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Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz

by: Colorado Pols

Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 08:44:34 AM MST

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.

Colorado Pols :: Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz

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Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz | 10 comments

FYI - I have emailed and requested an interview

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

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 16:21:25 PM UTC

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His website seems to have a populist slant to it

"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.

by: redstateblues @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 16:36:38 PM UTC

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Did he get that buzz before or after the Board of Health meeting?

n/t

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same. Which one will it be? --Joseph V. Paterno

by: Ralphie @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 17:28:08 PM UTC

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I jumped too quickly from your medical marijuana thread to "Tom Wiens Gets Statewide Buzz"

by: One Queer Dude @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 19:26:43 PM UTC

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Blast from the past ...

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

TABOR4LIFE

by: Muhammad Ali Hasan @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 19:39:42 PM UTC

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Way back when Nighhorse pretended to be a Democrat.

n/t

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same. Which one will it be? --Joseph V. Paterno

by: Ralphie @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 19:42:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That pesky past ...

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.

by: RedGreen @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 20:13:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

To clarify...

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.

Sometimes, I guess, you have to let the inner bitch out.

by: gertie97 @ Tue Nov 03, 2009 at 20:15:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]