UPDATE #4: Speaking with talk-radio host Peter Boyles this morning, Tom Tancredo said “I’m up for it, I’d do it, but I don’t know how we can get it done” in response to a question about running for governor himself. (H/T dwyer, MADCO)
UPDATE #3: Be that as it may, now up on Scott McInnis’ Facebook page:
It would seem that Colorado Republicans still have some things to, you know, work out here.
UPDATE #2: NBC News, there’s that phrase again:
*** Dead man walking in Colorado? After being accused of plagiarism, Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, once the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination next month, looks like a dead man walking. The filing deadline has already passed, but we can report that serious Colorado Republicans are exploring a Plan B to get a viable candidate to take on Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) in the fall. [Pols emphasis]
UDPATE: Schrager’s story now updated (link below) with McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy denying Tancredo’s assertion that McInnis will soon exit the race. Developing.
Breaking over at 9NEWS, Adam Schrager posted a few minutes ago:
Former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo told 9NEWS Thursday morning he has heard Republican candidate Scott McInnis will end his candidacy to become Colorado’s next governor.
Tancredo says the latest developments Wednesday night “probably sinks the ship.” The gubernatorial candidate was holding a conference call Thursday morning with the senior members of his campaign staff.
The former presidential candidate also called for McInnis to resign his candidacy. He is the first Colorado Republican to call for McInnis to resign from the race.
If this is true, then it means the question of who will succeed McInnis–and how that succession will be carried out–has been worked out by GOP strategists and attorneys. We’ve heard a couple of possibilities on how that might play out, including interpretations of the law that might allow McInnis to be replaced before the primary.
We, like everybody, are working hard on additional confirmation of what Tom Tancredo asserts here, and we caution against taking what he says as gospel until that happens.
And if this doesn’t lead to Governor Hickenlooper, I’ll eat my fancy new fedora.
Unfortunately, don’t own any now.
Check out my dad, ca. 1938: http://www.vphotoestate.com
I saw that you lost your dad. I’m so sorry to learn the news.
I’m sorry. That was a long battle and a tough time. It is horrible watching parents get old.
It’s good. He lived two years longer than they said he would after they discovered his cancer, died in his bed with me there. So young, only 92!
I spent two years with him dying, nothing was left unsaid or undone. He was appreciative of all the care we gave him, loved my mother, had a life better than he thought he would when he was young.
Lucky stiff. Er………
Been there, done that. It sucks.
After all, if you can’t believe Tom Tancredo, who can you believe.
On a serious note, my guess is the GOP powers that be will come up with some clever way to replace McInnis – and the primary voters will throw that back in their face by electing Maes.
Only after.
Technically, before the primary, there’s not a vacancy.
What happens if a candidate drops out of a primary race is that the votes in that race simply aren’t counted. There’s only one candidate, who is the winner by default.
I actually checked with my County Clerk on this in the context of Jane Norton’s petitions.
within the rules to replace him before the primary, it seems very likely that Maes would win over the last minute addition, what with ballots being printed up already.
Hank Brown or Benson would crush Maes.
average primary voter even know in any effective way at this point? Seems like their best bet was to have McInnis win the primary, then quit. It’s very late in the day for doing much at the primary level if McInnis drops out now.
They make a deal with McInnis – he announces that he’ll stay in the primary, but will drop out immediately after winning to clear the way for the vacancy committee to appoint Brown.
Maes looks like such a tool with the accounting thing. I wouldn’t even elect him to be the guy at lunch that collects everyone’s money to give to the waitress.
If so, will you tell us why you think he’d agree to it?
Remember, I’ve been supporting Hick all along.
Brown is an R that is pretty much above reproach. He has huge name ID and the respect of even wacko lunatic Dems like those here on Pols. (I mean that with love).
Dem turnout is going to be pathetic, if trends hold, so he’d have a pretty good shot at beating Hick.
I could maybe see him doing it for one term, but who knows. I certainly don’t have any inside info, but I’m sure phone lines are burning up all over the place.
Oh, Dick Wadhams? You’re fired, BTW. Thanks for clearing the field.
but I was getting the impression that you’d vote for Brown if he got in it.
Despite the trends against the Dems, I don’t see that affecting Hick. I may be wrong; maybe discontent with Clinton helped Owens get elected 12 years ago, and maybe the opposite helped with the major races here in 2008. But I’m pretty sure Markey won more because of discontent with Musgrave in particular than Republicans in general.
But Brown probably is the most credible person capable of stepping up, and it would definitely make for an interesting race, especially if the RGA decides that Colorado is still worth pursuing.
