Staple-thusiasm! Sterling, CO Edition

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by: Colorado Pols

The Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA) cracks on the above photo from the Sterling Journal-Advocate, featuring GOP gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton and a precious two attendees at Stapleton’s campaign stop in the northeastern Colorado town Monday:

Walker Stapleton’s enthusiasm gap can be summed up in one photo. When he visited Sterling, Colorado, on Monday, he drew in a whopping two people—an elected Republican official and a Republican candidate—to hear his ideas for Colorado.

Despite not doing his job and missing from work for weeks at a time while campaigning with fringe right-wing figures like Tom Tancredo, Stapleton isn’t getting his voters all that excited. Likely because his real base consists of his special interest donors.

“If Walker Stapleton hasn’t realized he’s in trouble by now, this photo should make things crystal clear,” said Democratic Governors Association Deputy Communications Director David Turner. “Everyday Coloradans aren’t buying what Walker Stapleton is selling them. He’s probably a bit more comfortable when he’s surrounded by the likes of Tom Tancredo or his special interest donors.”

For the record, that’s Jane Bauder, a candidate for Logan County commish and Josh Sonnenberg, chair of the local Republican Party. As for why nobody else showed, reports the J-A?

A planned northeast Colorado business roundtable at The Grill @ River City was short on attendees; according to Josh Sonnenberg, president of the Logan County Republican Party, several businesses in Sterling were affected by loss of Internet service Monday and that likely prevented business people from being able to break away.

We’ve been to Sterling, and “the internet was down” doesn’t seem like a very good excuse for why nobody showed up to Stapleton’s campaign event there. Logan County is about is safely Republican as it gets, and sugar beet harvest season isn’t until October.

So in the absence of a better explanation, we’re forced to agree that Stapleton just isn’t a draw.

And, well, yes, Tom Tancredo probably would be.

9 thoughts on “Staple-thusiasm! Sterling, CO Edition”

bullshit! says:

September 13, 2018 at 2:24 pm

That's secession country. Definitely needs Tancredo out there.

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1. unnamed says:
  
  September 13, 2018 at 2:34 pm
  
  You mean the good ol' 51st State?
  
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Davie says:

September 13, 2018 at 2:26 pm

Sounds like the Republican Party candidates this year are suffering from an extreme case of nocoattailitis.

Staplegun sneezed on Broccoli who gave it to shorter Coffman, on down the line!

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MichaelBowman says:

September 13, 2018 at 2:39 pm

No ObamaTears as props? No AR-15’s on the table? #epicfail #knowyouraudience

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JohnInDenver says:

September 13, 2018 at 3:09 pm

The paper's final paragraph:

After the roundtable, Stapleton also visited the county Republican headquarters for a meet and greet event.

1. The picture of three people at a square table with several empty seats and other untouched glasses of water is a challenging one. In context, I thought the headline was "Stapleton slumps in Sterling."

2. The journalist/photographer didn't go along to the county headquarters to see what would happen there.

3. The campaign swing apparently also included a stop in Fort Morgan. The newspaper there covered Stapleton's talking points — and ran a campaign picture of the Stapleton family no place close to Fort Morgan. Before getting to any of Stapleton's quotes about his positions, readers would see the 4th paragraph:

Stapleton hopes he can break the Republicans' losing streak in the governor's race. But political observers from both parties suggest the odds favor Polis.

4. There was also mention of a Greeley stop — but no coverage in the Greeley Tribune. Last mention of him was a different stop a couple of weeks ago … which got a picture of him standing all by himself, clasping his hands (probably while speaking) and a caption. Photo: Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton stops in Greeley

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mynameischarlie says:

September 13, 2018 at 5:14 pm

If he can't do any better than that in Sterling, he's toast….Unless of course the Russians hack him a win like they did with Trump.

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Voyageur says:

September 13, 2018 at 8:08 pm

Unbelievable.

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HeavyG says:

September 14, 2018 at 5:19 am

Look at Jane tapping away on her phone while sitting right there in front of him. I've been at some low attendance public meetings, but at least the people were engaged and took advantage of the attentive audience.

Oy.

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RepealAndReplace says:

September 14, 2018 at 9:44 am

Come November, as Sterling goes, so goes Brush

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