What happens if GOP can’t find 3rd opponent for Tom Tancredo, John Hickenlooper?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 8:13 pm, July 24, 2010

Some Colorado operatives are predicting that if Tom Tancredo enters the gubernatorial race against John Hickenlooper, the GOP  won’t bother to replace the winner of the primary. Disgraced candidates Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are facing off in the Aug. 10 primary. Does this mean that the GOP would concede the race to Tancredo and Hickenlooper and let them fight it out? Looks that way. If Tancredo gets in, no Republican will want to waste time in a losing campaign against him and Hickenlooper. If McInnis or Maes stays in the race after winning the primary, neither will be able to raise money, and voters will, for the most part choose between Tancredo and Hickenlooper. McInnis or Maes probably would get less than 5% of the votes cast in November. It would be up to Tancredo to make a competitive and even a winning run against Hickenlooper and save the rest of the GOP ticket. In effect, we’d have a two way race. Even if McInnis wins the primary and then quits, the GOP, at best may entice a sacrificial lamb to take on Tancredo and Hickenlooper, and that candidate may get less than 3% of the votes. Colorado Republicans aren’t as dumb as State Chairman Dick Wadhams is pretending they are. The won’t waste votes. They’ll go for Tancredo. What independents will do is harder to predict, and they will pick the winner.
 

Islamic Triumphalism: A Brief History

by El Marco | 7:39 pm, July 24, 2010

The Center for Security Policy today unveiled a powerful 1-minute video opposing the construction of a 13-story, $100 million mega-mosque near the hallowed ground of the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers were destroyed on 9/11 by adherents to the barbaric, supremacist and totalitarian program authoritative Islam calls “Shariah.” And the imam who is [...]

Tom Tancredo still supports Ken Buck for U.S. Senate

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 6:06 pm, July 24, 2010

Contrary to rumors floating around the Internet, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo still supports Ken Buck for the U.S. Senate, a spokeswoman told me this afternoon.

Rep. Perlmutter, what road are you in the middle of?

by Kelly Maher | 5:42 pm, July 24, 2010

“And I try to take what I learned here from my folks, from all of you, from our community, just sort of right down the middle politically, right down the middle financially; try to bring good common sense to making decisions and get this country back on track.” That’s U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., speaking at the opening of a field office in June. Does Perlmutter qualify as “right down the middle” on political and economic issues? Let’s see…

Interview: Tom Tancredo says GOP county chairs should be asking Scott McInnis to quit

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 5:32 pm, July 24, 2010

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said in a phone interview today that the six Front Range GOP county chairmen who’ve called on him to not run should be focusing instead on getting rid of Scott McInnis and Dan Maes so he won’t have to run.
Since yesterday, a campaign spokeswoman who is monitoring Tancredo’s emails said, 65% of the some 1,000 emails he’s received are encouraging him to run. Since Arapahoe County Chairman David Kerber issued an email this afternoon calling on Republicans to email Tancredo and demand that he not run, about 85% of the 20 received after about an hour were negative to Tancredo. She did not know whether other county chairs are issuing the same email. The email appears to be the work of the McInnis campaign or the state GOP.
Speaking about disgraced GOP gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, Tancredo told me, “I wish they would use their energy to state that if they win and are trailing (John Hickenlooper) in the polls, they will step down. That’s where their energies should be. I would be the happiest guy in the world if I do not have to run and if folks would do the right thing.”
Tancredo said he’s talked to Colorado State GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams quite a bit about whether McInnis can recover from his scandal. “I do not believe he (Wadhams) feels that way,” (that McInnis can recover) Tancredo said. 
If the GOP can’t launch a successful campaign, Tancredo predicted, “They’ll blame it on me.” He noted that “two weeks ago Saturday, I was stumping for Scott McInnis. I have done everything that that campaign asked. What are my options? I hope that on Sunday or Monday I can announce that these guys (McInnis and Maes) are doing the right thing, and I will not run.”
And, if McInnis or Maes resigns after winning the primary and a vacancy committee announces a replacement, “It will not be me” he predicted with a chuckle.
Tancredo said it would not be legal for the GOP vacancy committee to pick him as a gubernatorial candidate if he were already a candidate of the American Constitution Party, which may make him his candidate. What the GOP could do “if I’m in and running well” is just not name a replacement who would be put on the ballot, he said. Then Republicans would vote for Tancredo versus Hickenlooper.
Tancredo confirmed that if he is named to run for the American Constitution Party, individual contributors would be able to give his campaign up to $550 each. This limit is well below what individuals can contribute to Maes or McInnis. It would make fundraising even more difficult for him.
Tancredo said that if he’s in the race against John Hickenlooper on the American Constitution Party ticket, he doesn’t think Bruce Benson would jump in as the appointed GOP candidate. And he doesn’t believe  Benson is interested in a two-way race against Hickenlooper. “Been there and done that,” Tancredo said, referring to Benson’s ill-fated 1994 gubernatorial candidacy.
Tancredo said he thinks that McInnis is out of money and won’t get any more from contributors. Maes doesn’t have any money and won’t get many new contributions, he predicted.
Asked whether he thinks voters will listen to the Wadhams and the county chairs who are trying to stop him, Tancredo replied,  ”I never have.”
Tancredo’s phone died before I could ask a couple of more questions.

