Rocky Mountain Lows

27 July 2010



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Colorado's Politics Shows GOP Troubles

A generation ago, the state of Colorado's two senators were Gary Hart, who managed George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972, and Bill Armstrong, who served as Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee during the Reagan years. As comedian Mark Russell remarked, "Any state who can elect those two to serve together has a lot of explaining to do." In 2010, the Democrats of Colorado are rather boring, but the local Republicans still have explaining to do. They are showing what could lie ahead for the GOP nationally. It makes the Democrats very happy.

Starting with the US Senate race, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton has the backing of most of the party establishment (which out west is not quite the same thing as having the support of an east coast party machine). The Tea Party crowd likes Ken Buck, District Attorney for Weld County.

Mr. Buck is up 16% in the polls, but 2 recent mistakes could result in a nasty conclusion to this race. First, Mr. Buck answered, "Why should we vote for you?" at a meeting by saying "Because I don't wear high heels. She [Ms. Norton] has questioned my manhood, and I think it's fair to respond. I have cowboy boots, they have real bullshit on them. And that's Weld County bullshit, not Washington, DC, bullshit." Weld's county seat is the city of Greeley, where the local cattle production can sometimes be smelled miles away when the wind is right. In actuality, the DA of Weld County is probably what was once known as a "Rexall Ranger." Rexall was a local pharmacy chain; the moniker was more subtle than calling someone a "Drug Store Cowboy." Needless to say, he's not the favorite among GOP women, if he ever was.

Worse after being asked at a different meeting about the president's birth certificate, he said on tape, "will you tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera?" Calling one's supporters "dumbasses" is never a good idea, even if they are.

Over on the governor's side, things were not all that bad for Republicans until recently. In fact, it looked so good for them that Democratic Governor Bill Ritter decided not to run for a second term. Former Congressman Scott McInnis and businessman Dan Maes squared off in what looked like a typical primary battle; that changed when Mr. McInnis was discovered to have plagiarized large sections of what he claimed as his own original writings and when Mr. Maes' campaign finance violations and questions about his personal finances came to light. Bad turned to worse when former Congressman Tom Tancredo stepped into the fray.

Mr. Tancredo announced late last week that if the two of them did not withdraw by noon yesterday, he would run against them on the US Constitution Party ticket (the party is a natural place for a lot of Tea Party supporters ideologically). Neither man withdrew, and this morning, Mr. Tancredo and state Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams got into a shouting match on KHOW radio (perhaps the most popular AM station in the Denver area, and the signal of which reaches most of the state's voters). So, whoever wins the nomination faces a third party challenge from the sweetheart of the Tea Party movement (a man who recently said the president was a bigger threat to the country than Al Qaeda).

In short, the Republican Party has moved so far to the right that candidates who want the nomination of the party need to pose as far-rightists (even if they are not). Yet by doing so, they run the risk of losing independents (the people who got Messrs. Hart and Armstrong elected to the same Congress). If they fail to do so, they risk either losing the nomination, or facing a challenge from the Tea Party right. November might not be so bad for the Democrats after all.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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