February 17, 2023 11:27 AM UTC

Steve Laffey's Quixotic Quest To Fail Upward In Politics

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• by: Colorado Pols

Longtime readers will remember the strange story of Rhode Island import to Fort Collins Steve Laffey, who sought the Republican nomination unsuccessfully for both governor and the CD-4 congressional seat in the 2014 elections. Laffey never got traction in either of those races despite the endorsement of Herman Cain in the 2014 CD-4 primary, and for the last eight years we haven’t heard much from him.

That is, until the Fort Collins Coloradoan’s Molly Bohannon reported this morning that Steve Laffey is running for office once again–this time, for President of the United States!

Laffey, who has lived in Fort Collins for almost 13 years, told the Coloradoan he’s running for president because he is capable of fixing America, something neither major political party has committed to thus far, and believes he has a strategy voters want to support.

“I am the candidate for fiscal conservatives,” he said. “I really don’t have time for the nonsense anymore, I never really did …. I just basically hit you over the head with ideas and I follow through and I keep going. And I’ve been somewhat successful.”

If by “somewhat successful” Laffey means losing a run for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island before relocating to Colorado to lose two different races in a single election cycle, then we guess that statement could be considered accurate. All we can say is “somewhat” is carrying a load we wouldn’t feel safe towing down the road.

It’s a phenomenon we’ve witnessed for many years in local politics, in which unserious candidates run for lofty offices they are by any objective measure unqualified to hold instead of working up the ladder of municipal and state-level positions where public servants gain the experience needed for high office. Usually, after a couple of humiliations these candidates learn the lesson and seek offices appropriate for their experience and qualifications.

Steve Laffey is taking the opposite approach: the more he loses, the bigger lost cause he sets up next time.

It makes sense if winning is not the goal, but the friends you make along the way.