April 29, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

Major Problems for Holtzman

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• by: Colorado Pols

It couldn’t have gotten any worse for GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman yesterday, as the Denver Post reports:

Holtzman’s campaign manager, Dick Leggitt, admitted Friday that he lied to a Denver Post reporter in an e-mail by fabricating poll numbers that purportedly showed Holtzman’s name recognition going from “10 percent to 70 percent and his favorables among GOP primary voters are now just slightly less than (U.S. Rep. Bob) Beauprez’s (39 to 42).”

Leggitt also admitted he made up polling results indicating that support for ballot measures Referendums C and D was lagging.

“We didn’t have any polling results,” Leggitt said during the administrative court hearing. “It’s what we in the election business call spin.”

The veteran campaign consultant said he made up the numbers because he thought the reporter was forwarding his e-mails to Holtzman’s Republican opponent Beauprez…

Whatever the decision in the election law?case that provided the venue,?this?admission?is devastating for the Holtzman campaign. Most Republicans wouldn’t have quibbled over money spent fighting an initiative they opposed anyway — but?going on record that?the favorable poll numbers?Holtzman’s camp bandied about?were fictional is a serious problem.

We have?often noted that Holtzman has a great campaign staff, which has kept him in this race despite increasing odds and more than one public embarrassment. They have consistently been better organized and ahead tactically. If?they break down now, Marc Holtzman is just another guy with an RV –?and the GOP gubernatorial primary is over.