Arapahoe County Republican chair puts out ‘Stop Tom Tancredo’ press release

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 4:37 pm, July 24, 2010

Dave Kerber, the chair of the Arapahoe County Republicans, has dug a deeper hole for the Republicans by issuing a “Stop Tom Tancredo” news release. Call or email ( arapgop@arapahoerepublicans.org ) Dave Kerber to stop being a Scott McInnis Republican. Keep Kerber honest. Who’s going to get out the GOP vote in Arapahoe County? Most of the precinct leaders and district captains love Tom and distrust McInnis with good reasons. I don’t know how many know Kerber. Click on the headline to read the release, which obviously was written by the Scott McInnis campaign or the State GOP.

Tom Tancredo’s call for the impeachment of Obama draws attention to a great column

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 4:05 pm, July 24, 2010

Tom Tancredo knows how to get attention when he has something important to say.
He includes a sensational demand that makes everyone in the country read and talk about his column. And he gives it to a paper desperate for attention like the Washington Times. This gets him on Fox News, which apparently belittled him, but he’s planted another seed and advanced his argument that President Obama is not doing his job. Everyone knows that even a Republican-controlled Congress would neither impeach nor convict President Obama. So cool down and read Tancredo’s very thoughtful column on Obama’s failures. 55% to 60% of Coloradans agree that Obama is not doing his job. Probably 20% think he should be impeached, I’m guessing. LINK: TANCREDO: The case for impeachment. Obama has violated  his oath of office over immigration. By Tom Tancredo.

Churchill, McInnis Team Up for Plagiarists Anonymous (Humor)

by Ari Armstrong | 3:36 pm, July 24, 2010

Today in Liberty Toastmaters, I played the role of humorist. I’m not much of a comedian, but thankfully the Colorado Republican Party has made the job a relatively easy one. Here are the results:Notice that all of the details I discuss in the first par…

Scott McInnis Republicans: 6 county chairs trash Tom Tancredo; they are destroying Colorado’s GOP

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:50 am, July 24, 2010

The chairmen of six of the seven large Front Range counties that have 70% or more of the state’s voters have become Scott McInnis Republicans and enablers. They have issued a press release calling on Tom Tancredo to withdraw his courageous threat to become a third party candidate, Lynn Bartels reports. I have met most of these guys and appreciate what they’ve done for the GOP, but now they’re undoing their good work. They are so worried about party divisiveness and losing an election to Governor-elect John Hickenlooper that they’re backing the disgraced Scott McInnis. They are saying that they and the GOP don’t care about ethics, integrity or good government. They just want to beat Gov.-elect Hick. I want to beat him, too, but not with McInnis or Dan Maes. Only Tom Tancredo or Bruce Benson have the name recognition and the ability to raise enough money to beat Hick. Fortunately, nobody listens to county chairs. LINK: GOP county chairs to Tancredo: Don’t run. By Lynn Bartels.

