February 04, 2010 04:04 AM UTC

It's Official: Dick Wadhams Fears John Hickenlooper

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• by: Colorado Pols

Conservative blogger Don Johnson of The Business Word quotes Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams, speaking at the Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club today:

[T]he Democrats are in a slightly better position in the governor’s race since Governor Bill Ritter decided not to seek re-election, Wadhams said. “If this election has to be about whether voters like John Hickenlooper, we will lose,” he predicted, adding, “This guy is dangerous. If we allow him to run as the quirky mayor of Denver, he is dangerous.”

Republican gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are running on the issues, Wadhams observed. “The issues are on our side,” he asserted. “We always win on the issues,” he added. “There will never be a more conducive environment than we have in 2010,” he said. But, he warned, this is not 1994 when the GOP took over Congress. “We are 10 months away from the election. A lot can happen.”

Taking umbrage with Wadhams’ assertion that “the issues” are with the GOP as you may, he’s absolutely right about likability emerging as a critical point in the gubernatorial race this year. The fact is, a lot of the GOP’s modeled lines of attack don’t stick to John Hickenlooper, who is already demonstrating the ability to outcharm Republicans in their traditional stomping grounds, and his longstanding high favorability ratings serve to disarm flighty independent voters. That being the case, it’s going to come down to who the public connects with on a personal level better.

That’s why Hickenlooper is reaching out to his most potentially hostile adversaries like the Colorado Oil and Gas Association early on, softening their opposition if not fully winning them over before they ramp up their election spending. And it’s why Democrats are jumping on Scott McInnis’ adventures in superficiality for all the personal ridicule they can extract. There’s a good reason for both: as soon as you follow them to their respective logical conclusions, this election is over.