman raised just $356,000 in the first quarter, a sum that does not scream future Senate candidate. And Colorado Republicans, who consider him their top choice, are unsure just how enthusiastic he is to leave his House seat.
“I think my Senate colleagues on the Republican side would very much like me to run,” Coffman said. The McConnell breakfast, he added will be “my second meeting with him.”
Coffman’s resounding victory last year in a swing district that was a top Democratic target elevated his standing with Colorado Republicans. As the former state treasurer, he has run successfully statewide before. His district includes must-win counties that swing statewide and presidential elections in Colorado, and as a sitting member of Congress, he would start with money in the bank.
“I think there’s a broad feeling that Mike is by far and a way the best positioned to compete and beat Sen. Bennet,” Republican consultant Josh Penry told CQ Roll Call.
If he opts against a bid, there is a large field of Colorado Republicans who could step up.
(Excerpt) Read more at atr.rollcall.com ...
Mike Coffman hasn’t always made good decisions, but he’d make a very acceptable Senator, one who’s mostly conservative and a big improvement over the current one.
amnesty supporters are not needed. I heard Ellen Roberts being compared to Joni Ernst and some think she would be the strongest candidate.
If Scott Tipton were to run, Ellen Roberts would be a great candidate to succeed him. But Tipton doesn’t appear to be interested.
Coffman has won statewide, so that’s in his favor. Bennet lucked out by having a weak, second-tier opponent in 2010. The downside if Coffman runs, the GOP could lose his seat in a Presidential year.
“The downside if Coffman runs, the GOP could lose his seat in a Presidential year.”
Coffman is by no means a perfect conservative, but there aren’t that many of those in CO with the profile to win a U.S. Senate election against a RAT incumbent in a presidential year (apart from Senator Gardner, are there any others?). I think that Coffman would be an acceptable candidate given the circumstances, and the fact that CO now votes like NV and NM, not like WY or UT.
Darryl Glenn is working very hard for the GOP nomination for US Senate from Colorado, very conservative African American, former Air Force Lt. Colonel. I’m supporting him:
http://www.electdarrylglenn.com/#!darryl/c1fs5
Yeah, that's what I told myself about Gardner.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
Acceptable risk. We need a first tier candidate for this one.
Darryl Glenn
He’s the right guy to run for the Senate!
Nothing personal against Glenn, but unless he has deep pockets, he’s a second tier candidate. The Dems are going to make sure Bennet is fully-funded.
Glenn is working very hard and has been the last 3 months, meeting GOP and conservative groups multiple times a day all over the state, building loyalties everywhere, he’s high energy. He is building statewide roots and loyalties,I’m impressed.
Can’t fault him for that. Still, he might be better off positioning himself to run for CO-5 when Congressman Lamborn retires.
Coffman has said “no”.
Maybe his wife will run (Attorney General, has won statewide). I’m not sure, absent Mike Coffman, which person is the best bet (just so long as Ken Buck doesn’t have another go).
In theory, a good Senate candidate can come from anywhere—Joni Ernst was a first-term state senator—but we must remember that CO has a far larger number of voters than IA and that 2016 is a presidential-election year. Someone like Cory Gardner—energetic 40-year-old with 3 terms in the state house and 2 terms in Congress, conservative record but with not much controversy, fairly well known in the Denver metropolitan area—would be ideal. Alas, I don’t think that there’s another Gardner on the GOP bench.
Darryl Glenn served three terms on the Colorado Springs City Council and recently started his second term as an El Paso County Commissioner; those are all four-year terms (although his initial City Council term was a partial one), so he’s been in office since 2003. Glenn also has earned a BA, MBA and JD and is a retired Air Force officer with over 20 years in the military, so he certainly has credentials and experience in leadership positions. That being said, experience in the military and in local government may not be deemed as relevant by voters as is experience in the state legislature and in Congress, and Glenn is almost completely unknown in the Denver metro area that dominates the state. So DJ may be correct that he’d be an ideal candidate to replace Congressman Doug Lamborn in the Colorado Springs-based CO-05; maybe Lamborn and Glenn can be the Gardner and Buck of 2016 and switch races, with Lamborn taking on Senator Bennet and Glenn running in Lamborn’s safely Republican congressional district.
Daryl Glenn is a candidate with potential, though pretty untested. State Senator Ellen Roberts also has great potential but is little known outside her legislative district. I still think that an attempt to recruit Scott Tipton from Congress is the best option, but not to be heavy-handed about it. If Tipton runs, than Roberts can succeed him in the House.
Speaking of Colorado Springs, I don’t especially like Doug Lamborn. His initial campaign alienated people unnecessarily and he still doesn’t win the margins typical of incumbents. I hope he retires and Daryl Glenn succeeds him.
I agree Tipton would be great, although I don’t know how much name recognition he has on the Front Range. But, Cory Gardner pulled it off from a rural district.
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