July 23, 2010 11:21 PM UTC

BREAKING: GOP's Gubernatorial Fix Is In

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

7NEWS breaks the details of what you’ve been suspecting all along:

Republicans are scrambling to replace Scott McInnis after — as Republicans expect — McInnis wins the August primary for the Republican nomination for governor, several campaign and Republican sources say…

“Everyone expects the great fathers (of the Republican Party) to come in the day after the primary … and say ‘Congratulations, now when are you going to get out?'” a campaign source told CALL7 Investigator John Ferrugia.

Top Republican sources confirm that[‘s] what will happen.

“The Republican Governors Association will also let him know it won’t support him,” a source said. “It won’t be easy to get him out. It may take (Association Chairman) Haley Barbour to make the call.”

…Republicans say if McInnis refuses to step down after the primary – which Republicans want him to win so Maes is not the candidate – his campaign funds will be cut off.

“They simply will not throw good money after a bad candidate,” one source said.

“If the dollar spigot dries up, it is academic,” another source said. “You’re done.”

This has been discussed repeatedly as one of the most likely scenarios, but it does directly contradict assurances from GOP chairman Dick Wadhams that the party would abide by the choice made by voters on August 10th. Those assurances were made to calm the base while acknowledging the career-jeopardizing scandal faced by Scott McInnis–we thought a more creative legal solution might have been in the offing. If this is how it plays out, whoever replaces McInnis for the GOP on the general election ballot is going to have to explain how they square with Wadhams’ promise; especially if, thanks to 7NEWS, they can’t make it look unplanned.

On the other hand, if McInnis survives until November, he’s going to get buried anyway.