September 03, 2010 11:27 PM UTC

It's Getting Ugly--But Maes Stays

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #3: Maes makes it official on his Facebook page:

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UPDATE #2: FOX 31’s Eli Stokols:

Despite a mass erosion of support among GOP leaders and grass roots activist, Republican Dan Maes has decided to stay in the Colorado governor’s race.

The deadline for certifying the November ballot passes at 5 p.m. on Friday. However, Maes made his announcement at about 3 p.m…

He will face Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo in the November election.

Maes also told FOX31’s Eli Stokols that he plans to limit his media access going forward. He feels he has been “too available” and “too off-the-cuff” with his comments, some of which – in his view – have allowed reporters to write politically-damaging stories.

Uh, you think so, Dan? All jokes aside, this is exactly what we would recommend if we were advising Maes. The campaign’s best chance at winning in November is to lock Maes in his basement, keep him quiet, and hope that enough voters just mark an ‘X’ next to his name because he is a Republican. This is what Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is now doing after her disastrous performance in front of the media yesterday.  

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UPDATE: 9NEWS’ Adam Schrager Tweets that “multiple Republican sources” are confirming to him, Dan Maes will NOT pull out of the gubernatorial race. Original post follows.

Politico’s David Catanese reports as the clock ticks down to destiny:

In a meeting Friday morning, party chairman Dick Wadhams and other members of the state GOP executive committee met with Maes to present what one called “damaging evidence” that hasn’t yet been made public but would further erode his standing as a candidate, according to the source.

A second Republican consultant confirmed the account and said while there was no explicit ultimatum presented by the chairman to Maes, the message was clear.

“It was: Do you really want to put your family through this? If you stay in the race, you’ll have to endure this and this,” said the Republican, citing potential reports by the Denver Post.

Wadhams did not respond to a call for comment and another Republican aide said he did not expect the chairman to address the media until Maes came to a decision…

The Republican source said the timing of Maes’s potential exit is key in order to halt the printing of ballots while the party convenes a replacement committee to select another candidate.

“If the secretary of state learns about a change in candidacy today, they would delay ballot printing. This is the Hail Mary pass,” said the source.

It’s been widely reported that Tom Tancredo has promised to remain in the race, regardless of whether or not Dan Maes succumbs to the intense pressure being exerted. On its face, this would seem to present a strong disincentive to possible Maes replacements. We’ve heard nothing from Maes’ camp to suggest that any of these developments have changed his mind, but the common theme in all of this has been an inability to predict what Maes will do next.

But short of threatening to detach body parts, there’s just not much they can offer/threaten to do to a man with nothing to lose, and who just won his first (and likely only) election of his lifetime.