Democrat John Hickenlooper Cruises in Crazy Colorado Governor Race

BOULDER, Colo. -- Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper will move from Denver's City Hall to the Colorado governor's office in January.

Hickenlooper had 52 percent of the vote, ahead of American Constitution Party candidate and former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, with 33 percent, with 34 percent of precincts reported. GOP nominee Dan Maes had 10 percent in perhaps the nation's wackiest governor's race.

"The political campaign may be over but the business of putting Colorado back to work is just beginning," Hickenlooper told the crowd at a Democratic rally in Denver. "Everyone's going to be at our table. We are Colorado and our future begins today."

Hickenlooper vowed to make the state a leader in innovation "from agriculture to energy to technology."

Tancredo addressed his disappointed supporters earlier.

"We did what we believe is right," Tancredo said in his concession speech. "A loss of a race does not mean a loss of a cause."

If Maes falls below 10 percent, Republicans will be considered a minor party in Colorado for the next four years unless the state legislature amends the law. The minor party status would limit candidate fundraising in primary races and place GOP candidates lower on the ballot.

The surprises started in January, when incumbent Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter announced that he wouldn't seek re-election. That set off a brief scramble among Democrats, with Hickenlooper ending up as the lone primary contestant.

On the GOP side, the way appeared paved for former congressman Scott McInnis to challenge Hickenlooper. But tea party candidate Dan Maes also made the primary ballot, despite negative publicity surrounding heavy fines he had to pay for campaign finance violations.

In July, plagiarism accusations surfaced against McInnis. In the two weeks before the August primary, Democratic interests spent $500,000 in ads against McInnis, and Maes won by 5,150 votes.

Meanwhile, Tancredo, known for his anti-illegal immigration stance in Congress and a brief 2008 presidential run, decided to run for governor on the American Constitution Party ticket.

And damaging information continued to surface about Maes, from his dismissal as a police officer in Kansas to a prior bankruptcy. As Republicans abandoned Maes, they flocked to Tancredo.

Illegal immigration took center stage in Tancredo's campaign, as he brought controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County (and Dog the Bounty Hunter) to Colorado for a fundraiser. Tancredo and Maes both vowed to roll back oil and gas regulations approved by the Ritter administration, as well as repeal an executive order on state employee unions.

Tancredo's bombastic persona likely hampered his run. Last Thursday, the Denver Post ran an editorial titled "Colorado can't afford to elect Tancredo," noting many of his outrageous statements. In July, for instance, he called President Barack Obama the greatest threat facing the United States.

Hickenlooper, meanwhile, focused on his success as a business owner and as Denver mayor, where he's been known for an innovative program to help the homeless and efforts to improve education in the city. With a healthy lead on his opponents through much of the fall, Hickenlooper's campaign focused on clever ads like one in which he appeared in a shower to clean off after a barrage of negative ads.

Tancredo received a last-minute endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday in the form of a robocall.