Tom Wiens' Campaign Kickoff Set For This Week

by: Colorado Pols

Sun Nov 01, 2009 at 07:24:06 AM MST

Colorado Republican Tom Wiens has filed the paperwork to make official his 2010 campaign for the Senate.

Wiens, a former state senator, filed a statement of candidacy and a statement of organization on Oct. 27 with the Senate public records office in Washington, D.C. He had previously formed an "exploratory" committee to consider challenging Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

Wiens told The Colorado Statesman newspaper earlier this month that he would make an official announcement of candidacy in the first week of November. He told the publication that he has a 100-person campaign finance team to help him raise the millions he'll need for the race.

The newspaper also quoted Wiens' wife as saying that he's prepared to put in half a million dollars of their money into the campaign.

Wiens, a rancher and businessman, is entering a crowded Republican primary that includes Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor who is backed by the Senate GOP leadership, and Ken Buck, a county district attorney who has been campaigning since the spring.

Meanwhile, Jane Norton has been touring the state--last week on the Western Slope (a couple of stops cancelled by bad weather in Denver), this week starting her tour of the Eastern Plains.

Weld County DA Ken Buck is still out there too, he's been visiting local party offices and generally trying to keep his name in the game where he can. Honestly we don't know how much longer Buck has in this race as a viable candidate, Tom Wiens is here to capture the "Anyone But Jane" contingent and we expect he will quickly establish himself at Buck's expense.

Buck isn't a bad guy but he never caught fire in this race, even as the GOP base recoiled at the prospect of K Street shoving Norton down their throats and Ryan Frazier was punked out of her way Wayne Wolf-style. Sources say there were lingering concerns among Republican activists about Buck's 'core conservative values,' based on (among other things) his recent prosecution of the high-profile murder of a transsexual woman as a hate crime.

Wiens doesn't have any such 'baggage,' he'll be solid on the conservative slate of issues and better able to articulate them than "Languid Jane" Norton--and you know what? Spending all that money 'publicizing' the Leadville mine drainage 'crisis' last year makes a lot more sense now, doesn't it?

On the other hand, there had long been rumors that Wiens was not doing well financially, so we'll believe the self-funding claims when we see the coin in the bank.

As our next Big Line update will reflect, Wiens, if he does everything right, might turn out to be the reason Norton is always nervously checking her rear-view mirror.