Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz

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by: Colorado Pols

He’s getting more play than Ken Buck ever did, and there’s a good reason–as the Grand Junction Sentinel joins in the statewide reporting:

In what sounds like a reprise of the race between two Grand Junction Republicans running for governor, a former Grand Junction resident is gearing up to run against a Grand Junction native for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate.

Tom Wiens, a former broadcaster in Grand Junction and now a southwest Douglas County rancher, filed papers as a candidate for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Michael Bennet.

That puts him on a collision course with Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor and Grand Junction native, who also wants to run for the U.S. Senate seat…

Wiens, a former board member for Club 20, was the 29-year-old GOP candidate against incumbent Democrat Ray Kogovsek in the 3rd Congressional District in 1982.

He sold his radio station, KSTR, when he no longer could rely on air transportation to get him in and out of Grand Junction, and had to move.

He was able to sell the station, but otherwise lost everything in the oil shale bust, he said.

Wiens served in the Colorado House and Senate and had set up an exploratory committee for the U.S. Senate.

Tom Wiens, as we’ve been saying since well before his candidacy was a done deal, is a far more potent theoretical challenger to Jane Norton than Buck or any of the minor GOP Senate candidates. He’s pledged half a million dollars of personal funds to the campaign, but his real strength lies in deep business and personal connections to wealthy donors. If he can execute on his bold promises to raise first-tier U.S. Senate bid money, and if Norton continues to uninspire the GOP base, Wiens could be the “real Republican” this race has been waiting for.

10 thoughts on “Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz”

DavidThi808 says:

November 3, 2009 at 7:21 pm

No answer yet – but I only sent it on Sunday.

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redstateblues says:

November 3, 2009 at 7:36 pm

“Our government has forgotten all the hard-working Coloradans that are in the middle, the people who are playing by the rules, working hard, trying to make ends meet and keep their families strong. They’re trying to hold onto their part of the American Dream. These Forgotten Americans are what makes our economy work. I’m running for the United States Senate to represent the Forgotten Americans who live right here in Colorado.” Tom Wiens

That’s the kind of rhetoric that could play well in a GOP US Senate primary. Especially against Jane Norton.

Of course, as seems to be the case with many of these primary challengers, there’s no issues page, and besides the fact that he’s looking out for the “Forgotten Americans”, there’s nothing in the way of policy.

If he really is committed to self-funding, then Norton will have her hands full.

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Ralphie says:

November 3, 2009 at 8:28 pm

n/t

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One Queer Dude says:

November 3, 2009 at 10:26 pm

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Muhammad Ali Hasan says:

November 3, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Ray Kogovsek is a favorite son of Pueblo and went on to serve one term in Congress before retiring, thus allowing Nighthorse to win CD3

no idea Weins was in the picture back then

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1. Ralphie says:
  
  November 3, 2009 at 10:42 pm
  
  n/t
  
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2. RedGreen says:
  
  November 3, 2009 at 11:13 pm
  
  Kogo served three terms in Congress, not one, before deciding against seeking a fourth term.
  
  The Republican who won the open seat in 1984, Carbondale rancher Mike Strang, lost his re-election bid to Democrat Ben Campbell in 1986. Notably, that was the last time a member of Congress from Colorado was defeated at the polls — until Marilyn Musgrave’s landslide loss one year ago.
  
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3. gertie97 says:
  
  November 3, 2009 at 11:15 pm
  
  Kogovsek won the 3rd District election to Congress, barely, and served three terms, the last coming after he clobbered Weins in 1982. When Kogovsek retired, Republican Mike Strang won the ’84 election, but was a one-term wonder after Nighthorse, then a Democrat, beat him. Campbell didn’t switch parties until after he was elected to the Senate, which was 1992, I think.
  
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Muhammad Ali Hasan says:

November 3, 2009 at 10:57 pm

Ray Kogovsek is a favorite son of Pueblo and went on to serve one term in Congress before retiring, thus allowing Nighthorse to win CD3

no idea Weins was in the picture back then

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1. rickdouglas85 says:
  
  November 3, 2009 at 11:24 pm
  
  Me neither, Muhammad!
  
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