With the annual Western Conservative Summit wrapping up today, we have the results of one of the more useful data points that emerges from this convention–the straw poll of attendees on the year’s principal Colorado races. This year that’s of course the governor’s race, and WCS attendees have given the nod to former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez:
We did it again! RT @CentennialCCU: Straw Poll results for the #COgov race @Lopez4Governor wins. @WalkerStapleton @DougRobinsonCO @Vic4Gov #WCS18 pic.twitter.com/ujluavZAM9
— Greg Lopez (@Lopez4Governor) June 10, 2018
Thus continuing Lopez’s unlikely rise in the GOP gubernatorial race, as nominal frontrunner Walker Stapleton continues to struggle mightily under the weight of his own unforced errors. Back at the GOP state assembly, Lopez’s role as a Stapleton spoiler is primarily what rescued his campaign from the abyss–but there’s a non-zero chance that what we’re witnessing now is the beginnings of a Darryl Glenn-style upset.
Here’s Exhibit A for why Democrats would be fine with that. When Lopez wasn’t congratulating himself on Twitter for winning the WCS straw poll yesterday, he was apparently helping spread a bizarre conspiracy theory that his Tweets are being “suppressed” by that social media platform. This theory comports with broader allegations in some conservative online forums that Twitter is suppressing conservatives in general as part of an attempt to improve the quality of interactions there.
We’re not going to get into the details of this allegation, but the chances that Twitter has indeed singled out a single also-ran Colorado gubernatorial candidate with an unremarkable number of followers for “quality filtering” for any electoral purpose is extremely far-fetched. If Lopez’s account has been qualitatively filtered some way, we fully expect that is the result of a qualitative judgment made by either a human or (much more likely) an algorithm at Twitter–with no conscious desire whatsoever to “suppress conservative voices.” Because if that was the goal, there would be much more, no offense, useful conservative voices to suppress.
The thing to keep in mind is that this is how rational, well-adjusted people evaluate conspiracy theories.
That’s not the GOP primary voters who could make Lopez the next Dan Maes.
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You laughed about the UN bicycle plot then. But we know better now, Pols.
Let's see how hard you laugh when Lopez is governor and takes your guns away!
V., perhaps he will just disarm the wife beaters.
Did Maes win the straw poll last cycle?
Nope – Broccoli won the WCS Gov straw poll in 17. Maes ran in 2010, before the WCS was formed or started having straw polls. There was a real stellium of
winnerswhiners of the WCS Presidential straw polls: Herman Cain, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, to name a few.But Maes did claim to have saved the Republican Party. And Kenny Be wrote that Maes could have been out standing in his field.
The real problem for Wayne Stapleton, if he wins the primary, is that most GOPers will not be excited about him.
Stapleton's not even excited about himself. Too much effort for lazybones
Why spend one pixel on this guy’s Twitter conspiracy? The Biggest, Dumbest Conservative Motherfucker on the planet has 52 MILLION followers. He’s lying. Trump’s lying. They all fucking lie and yet you insist on respecting them and giving them equal sway in the political discourse.
Just don’t.
And this is M. Bennet 's fault?
Of course it's Bennet's fault. But that damn Chris Cillizza put him up to it and Jason Bane let him get away with it.
Lopez' online activities probably are trollish – so they match the behaviors that Twitter really is censoring.