Posted on 08/02/2010 7:16:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In the races for both governor and senator, the GOP is doing its best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
If Colorado is a bellwether of national political fortunes, as many believe, then Republicans will be . . . well, they’ll be screwed.
Unless some unlikely and unforeseen things happen, any chance of the GOP’s retaking the governor’s mansion in November was eradicated last Monday when erstwhile Republican Tom Tancredo announced that he would jump into the race on the Constitution party’s ticket. That party’s platform includes, among other, um, robust right-of-center positions, retaking the Panama Canal.
Tancredo had earlier issued an ultimatum to the ethically challenged Republican gubernatorial candidates, Dan Maes and Scott McInnis: If whichever of them won the August 10 primary was not, at that point, leading the Democratic candidate, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, in the polls, he would step aside and let a GOP committee chose a stronger candidate. If the two did not accept Tancredo’s ultimatum —and they didn’t — then he would enter the race himself as a third-party candidate. Of course, by not waiting until the primary was decided to launch his own candidacy, Tancredo has, in all probability, ensured that no credible candidate would risk his or her reputation wading into a three-way race.
The road to Tancredo’s one-issue candidacy (the one issue being his ego) was paved by a tin-eared state GOP establishment that chose to bankroll a stale contender in a year begging for new faces and ideological earnestness. When one thinks of conservative renewal, one does not think of McInnis, a former six-term congressman whose lobbying, lawyering, and ethical tribulations (paying his wife for a campaign that did not exist, for instance) should have disqualified him long ago. Unsurprisingly, the most notable characteristic of McInnis’s candidacy has been his miraculous talent for generating absolutely no excitement among conservatives.
As if these inherent flaws weren’t enough, voters soon learned that McInnis had pocketed $300,000 for “musings” on water policy he had written for an ersatz think tank backed by Republican donors. By “written,” I mean plagiarized. And when McInnis attempted to shift culpability to an 82-year-old researcher — whom he hadn’t credited in the first place — it simply reinforced the perception that the Republican old guard was not only ideologically weak but corrupt as well.
Once the GOP establishment had scared off any inspiring contenders, the alternative came in the form of an unknown self-proclaimed business whiz named Dan Maes. Even before McInnis imploded, Maes had secured the top line on the primary ballot at the GOP assembly in May on the strength of the protest vote. But apparently, an unknown candidate isn’t by default a competent, chaste, or even conservative one. Maes is suspect on all three counts.
Though Maes’s pitch for office was rooted in his acumen on financial matters, it turns out he was pulling down less than the average journalist’s yearly pay — so, not good. Or put it this way: Through some dubious accounting (for which Maes paid the largest campaign-finance fine ever in Colorado), he put in for $42,000 in expenses, and that was his best payday in years.
Enter Tancredo. Exit Republican chances.
With a cache of impressive young conservative talent available in Colorado, it is difficult to comprehend how the GOP could have turned off the activist base so quickly. It takes a special kind of hubris to believe that everyone will always fall in line.
A similar dynamic seems to be at work in the Senate race. Many conservatives remain suspicious of Jane Norton — former lieutenant governor, supporter of the contentious Referendum C tax increase, and sister-in-law of super-lobbyist Charlie Black. But, unexpectedly, it is upstart candidate Ken Buck, supported by Jim DeMint and the tea party, who has really started to struggle.
Buck, the Weld County district attorney, has stumbled since becoming the frontrunner, facing his own ethics questions and making one unforced error after another. Earlier this summer, Buck let loose a clumsy joke about being a candidate without “high heels.” He was responding to Norton’s statement that he wasn’t “man enough” to do his own negative campaigning, relying instead on ads by independent groups. The innocuous jab was transformed by Norton into an effective — if unfair — campaign issue: “Ken Buck may think a woman’s place is in the house. We know a woman’s place is in the Senate.” (Oy vey.)
Then a tape emerged of Buck asking a Democratic operative if he could “tell those dumba**es at the tea party to stop asking questions about birth certificates [i.e., Obama’s] while I’m on the camera.” Right or wrong, the comment wasn’t helpful to Buck’s campaign.
Then again, despite perceptions, the Princeton-educated lawyer and former Justice Department prosecutor is often less reflexively tea party and more nuanced on issues than Norton. What he isn’t is hand-picked by the Republican establishment. That alone seems to be enough to hamstring a candidate in this state.
Either Norton or Buck still has a good shot at taking down whoever winds up being the Democratic candidate — the primary contest is down to mealy-mouthed incumbent senator Michael Bennet and progressive challenger Andrew Romanoff — but both have been needlessly battered.
