Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Thursday, December 21, 2006 2:10:38 PM
There were four major candidates for (probably) retiring US Senator Wayne Allard. Now there are three, and none look all that good to me.
The best possible candidate that the Republicans could have put up was Governor Bill Owens who made it through two terms without a major stumble. Today, the AP published the results of a "wide ranging" interview with Governor Owens. It seems that he has decided to go into international banking. Quoting:
"I've received offers from several international banks. It could be that it would be focused on infrastructure, water systems, electric, airports. Right now, nobody overseas has money for infrastructure," Owens said. "Wherever you look in the world, the new issue is how to meld private capital to public infrastructure. We've done a lot of that because Colorado is one of only four states that doesn't have general obligation bonding. Because of that, we've had to do a lot of innovative finance," he said.
Owens said he also plans to serve on two or three corporate boards, "one of which is probably going to be in Russia."
Owens also stated the obvious, that if Republicans in Colorado expect to begin winning again, they need to stop attacking each other in primaries.
"We need to do a better job in our primaries. We need to do a quicker closure after a primary and we have to have less blood on the floor during the primary," he said.
That leaves three, possibly four, candidates for Senator. The three viable candidates are Bob Beauprez, Bob Schaffer, and Tom Tancredo. Marc Holtzman muddied the waters so thoroughly this summer that he might not win in a primary where his only opponent was "None of the above."
Bob Schaffer was an unsuccessful primary candidate for Senate in 2004. He lost to Pete Coors. Unfortunately, instead of trying to clean up the "blood on the floor" he appeared to encourage his partisans to sit on their hands in the General election. At the same time, according to the Denver Post, he tried to unseat three Republican moderate legislators. If he were to run again, moderates would feel quite justified in using his own tactics against him, even if he won the primary.
Tom Tancredo is a one note song. Except in lopsided districts, and he represents one, single issue candidates seldom win elections. As this is being written, I cannot name a single issue that I know where Tancredo stands other than immigration. In a moderate state, Tancredo is an immoderate candidate, and yet, I think Tancredo is the most likely candidate to win the primary. He has a PAC that appears to be able to print money.
Of the three potential candidates left after Owens departed the race, Bob Beauprez may be the most likely to win. In a three way primary, Beauprez might be seen as the "moderate" candidate and win. Yet, I doubt that he will win in the General election because the Schaffer partisans will sit out the election, just as they sat out the Governor's race, both as volunteers and as voters. I never really understood that mindset, because I wouldn't classify Beauprez as a moderate. He is as Pro-Life as they come, and Tancredo endorsed him on immigration.
The worst of all worlds would be if Marc Holtzman entered the race. If there was ever a "me" candidate, it was Holtzman. While he portrayed himself as a victim in the primary this year, he appeared to be a victim of his own incompetence. He hired a staff that couldn't organize itself out of a wet paper bag when it came to either counting state assembly delegates or following the law when petitioning onto the ballot. Like any good liberal Democrat, he then asked the courts to correct for his ineptitude. While he waited for the Supreme Court to tell him to go pound sand, he used his personal fortune to as much damage as he could to Bob Beauprez' candidacy. It was as though he was saying to the Republican party "Me or Ritter." I don't see him winning a primary.
No rose colored glasses are likely to change this outcome: Senator Udall.
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