Besides the double post (damn Dell trackpads!), I spoke too soon about the RGA.
but I was getting the impression that you’d vote for Brown if he got in it.
Despite the trends against the Dems, I don’t see that affecting Hick. I may be wrong; maybe discontent with Clinton helped Owens get elected 12 years ago, and maybe the opposite helped with the major races here in 2008. But I’m pretty sure Markey won more because of discontent with Musgrave in particular than Republicans in general.
But Brown probably is the most credible person capable of stepping up, and it would definitely make for an interesting race, especially if the RGA decides that Colorado is still worth pursuing.
We’ll see. I’d be torn if Brown got in.
Nobody was going to lose to Musgrave in 2008. Nobody.
At the same time, Markey’s out of a gig in 2010 and so’s Bennet, barring something crazy happening.
if you think Markey and Bennet are long shots.
She’s toast. Any Dem that voted for ObamacareВ® is in danger (political), particularly in red districts.
Bennet is going to be a terrible general candidate. Check this out – hold your nose and say:
“Wuuushingtun is bruuuken”….
I’d certainly listen to what he would have to say and weigh that against JH, even though the Hickster would be my knee jerk candidate. His experience certainly counts (Brown’s.)
would want any part of this circus at this point.
That would have to include another “if,” that is “If I register to vote in Colorado by October!” (Not likely.)
Does the current party still love him, though?
Why would he agree to drop out if he won? I mean, really, the worst thing that could happen would be the second-place prize, right?
Most people will just fill in the bubble.
The affadavit of intent to run as a write-in has to be filed with the SoS 67 days prior to the primary. Without that affadavit, any written-in votes are not counted. (CRS 1-4-1102)
I say it’s time for Republicans to unite behind him.
I ran for Secretary of State in 1994 as a write-in (Dem. nominee Sherry Wolf self-imploded) and only had to give a 7 day notice to do it.
That was plenty of time for County Clerks to be notified whose votes can be counted.
Nowadays, it would have to be exended to 15 days since clerks are allowed to start counting ballots (but not get totals) a couple of weeks before election day, but the same principle: 2 months is too much.
I should be able to wake up election day- decide to vote for Dan Willis (like I did in 94), write him in, and have it count.
There would be a real chance Mickey Mouse might win an election if all random write-ins are counted. Especially in a small election very few votes to start with.
It would also skew vote totals where a run-off is a possibility if one candidate does not get 50%+1. (Denver’s mayor’s race next year comes to mind.)
So I agree with advance notice being necessary. But only enough notice to give the Clerks the info they need to count properly.
By the way, if you voted for “Dan Willis” in 1994 you vote was not counted because I did not adopt Willis as a surname until 1996. But thanks for the thought!
And I couldn’t remember if you outed yourself on that yet or not.
all votes for John Smith would go to the same candidate as long as their is a candidate named John Smith has filed an affadavit of intent to run as a write-in.
The law does not cover what to do if two John Smiths were filed as write-ins for the same office. If there was no affadavit required that same problem would still exist.
But there might be a difference between substituting a candidate and a situation where a candidate is ordered off the ballot, as happened with Holtzman and might have happened with Norton (but didn’t).
Maes: 35 %
Am I wrong, too high ?
But yeah, way too high. Maes vs. Hickenlooper leads all the independents and middle of the road Republicans to vote with Hickenlooper. Only the very extreme right goes with Maes and Maes still can’t raise money. Not even the RGA will cut him a check. They’ll concede Colorado to the Dems and go elsewhere. Maes has no shot at all. Vote McInnis in primary and then hope for a vacancy committee appointment if Republicans want a shot.
If McInnis won the primary, he wouldn’t drop out. The man is an egomaniac.
something we can agree on.
Satan must be feeling a cold draft today.
I suspect that BJ also agrees that grass is generally green. Still, his occasional lapses into marginal lucidity are as reassuring as they are surprising.
if you took your socialist blinders off. Still, thanks for the (sort of) compliment.
you’re so “lucid” that in your warped little world, reason applied to evidence in service to no pre-packaged ideology (and in fact frequently crossing ideological boundaries) is what constitutes “blinders,” and the obsessive need to reduce everyone and everything to single buzz words encompassing oversimplistic ideas is what constitutes “lucid.”
No, BJ, no one is surprised, or fooled, about how lucid you are. The only surprise is that you constantly out-do your own previous record of mind-boggling stupidity wrapped in comically unreal self-inflation.
and just when you were actually starting to sound reasonable again.
is the day I have reason to worry about how reasonable I am.