Do Republicans want honest, clean government?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 7:22 am, July 24, 2010

Tom Tancredo’s threat to run for governor of Colorado as a third party candidate against Scott McInnis is creating a moral and ethical challenge for too many so-called Tea Party and good government Republicans. Real Tea Party and good government voters will never vote for McPlagiarist even if it means electing Governor-elect John Hickenlooper, an Obama Democrat. By attacking Tancredo for his courageous threat to run if McInnis doesn’t drop out of the race, win at all cost Republicans are showing that they’re more loyal to the GOP than to their principles. For too many, power is a higher priority than integrity. Power corrupts, and power’s lure is corrupting those who are still backing McInnis and Dan Maes. These are the same people who are angry about how Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and President Obama are corrupting government. Remember what Tom DeLay (D-TX) did to America and the GOP.

Showdown in the Governor’s Race

by admin | 7:15 am, July 24, 2010

On Thursday, former Congressman Tom Tancredo threw down the gauntlet.  His demands?  Both GOP gubernatorial candidates, Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, must bow out of the governor’s race by high noon on Monday, July 26th and replace the GOP nominee (with himself?).  If the GOP candidates do not meet his demands, he will usurp the [...]

Breaking – Tancredo’s In It to Win It (for Hickenlooper)

by Elliot | 5:33 pm, July 23, 2010

Tancredo just announced that he will not leave race if Maes and McInnis fail to meet his Monday deadline – that he will be in it until the end.  (see the linked audio starting at about 11:40).  In other words, if he gets in Monday (under the stated logic to make sure that a good Republican [...]

Colorado’s Falling Worker Freedom Grade Highlights Bill Ritter Legacy

by Ben DeGrow | 5:26 pm, July 23, 2010

Americans for Tax Reform is out with its annual Index of Worker Freedom this week. The idea is to look on a state-by-state basis to determine the extent of employee individual rights and freedoms in workplaces based on the laws and policies of their respective states. ATR looks at whether a state has Right-to-Work laws, [...]

Tom Tancredo, third parties and a failed process.

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 3:56 pm, July 23, 2010

Competition is always good. Always.The more competitors, the more choice and the better off we all are. This applies to goods and services. It applies to public schools. And, yes, it applies to political candidates. More choice is never a bad thing. Ev…

Nick Gillespie on the Nanny State and the Libertarian – Conservative Riff

by Jon Caldara | 3:50 pm, July 23, 2010

Hazlitt and Bastiat Answer Today’s Economic Fantasies

by Ari Armstrong | 3:30 pm, July 23, 2010

The following article originally was published July 23 by Grand Junction’s Free Press.Hazlitt and Bastiat answer today’s economic fantasiesby Linn and Ari ArmstrongAccording to today’s great economic fantasy, the way to make everybody better off is to …

The Invisible Candidate

by Al Maurer | 11:58 am, July 23, 2010

We’ve had the Joe G the Stealth Candidate and in this most unusual of election years I got a robo-call tonight from the Invisible Candidate, Walker Stapleton. He’s apparently running for State Treasurer but it’s hard to tell because I’ve never seen him. That shouldn’t be surprising as his Secretary of State filings from January [...]

Paul Peterson Wonders if GOP Congress Boosts Obama on Education Reform

by Eddie | 10:34 am, July 23, 2010

It’s Friday, and I don’t want to delve into the depths of education policy today. Instead, I’m recommending an interesting Education Next thought piece by Harvard professor Dr. Paul Peterson, a champion of school choice and education reform.
Peterson muses that a Republican takeover of Congress this November just might save Obama’s presidency… by saving [...]

Tancredo’s Gambit

by Ari Armstrong | 9:14 am, July 23, 2010

I disagree with Tom Tancredo over many things, particularly abortion and immigration. Moreover, his scorched-earth style often makes me cringe. But this is not about Tom Tancredo. This is about the future of the Republican Party.Tancredo, the former Co…

Buck 46, Norton 37: Weld DA Carries Small Edge Into Homestretch

by Ben DeGrow | 9:11 am, July 23, 2010

The Ken Buck for U.S. Senate campaign has released a new poll conducted by Magellan Strategies that shows little has changed in his race since June. The top line result indicates voter preference for Buck over Jane Norton by the margin of 46-37. Last month Buck led Norton 42-32. As expected, the share of undecided [...]

