April 07, 2008 07:56 PM UTC

Nonsense Springs Eternal for John Andrews

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• by: Colorado Pols

We always get a kick out of the columns written by Republican John Andrews, but in a “we feel sorry for his inane ramblings” sort of way.

Check out his latest nonsense-filled mess from The Denver Post, in which Andrews – the man who was largely responsible for Republicans losing control of the state in the first place – talks about the “bright future” for Republicans in years to come:

Many of us at the fundraiser had bygone glories on our mind. We were gauging not only the prospects for a White House victory in 2008, but also the personnel for a Colorado comeback by the GOP in 2010 after years in the wilderness. What I saw was a roomful of intriguing possibilities.

At a press conference earlier, U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and the candidate running to succeed him, former Rep. Bob Schaffer, stood flanking McCain. Hopes for electing both are buoyed by Schaffer’s resilience in the polls against Democrat Mark Udall and by the Obama-Clinton bloodbath to McCain’s benefit.

Schaffer’s “resilience in the polls?” He’s a Republican candidate in a Republican state. As we’ve written before, Schaffer SHOULD be leading in the polls this early in the race.

But who, the athletic club crowd wondered, might be our starting team for these contests? Take the governor’s race first. Ritter has shown weak leadership, accomplished little, and alienated business with his labor moves. He can be had. Allard, former Sen. Hank Brown, former Rep. Scott McInnis, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, businessman Pete Coors, or state Senate stars like Mark Hillman and Josh Penry could all run.

Wayne Allard is not running for governor. That’s silly.

Hank Brown would be a tough candidate, but he’ll be 70 years old in 2010. Scott McInnis? He’ll tell people every two years that he’s “thinking of running,” but he’ll never actually do it; he backed down from the 2008 Senate race faster than Dick Wadhams can change the subject whenever someone mentions George Allen.

Jane Norton has passed up too many opportunities and obviously isn’t seriously interested in anything. No way Pete Coors runs again – for anything. Everyone says that Coors hated being a candidate.

That leaves us with Mark Hillman and Josh Penry. Hillman already lost a statewide race to Cary Kennedy, but he’s a solid bet to run again. Penry clearly has higher ambitions and would be a good choice for the GOP.

Challenging Salazar may be tougher, but his chameleon voting record spells vulnerability. Former Gov. Bill Owens, his 65 percent popularity intact and marital troubles behind him, might grab the brass ring this time after passing in 2004. Done with Congress, battle-tested from the presidential primaries, Tom Tancredo admits a Senate run in 2010 appeals to him. Former Rep. Bob Beauprez may have the itch as well.

For wild cards in either race, think about Attorney General John Suthers, assistant Senate leader Nancy Spence, radio host Dan Caplis, Colorado Springs kingmaker Steve Schuck, Bruce Benson (after a couple of years running CU), education reformers Alex Cranberg and Ed McVaney, or restaurateur John Elway. (Yes, No. 7 does fantasize about recreating The Drive with voters.)

Bill Owens would be a tough candidate, but by most accounts he’s making too much money now to come back. Tom Tancredo is a likely candidate and should be considered seriously, but Bob Beauprez’s name shouldn’t even be mentioned for dogcatcher; his gubernatorial campaign was so bad that it probably precludes a statewide run ever again. The rest of that list, other than John Elway, is just stupid, not to mention old (Benson and Cranberg are too old and too polarizing to run themselves).

It’s nice that Andrews has hope, but he’s wishing on the wrong star here. The Republican bench is not strong – not at all. The GOP will come back in Colorado at some point, just as the Democrats rose back in 2004, but it will be some time before they are prepared to really mount strong challenges year after year, race after race.