December 13, 2009 10:29 PM UTC

Anti-McInnis "Tea Party" Pumps Maes, "Dr. Evil" Initiatives

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post reports:

“Someone tried to tell you there is only one Republican candidate for governor,” conservative GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes told an audience of mostly supporters.

The Evergreen businessman was referring to his opponent in the Republican primary, Scott McInnis, whom he accused of attempting to decide the campaign in back rooms.

“It’s time to find a candidate you believe in,” Maes said, someone like him who is committed to cutting the size of government, not some career politician or lawyer.

About 100 Tea Party activists and conservative Republicans – some waving placards – rallied Saturday afternoon at the steps of the Capitol.

“We’re the grassroots movement,” said Jackie Rhodes, 42, of Loveland, who is a Maes supporter.

“I think they are going to be surprised,” she said, referring to the McInnis camp…

Conservative sources tell us the number was substantially higher, but that’s always a guessing game unless the cops see a reason to count. Former Greenwood Village mayor and principal “Dr. Evil” initiative backer Freda Poundstone was there, however, more or less directly accusing GOP insiders of attempting to buy the primary elections, and asserting that GOP leadership was ‘afraid’ of her initiatives. She then introduced upstart gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes, who, as you can imagine, was not so afraid of them.

GOP Senate candidate Jane Norton’s campaign attempted to set up a booth at this ‘anti-insider’ rally, which was reportedly greeted with much scorn and confrontation and quickly abandoned to the mud (photo right).

Many in the crowd were discussing the possibility that Maes would mount an independent challenge to McInnis, though they simultaneously expressed hope that they would be able to make their voices heard at the Republican caucuses–and Maes has said an independent bid is not what he wants. Down to the last “Tea Partier” there was a sense that former gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry was their original choice, speakers and people in the crowd repeated accusations of big donors purging Penry from the race. And nobody believed for a minute that McInnis did not set up his ill-fated introduction on Fox News as “the country’s biggest Tea Party candidate.”

It’s tough to know where this goes from here, but we’d say for all the contempt directed at the “Tea Partiers” by serious people (which we generally share, make no mistake), they have a remarkably lucid understanding of what’s happened in the Republican primary so far. And they don’t like it. We talked a few days ago about that poll showing conservatives–in bigger numbers than actually show up at “Tea Parties”–would vote for their kind of candidate over a generic institutional Republican.

We know a couple of newly-minted “frontrunners” who hope like hell that’s wrong…