September 16, 2006 06:13 PM UTC

Scott McInnis Slams Beauprez's "High School Quarterbacks"

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• by: Colorado Pols

Former CD-3 congressman (and frequently-mentioned potential candidate for higher office) Scott McInnis hammered gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez’s faltering campaign in this morning’s Rocky Mountain News:

A former Republican congressman from Colorado criticized Bob Beauprez’s gubernatorial campaign Friday, complaining that its top staffers don’t have the skills or experience to run a successful statewide race.

Scott McInnis, who represented Colorado’s 3rd congressional district for 12 years until leaving office in 2004, said that Beauprez’s sliding poll numbers are a reflection of a campaign staff that’s not up to the task, and singled out two officials for failing to get the job done right.

“Running for governor is big league, and big time, and it requires a lot of sophistication,” McInnis said. But handing the race over to the people running Beauprez’s campaign “is like putting a high school quarterback on the Denver Broncos and having him start the game.”

McInnis focused his criticism on Beauprez’s campaign staff as opposed to Beauprez personally, expressing the same dismay other Republicans have over what they consider to be the undeserved crashing and burning of a “good candidate.”

There’s some truth to this: whatever people say about Beauprez’s own bumbling contributions to his terrible standing only seven weeks out from Election Day, this is still a Republican-plurality state. By all conventional wisdom there shouldn’t be a double-digit spread in this race. And 17 points is just plain stupid.

Something has to give right now or this race is over. Everyone knows what must be done: the only road back from the abyss for Bob Beauprez begins with a thorough housecleaning and a whole new engagement strategy. One that his current people just aren’t capable of producing. Beauprez knows it, Scott McInnis knows it, and John Marshall knows it.