In college radio exclusive, Dan Maes explains recent allegations, pins criticism on “being on top”

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 8:34 am, July 23, 2010

Maes blasts former employer; says approaching customers for his business was “just a normal pattern of when someone leaves a company” Admits supporter complaints influenced decision to release tax returns, is open to possibility of releasing them to other outlets in the future – denies conflict of interest with Constitutionalist Today, claims “no one is [...]

Guilt by association hurting Scott McInnis backers, Dick Wadhams?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 8:21 am, July 23, 2010

Will the Republicans who are still supporting disgraced gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis and Dan Maes pay for their loyalty by being deemed guilty by associating with them? 
Is there enough 

Tom Tancredo: The case for impeachment

by Rossputin | 7:33 am, July 23, 2010

Former Congressman (and perhaps future Governor?) Tom Tancredo has an Op-Ed in the Washington Times today backing up his statement, made famous at the Ken Buck event a couple of weeks ago, that Barack Obama is the biggest threat facing this nation, and arguing that at least one part of Obama’s behavior is impeachable.

It will be interesting to see if any of this filters into the CO governor’s race…

See “TANCREDO: The case for impeachment”, Washington Times, 7/23/2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/22/the-case-for-impeachment/

Denver police wants the public to be patient.

by John West | 7:29 am, July 23, 2010

The story reported to Fox News by the Denver Sheriffs Department is that Marvin Booker, 56, was being processed at the jail on the morning of July 9 when deputies used a taser gun to try to control him. He died a short time later. That’s the official story.  The unofficial story is that Marvin [...]

On endorsing candidates

by Rossputin | 6:57 am, July 23, 2010

Although I don’t feel that I made an incorrect choice in my endorsement of Jane Norton for US Senate, I’m thinking that from the point of view of not coloring how people read my writing, I should in the future avoid endorsing anyone in a Republican primary except when there’s a massive difference between candidates. 

As I have not endorsed either Maes or McInnis (because I think they’re both poor candidates), I probably should not have endorsed anyone in the Norton/Buck race because they’re both good candidates.  Again, this isn’t to say that I don’t support Norton.  But I think public support distracts me from writing what I want and causes readers to question much of my writing on the topic as potentially biased…which is not an unfair question of someone who has endorsed a candidate.

It also gets tiresome to have so many readers repeatedly assign motivations to me such as being an “establishment windbag” when I’ve made my reasoning clear over and over and when such charges against me are laughable.  Well, I may be a windbag, but I’m not establishment.  It’s a bad use of my time to refute these charges but I sorta feel like I need to.

I can also imagine that endorsing a candidate might make any writer a little less critical of something that candidate does or says which one normally wouldn’t like, or more critical of the opposing candidate.  I think I’ve done a pretty good job on this score, having pointed out several things I haven’t liked in Jane’s campaign (both policy and tactics), and having pointed out several things I did like about Ken Buck.  But still, it’s an unnecessary inclination to burden myself with.

All in all, having made myself somewhat of a lightning rod in this campaign has been an interesting, though not thoroughly enjoyable, experience.  I’ve certainly learned a lot about the nature of political activists, most of it making me think that Republicans aren’t nearly as much better than Democrats as I had hoped (in terms of behavior, not in terms of policy positions.)  In that sense, what I’ve learned about many of my readers has been quite a disappointment.  (For the record, I don’t assume that nobody out there is disappointed with me.  I’ve gotten plenty of hate mail.  But that comes with the territory and I have a tough skin about such things since I’m reasonably sure that I’m doing what I’m doing the right way and for the right reasons.  I assume the people whom I’m disappointed with feel the same way about themselves.  And maybe they’re right, but I just don’t see it that way.  In any case, at least we don’t kill each other over such disagreements in this country.)

All these things together lead me to believe that most of my blogging brethren who chose not to endorse a candidate were wiser than I am.