“No”. It was the first coherent response I had ever gotten from you. By the way, are you a capitalist?
I’ve been arguing for years against such sound-bite reductionism. Your endorsement of it, and nod to me for briefly suspending my habit of not acquiescing to it, is an eloquent illustration of just how dumb it is.
Are you a capitalist?
but people like him a lot. So what’s going on; are they going to try to put you on the ballot?
But The Clash said it better than any of us can.
I didn’t find his diary until after I posted this.
GMTA.
Just a guess but to minimize impact. as republicans know he has to go but it would amount to admitting defeat. We all know republicans cannot admit to anything only take credit… it is ingrained in their DNA.
a republican will admit wrongdoing and actually forgo a (however slim) chance at power??? I do not believe it.
or will Mcinnis dig in his heels and ardently adhere to the “other guys fault for my $300K Fraud” excuse?
This make it easy for Hick for sure. Even if he does not drop out, it’s over for the repubs. I mean it’s good for the Dems because Hick’s campaign has been a joke thus far with all the cute useless crap they have been doing with no real field effort.
the ugliness of twisting an 82 year olds arm to take all the blame for you after paying him a few hundred out of your 300K. And I wouldn’t worry about Hick’s field effort once the other team’s primary is over.
By the way, I’m guessing there isn’t any non-fictional elk recipient family ready to come forward and testify to McSociopath’s character either.
” Hey Rollie, Scooter here, turns out, heh, heh, I sorta plagiarized those articles you sent me and pocketed 300 grand, while you made a couple hundred bucks.” ” By the way, could you just please sign this letter accepting all of the blame for it ? ” ” There’s a lot more work and opportunities in it for you if you take the heat on this one.”
WTF? Does he really think people are that fucking stupid ? This guy is a sociopath.
pride and party mean anything to him. He’s potentially open to all sorts of future trouble, and staying in the race would virtually guarantee a Dem sweep in the state as McInnis dragged down every other GOP candidate, who would be, fairly or not, tarred with the same brush.
This should be an interesting day.
per update # 3.
If Republican 36 is correct and there’s a Scooter press conference at 10 (about 15 minutes from now), I’d love to see a livestream. It sounds like he’s going to dig in his heels.
Run, Scott, Run!
This is just wreaking absolute chaos on the Republican Party. If they try to sneak in a mainstream candidate with you know actual legislative experience then the Maes/Tea Party crowd will turn their guns on the party establishment. If they let Maes get the nomination it will expose another Tea Party candidate as an unpalatable choice and add to the list of Tea Party successes in the primary that backfired in the general. If McInnis stays in it keeps the focus on the corrupt ethics of Republicans.
All around it couldn’t be a worse outcome for Republicans who were giddy just three months ago about humiliating Ritter and returning to glory. What a quick turn around into another potential double digit rout especially during a redistricting cycle. How sweet it is to have steady and trustworthy over flashy and greedy. It is good to be a Colorado Democrat today.
good grief. He stole that from Hillary Clinton’s announcement speech.
If he gets out, he will likely steal Biden’s 1988 withdrawl speech.
Though I don’t think Hillary was the first ever to use that phrase.
when he does withdraw he remembers that his wife’s name isn’t “Jill” and that he doesn’t thank the fine people of the state of Delaware for supporting him over the years.
about his family coming up in the coal mines.
on who McInnis will lift his exit speech from…
Tancredo and the Colorado R leadership must have mistaken Scotty for someone who is not a sociopath.
From his Facebook page:
Critical issues like water, say, for example?
Also from Scooter’s Facebook page:
He’s a dirty traitor.
Cleve sometimes forgot whether he was running for the Senate or for King of the Philippines. He’s not a traitor, he’s just befuddled. And no one cares who he endorses.
He’s always been a bit slippery.
1. Hubris born of Success
2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More
3. Denial of Rick and Peril
4. Grasping for Salvation
5. Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
McInnis is still only at Stage 3.
to deny Rick.
And, I suspect ScottM, at stage 3, is definitely saying he’s never gonna give up his spot on the ballot.
http://www.9news.com/news/arti…
He’s lost damned near anything you can lose, except for a safe House seat.
It’s his time to take losing to a whole new level.
That guy would energize every voter everywhere in Colorado.
I’m not sure he would carry CD6, but I think he probably would. I think he carries CD5.
I think he loses in CD1, 2 & 7.
So what would 3 & 4 do?
Would it help or kill Buck-credo?