April 26, 2010 05:20 AM UTC

Meet Josh Penry! (And Jane Norton)

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:

Jane Norton moved to fire up her U.S. Senate campaign under cloudy skies and spitting rain Friday at Lincoln Park.

Norton, who is battling with Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Michael Bennet, told about 50 supporters that her new campaign manager, state Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, would help her capture the nomination.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the direction and energy of the campaign,” Norton said in an interview…

Penry, who arrived late to the campaign event after navigating a treacherous Interstate 70 in a spring snowstorm, said Norton would make more campaign appearances than she has of late.

“We’re going to let Jane be Jane,” Penry said. “She’s her own best advocate.”

“Letting Jane be Jane” hasn’t been a very good idea so far, of course, in fact a good deal of Jane Norton’s problems of late stem from all those unsteady personal appearances that get leaked into larger media exposure–beyond the small groups and controlled forums she has been focusing on. We’re inclined to cut newly-minted defensive tackle Josh Penry a little slack for a few throwaway lines, as our friends at Hotline reported last week, he’s got a lot on his plate:

Norton surprised members of her party last week by announcing that she will forgo the May 22 state convention and instead petition her way onto the Aug. 10 primary ballot. That decision will likely give Norton’s rival, Weld Co. DA Ken Buck (R), a greater opening among party activists.

Norton cited Buck and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) — who is also gathering petitions — as the reason for her decision, an explanation left many observers scratching their heads. CO GOP chair Dick Wadhams called Norton’s move a “mistake” and barred her from having any presence at the 3.5K-delegate convo…

State GOPers have increasingly seen Norton — once the uncontested front runner — as en route to disaster. She raised $815K in the first quarter, but has been burning through it quickly. And getting on the ballot will prove a costly operation.

Buck, meanwhile, has been gaining ground on Norton…

We’ve been hard on Sen. Penry when he’s proven veracity-challenged, but there’s no denying that his early campaign for governor last year generated lots of excitement among Republicans, significantly increasing his profile in the long term even as he left the race under pressure. After his new job as Norton’s campaign manager became public, Penry garnered more press in 48 hours than Norton got in the preceding week or more. Leading to the question posed by the Denver Post’s Mike Littwin on Friday–who’s the star of this show now?

[H]e clearly won’t be Marc Holtzman. But it looks like he might be Dick Wadhams, and you can take that any way you like.

Let’s just say Penry isn’t taking the anticipated career path. It is rare to make the move from being a would- be star candidate only to become someone else’s campaign manager and then expect to resume the starring role someday.

We know why Norton wanted him. She is in desperate need of help. Somehow, no matter what she says, whether it’s about adopting a flat tax or dumping the Department of Education, she is accused of not being conservative enough. She has issues. She did, of course, support Ref C when she was Bill Owens’ lieutenant governor. She has John McCain connections, which are the wrong connections for any Republican in 2010…

You would think if Penry were getting into the race at this stage, he would be itching to get into the race himself.

With Norton’s languid stage presence inspiring neither the conservative base nor squishy moderates, and her vacuity-cum-wacky sloganeering and hiding from the media emerging as a serious problem in what used to be considered an unstoppable campaign, Penry’s job is to get between Norton and the critics with his youth and pugnacious energy. Like we said before, Penry’s not going to be running the day to day operations of Norton’s campaign, he doesn’t have the right experience. At best, Penry can be useful to run interference for Norton with the media, putting a more articulate face on Norton’s campaign than Norton herself seems capable of.

And at worst? This is a stunt that the pundits will someday rate alongside Bob Beauprez choosing Janet Rowland, or John McCain and Sarah Palin: never cast co-stars who upstage you.

We don’t doubt that Penry is every bit as intelligent and ruthless as Dick Wadhams, but Wadhams is also one of the most experienced managers at the level of a U.S. Senate race in the country. Forget about all the real work that usually accompanies the title “campaign manager.” Can Penry cajole and bludgeon the press into doing his bidding like Wadhams? Will reporters accept Penry as a proxy for Norton, or find him an annoying obstruction to their stories? The answer may help determine whether Penry gets to play John Thune’s Dick Wadhams…or Bob Schaffer’s.