So, while I’m quite comfortable with my endorsement of Jane Norton in this race, in the future I’m only going to endorse a candidate in a Republican primary if there is a candidate who is substantially better than the other(s). (Or I might negatively endorse, i.e. suggest voters stay away from, a candidate who is substantially worse than the others in a multi-candidate race.)  There’s little gain and much downside for me in endorsing a candidate in a race with two about-equal candidates, whether they’re equally good (like our senate race) or equally bad (like our governor’s race).

Breaking News – Leaked Video of Tancredo Meeting with GOP Officials

by Elliot | 6:28 am, July 23, 2010

I must say, Tancredo has the strangest demands…..

Tom Tancredo’s saying that Scott McInnis has to quit or he’ll run as 3rd party candidate

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 6:52 pm, July 22, 2010

Scott McInnis has to decide.
Is it time for Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper to measure the curtains in the governor’s mansion?
Will he let his kids live with the disgraced McInnis name, which will be hard to live down if doesn’t quit the governor’s race?
Does McPlagiarist plan to spend the rest of his life herding sheep because he won’t dare set foot off the ranch?
How will he explain to his contributors that he not only blew off the Hasan Family Foundation, he blew off people who sent him more than $2 million for his campaign?
Can he stand being the butt of Colorado jokes for the rest of his life. He’s no Bill Owens, Roy Romer or Dick Lamb.
Will he make his living talking about mishandling his disgraceful demise to ethics classes?
Does he really want to let Tom Tancredo use his gubernatorial campaign to sell his Amendment 42? That ballot initiative would make Colorado a UN-Free Zone exempt from any UN treaty that overrides the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.
Today, Tancredo said that if Scott McInnis and Dan Maes don’t promise by next Monday, July 26, that they will drop out of the governor’s race if they win the Aug. 10 primary, he will run as a third party candidate. Tancredo wants the winner of the primary to drop out and let a 24-person vacancy committee name a new candidate.
Tancredo correctly believes that if McInnis or Maes runs against Gov.-elect Hickenlooper, they’ll not only lose to Hick, they’ll take down the entire GOP ticket with them, regardless of national trends.
If Tancredo winds up in a race against McInnis and Hick, 95% of Republicans, including this one, will vote for Tancredo. 80% of independents and 100% of Democrats will vote for Hick.
Scott McInnis must decide what kind of state he wants Colorado to be. He needs to decide how he wants Colorado will remember him. And he has to decide whether he wants to make the McInnis name such a joke that his kids and grand kids will move out of the state to escape his reputation.

Hope and Change – Tancredo Edition!

by Elliot | 6:49 pm, July 22, 2010

Tancredo December 2009: “Some patriots are tempted to launch a third political party or back one of the existing small parties that never attract more than one or two percent of the vote in state races. I strongly believe that such a course is suicidal and would only result in splitting the conservative vote and [...]

Breaking: Dick Wadhams responds to Tom Tancredo

by Rossputin | 5:53 pm, July 22, 2010

For the update on GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams’ response to Tom Tancredo’s all-but-entry  into the Colorado governor’s race, please see the update to my note from earlier regarding Tancredo’s press release:

http://rossputin.com/blog/index.php/breaking-tancredo-statement-on-gov-race-if-mcinnis-maes-don-t-promise-to-get-out-tancredo-will-get-in

Tancredo to Run As 3rd Party Candidate in CO

by PerlStalker | 5:30 pm, July 22, 2010

Tom Tancredo has thrown down the gauntlet in the Colorado Gubernatorial race. In a press release today, Tancredo announced that he will “seek the nomination of the American Constitution Party for Governor of Colorado.”

If Scott McInnis and Dan Maes d…

« go back — keep looking »

Featured Posts

• Judge Rules Americans Can Be Forced to Testify Against Themselves

  In order to protect our rights, our security must be protected. In order to protect our security, our rights must be invaded. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

• World Economic Forum in Switzerland: Global Elites Celebrating Hypocrisy
• SCOTUS decision on warrantless GPS surveillance produces an expected friend of privacy
• You didn’t want your Fifth Amendment rights, anyway, did you?
• Keynesian Economists Finally Catch Up and Agree: China to Have Hard Landing
• The Beauty of Private Property—from China?
• Regime Uncertainty, Regulatory Surge, and Unemployment Numbers