Colorado Governor's Field Set With Tea Party Fave, Anti-Immigration Firebrand
Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Posted:
09/4/10
Never mind the anti-incumbent fever or trend toward the Republican Party running through Campaign 2010, the Colorado governor's race is in a class by itself.
Maybe class isn't the right word. But on Friday the Colorado Secretary of State certified Republican nominee Dan Maes for the ballot, despite pleas by the GOP establishment for Maes to make it easy on everyone and just drop out. Why? He apparently misrepresented the law enforcement work he did while he was a cop in -- get this -- Liberal, Kansas. He's been fined $17,500 for campaign finance violations and he once suggested that a Denver bicycle-sharing program might be part of a U.N. scheme to deny individual liberties. If elected, he has vowed to fire 2,000 state workers, "just like that," the AP said.
The opposition includes Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a brew pub owner and supporter of the bike program, and also Tom Tancredo, a onetime Republican congressman and 2008 presidential candidate who is running as an American Constitution Party candidate. Before turning their attention to Maes, Colorado's Republican leadership tried to dissuade Tancredo from entering the fray. That failed. Tancredo, who made his name with bombastic rhetoric and hard-line stands against illegal immigration, says he's already raised $200,000 for his third-party race and has lined up Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a fund-raising event later this month. The chippy Phoenix lawman is being sued by the federal government alleged discriminatory practices involving Hispanics.
Democrat Hickenlooper holds a 12-point lead over Maes in an Aug. 29 Rasmussen Reports poll of the contest to succeed Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter. Hickenlooper has raised $2.3 million -- far more than Tancredo or Maes -- and is already airing TV commercials for his campaign. One shows him taking a shower with his clothes on in a whimsical attempt to wash away the grime of negative ads.
At this point, most Colorado Democrats are standing back and enjoying the turmoil on the GOP side. "The mess they've created is their own mess..." said Colorado Democratic Charwoman Pat Waak, "until that mess impacts all voters in this election."
Maes won't back down. "I stand by everything I have said. When you get the media and the machine out of the way and the peoples voices are heard, we win," he said in a Facebook posting. Former Sen. Hank Brown, who also served as president of the University of Colorado, withdrew his endorsement of Maes last week. So did beer baron Pete Coors and former Colorado Senate President John Andrews. Even the conservative Tea Party movement is divided on Maes' candidacy, according to the Associated Press. Lana Fore-Warkocz, publisher of Tea Party newspaper in Colorado Springs, says she's sticking with Maes, but she said the continuing attacks on him have split the movement in the state.
All of this has distracted attention from a critical Senate race, pitting incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet, a freshman who was appointed to fill a vacancy, against conservative Republican Ken Buck.
Maybe class isn't the right word. But on Friday the Colorado Secretary of State certified Republican nominee Dan Maes for the ballot, despite pleas by the GOP establishment for Maes to make it easy on everyone and just drop out. Why? He apparently misrepresented the law enforcement work he did while he was a cop in -- get this -- Liberal, Kansas. He's been fined $17,500 for campaign finance violations and he once suggested that a Denver bicycle-sharing program might be part of a U.N. scheme to deny individual liberties. If elected, he has vowed to fire 2,000 state workers, "just like that," the AP said.
The opposition includes Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a brew pub owner and supporter of the bike program, and also Tom Tancredo, a onetime Republican congressman and 2008 presidential candidate who is running as an American Constitution Party candidate. Before turning their attention to Maes, Colorado's Republican leadership tried to dissuade Tancredo from entering the fray. That failed. Tancredo, who made his name with bombastic rhetoric and hard-line stands against illegal immigration, says he's already raised $200,000 for his third-party race and has lined up Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a fund-raising event later this month. The chippy Phoenix lawman is being sued by the federal government alleged discriminatory practices involving Hispanics.
Democrat Hickenlooper holds a 12-point lead over Maes in an Aug. 29 Rasmussen Reports poll of the contest to succeed Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter. Hickenlooper has raised $2.3 million -- far more than Tancredo or Maes -- and is already airing TV commercials for his campaign. One shows him taking a shower with his clothes on in a whimsical attempt to wash away the grime of negative ads.
At this point, most Colorado Democrats are standing back and enjoying the turmoil on the GOP side. "The mess they've created is their own mess..." said Colorado Democratic Charwoman Pat Waak, "until that mess impacts all voters in this election."
Maes won't back down. "I stand by everything I have said. When you get the media and the machine out of the way and the peoples voices are heard, we win," he said in a Facebook posting. Former Sen. Hank Brown, who also served as president of the University of Colorado, withdrew his endorsement of Maes last week. So did beer baron Pete Coors and former Colorado Senate President John Andrews. Even the conservative Tea Party movement is divided on Maes' candidacy, according to the Associated Press. Lana Fore-Warkocz, publisher of Tea Party newspaper in Colorado Springs, says she's sticking with Maes, but she said the continuing attacks on him have split the movement in the state.
All of this has distracted attention from a critical Senate race, pitting incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet, a freshman who was appointed to fill a vacancy, against conservative Republican Ken Buck.