The GOP started this election year with the clear upper hand in Colorado. But because of gratuitous infighting, dreadful party management, and incompetent candidates, it may end up losing two winnable races.
A bellwether? Probably not. A lesson? Yes: A dysfunctional relationship between grassroots conservatives and establishment Republicans can undo a sure thing in a hurry.
— David Harsanyi is a columnist for the Denver Post.
The only time I saw where it didn't work was when John Anderson ran. Even a moderate Republican wasn't enough to keep people from voting for Reagan. I think Anderson tapped off as many moderate Democrat votes as Republican votes. The Democrats were split bad and Anderson did little to the solidarity of the GOP behind Reagan.
You are still urging an appeal to the mushy middle so we are in agreement there. As for “purging” and replacing with “radical constituents”, every whiner on FR has a different definition of what that is depending on their particular hobby horse. Nobody is ever going to be pure enough. Unfortunately the other party is so much more adept at falling in line and being a part of the whole (they’re commies after all). We have so many individuals on our side that we can’t ever agree on anything and we’re always ready to give someone the finger and walk - it’s our strength but also our weakness.
The reason Colorado is a mess is that...people do not understand the difference between being a “Republican” and being a “Conservative”
There are already some here trying to marginalize and discredit Tancredo...merely because he is running as an Independent. If it was not for Tancredo....we would not have Illegal Alienism and Illegal Alien Amnesty as an issue...no SB 1070...and would have Amnesty passed by GW Bush, John McCain, Karl Rove (super Liberal RINO)....Obama would not even have to worry about Amnesty as Liberal RINO GOP would have passed it already
It is obvious Tancredo is the conservative running for the COL governorship. If you are not supporting Tancredo...you will definitely be supporting a Liberal.
This nonsense that “third party candidates cost the GOP elections” is total BS. The GOP loses elections because they lose their conservative base. People still whining over Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 miss the total fact that Bush 41 and Dole were not conservatives and poor choices for the GOP.
This “third party vote” myth needs to be trashed...and anyone still believing this is not really a conservative. Its time to grow up...think on your own...and stop believing everything a fraud-con talk radio host says.
As for Marco Rubio in Florida...Frantzie is 100% correct. Rubio is losing ground because he did not support the AZ SB 1070...and to this day will not offer full support. And, Rubio has a track record as Speaker in the Florida House for killing anti-illegal alien/pro-American legislation. Marco Rubio is for Illegal Alien Amnesty....and this was the same issue why Mel Martinez did not run for another term in the Senate. It’s time for people to stop being ignorant and start doing some research on Rubio. Crist is leading Rubio because Floridians have figured out that Marco Rubio is not really a conservative.
Kinda scary that FReepers would so believe an article from a liberal Denver paper regarding Tancredo. The Open Borders/Pro-Illegal Alien/Liberal Globalist crowd hates Tancredo with a passion because of his stand (and his success) in making Illegal Alienism as an issue.
Coloradoans have a choice....Tom Tancredo or a Liberal. If you are not supporting Tancredo....you will be supporting a Liberal
Or...
You could work to expand the party with conservatives that would dilute the influence of people you disapprove of while retaining the numbers to achieve the majority we need to actually over-turn the damage done by the Marxist Democrats.
Whatdaya think?
In the last election Tancredo wanted to be the Republican President of America, and then he endorsed the pro-amnesty, illegal alien hiring, “Sanctuary Mansion” Mitt Romney while he was in the middle of yet another of his illegal alien scandals, instead of candidate Fred Thompson.
Why did he do that? Where was all his conservatism and integrity?
Blind, dumb, helpless and hopeless.
It's just awful. Power is lying on the ground. Who will pick it up?
Should they be encouraged to participate in, if not conduct, any candidate vetting and selection processes?
Anyone can participate in, or attempt to participate in, the candidate vetting and selection process.
"The right to search for truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true."
--Albert Einstein
I think you need to meditate on how political power works...
Excellent post. I have no intention of walking!
What you said!
I encourage all Colorado conservatives to join me.
Crist is against the AZ law.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/08/11/crist_i_dont_like_the_arizona_law.html
CNN: “I don’t like the Arizona law. I don’t think it’s the way to go,” Crist told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room. “I think the key word […] is ‘people that are suspected of being illegal immigrants.’ How do you make that determination? By what they look like? That’s not part of the America I believe in.”
WhAT A MAROON! He hasnt read the law. Crist now has Demo donors, so this shapeshifting flimflam artist will be a flaming lib.
And Rubio is not opposed to AZ law btw.
Crist is a nightmare, fraud, weirdo. I loathe him. Rubio is an open-borders RINO.
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