August 18, 2009 07:18 PM UTC

Penry Glowingly Profiled As "Generational Change" Candidate

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• by: Colorado Pols

You can’t ask for better press than “Young Turk” gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry got today in the Christian Science Monitor:

Josh Penry is a man in a hurry. At age 33, he has already served as an aide on Capitol Hill, a Colorado state representative, and a state senator. Last November, he was elected leader of the Senate’s Republican minority.

Now Mr. Penry wants to take on Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in 2010, who, at this early stage, is not seen as a shoo-in for reelection. Penry’s main opponent for the GOP nomination – former Rep. Scott McInnis, his one-time boss – is taking him seriously.

“There are two frames: new versus old, Denver versus Washington,” says nonpartisan Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli. Penry is “having a fairly sophisticated rollout, and it looks to me he could win the primary.”

For Colorado’s angry Republicans, who saw their reliably red state turn blue in just a few elections, backing the new generation may be a way to reseize momentum…

The article goes on to explain Penry’s unsparing criticism for Republican past sins–as we’ve said repeatedly, perfectly targeted at opponent Scott McInnis, and fitting very well with this budding “reshaping the GOP” narrative everybody’s talking about. A bit of a contradictory ending, though:

He calls the antitax “tea party” rallies, which he has addressed, an indictment of the GOP. “If the Republican Party hadn’t so thoroughly lost its way on fiscal issues, those folks would be showing up at Republican gatherings,” he says.

But Penry is no flame-thrower. Mr. Ciruli notes that Penry is just as comfortable appealing to centrists as to the base – and that independent voters will be key. “I am a social conservative, but it’s not the reason I’m running,” Penry says.

We’d like to see the guy who can make Tea Party crazies feel at home with Rockefeller moderates at the same “Republican gathering”–judging from Penry’s tenure as Senate Minority Leader, he’s not nearly as good at that as he thinks he is, and he opens himself regularly to association with people and ideas that repel moderates.

With that caveat noted, there’s no question this article projects exactly the kind of image Penry is trying to cultivate in this primary, and the national exposure that comes with high-profile novelty is sure to pay dividends. McInnis is doing more than just ‘taking it seriously’–he and his base are trying to figure out if they have any chance against Penry’s growing momentum at all.