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October 31, 2008 01:14 AM UTC

Beauprez, Tancredo Eye Each Other

  • 38 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Confirming discussion from a few days ago that both Tom Tancredo and Bob Beauprez are considering quixotic also-runs for Governor in 2010, ex-Denver Post reporter Mike Soraghan reports for The Hill:

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who announced his retirement from Congress last year before his insurgent bid for president flamed out, is weighing a run for governor in Colorado.

Tancredo has already started sounding out potential rivals. Former Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.), another likely candidate, said Tancredo recently invited him to his office for a political chat. Tancredo told Beauprez of his interest in running, and talked about avoiding a primary.

“He didn’t say he was definitely running. He said he was definitely interested,” Beauprez said. “He said he didn’t think we should have a primary.”

A Tancredo spokesman said Tancredo was on a plane this afternoon and not immediately available for comment.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter’s term is up in 2010. Ritter beat Beauprez in 2006, getting 57 percent of the vote to Beauprez’s 40 in a bad year for Republicans. But Republicans say Ritter hasn’t lived up to his campaign rhetoric of being a pro-business Democrat.

Beauprez might be looking for a rematch. But he stresses he hasn’t made a decision. To be a real candidate, Beauprez said he figures someone would need to be “seriously considering” his or her chances by next spring.

“I told Tom that I’m not saying I’m in and I’m not saying I’m out,” Beauprez said…

They don’t call him “Both Ways Bob” for nothing. Democrats, for their part, would be delighted to run against either Tancredo or Beauprez in 2010, which is a pretty good indicator that an even marginally sane GOP won’t let it happen.

Comments

38 thoughts on “Beauprez, Tancredo Eye Each Other

    1. While he’s an intelligent individual, do you think he has what it takes for a year long statewide gubernatorial campaign?

      What about Lional Rivera?  

      1. I don’t know if Suthers has it in him at this point, but he is my perferred candidate.

        Lionel Rivera looks good on paper, but he hasn’t put in the type of work that would allow him to assume the support of the key players in El Paso county, which would make it harder for him to expand beyond Colorado Springs.

        Honestly, I’m more likely to go with Tom Wiens without knowing much about him then to get really excited about either Tancredo or Beauprez.  And keep in mind I was a huge Beauprez supporter in 2006.

        1. Who could blame you for not wanting to support Beauprez again?

          I think Suthers would be a good choice too. He has absolutely no dirt–political or personal–that I can find (though the personal dirt usually doesn’t come out until the campaign.)

          He has worked admirably in the AG’s office to protect children from online predators, and the anti-ticket hoarding legislation.

          If I were a Republican, I would be rooting for him too–though you may be right about not having it in him to run a tough campaign.

          My question for you about Suthers is whether the GOP would support him if there was a primary.

  1.    Because crushing Holtzy like a bug and avoiding a primary in ’06 brought about such a happy ending for the GOP?

      What about in ’98, when Bill Owens had a primary opponent by the name of Tom Norton.  Owens beat Norton in the primary, then made nice-nice with him, eventually naming him Exec. Dir. of D.O.T.

      It’s not whether you have a primary or not.  It’s whether you act like an asshole towards your opponent.

    1. viscious primaries can certainly take their toll and can be bad, but I believe that primaries actual have a benefit.

      Witness the current situation in the Presidential race.

      I really believe that Obama benefited from the primary and is a better candidate today because of it.

      Good candidates get better with a primary.  Bad candidates don’t improve because of a lack of primary.

      I think John Kerry would have been a better candidate if he had had a realy primary run.   He might have learned lessons that could have helped deal with the swift boating.  Would he have won?  Who knows, but he could not have done worse.

      There is a reason that in war, battle-tested units are always to be more feared than green troops.

  2.    If he’s now interested in running for Guv, who will take on Ken Salazar in ’10.  Any chance Bob Schaffer might want to give it another go…

  3. He represents everything I hate, but Tancredo would be a formidable opponent for Governor in 2010.

    Don’t fool yourself into thinking Colorado voters are foward thinking and open minded. Underneath Colorado’s image of being laid back, independent, granola-eating….well Boulder-ish, there is a mean spirited soul.

    Tancredo knows that he’ll find many, maybe a majority, of Coloradans will feed on his message of fear and protectionism.

    It was our state, remember, that passed Amendment 2 sixteen years ago.  

    1. I think most Coloradans are good, decent, working people. Much like the rest of America.

      Tancredo may try to play to people’s fears as he did when he was in Congress, and as a Presidential candidate, but people are a lot smarter than you give them credit for.

      And Amendment 2 was, as you say, 16 years ago. If you think that the political climate here in 2008 (or 2010) will be anything like 1992, you’re nuts.

      If Dems clean up on Tuesday, then Tancredo’s BS political ideology might get him through the primaries, but he’ll get his clock cleaned in a state-wide race.

      And I have a firm belief that Tuesday will also prove that Coloradans are forward thinking and open-minded by voting for Barack Obama. Maybe we’re not like the folks on the coasts, but we’re not the red state yokels you think we are.

      1. election makes us seem, the northern part of CD-6 has been becoming embarrassed by Tancredo for years.  My boss, in ’06, voted for her first Democrat, all she knew was that he wasn’t Tank.

        After the faux Presidential campaign he has even less credibility.  Nobody in this state watched a primary debate and thought, “Wow.  That guy really does our state proud.”

      2. that at least 40 other states would have passed Amendment Two if they had the chance in 1992. Casual homophobia was still pretty common back then.

        It’s no measure of the character of our state now.

  4. I don’t want to sound mean-spirited, but I don’t have a lot of faith in Colorado voters.

    As background, I was born and raised in Colorado as were my parents. I don’t live in Colorado anymore (I’m overseas), but still follow Colorado politics closely.

    Colorado has had some of the worst political leaders: Wayne Allard, Tom Tancredo, Bill Owens, Bob Schaffer, Marilyn Musgrave. I’m a Democrat, I’ve even been embarrassed with many of the leaders of my own party.

        1. ELAINE: Hello.

          JERRY: So?

          ELAINE: What?

          JERRY: Come on. How was your date?

          ELAINE: Oh, the date. The date.

          JERRY: Ya how was it?

          ELAINE: Interesting.

          JERRY: Really.

          ELAINE: Oh ya.

          JERRY: Why what happened?

          ELAINE: Let’s see, (thinking) how shall I put this.

          JERRY: Just put it.

          ELAINE: He took it out.

          JERRY: (confused) He what?

          ELAINE: He took (blows on her glasses twice to clean them) it out.

          JERRY: He took what out?

          ELAINE: It.

          JERRY: He took It, Out?

          ELAINE: Yessiree Bob.

          JERRY: He couldn’t.

          ELAINE: He did.

          JERRY: (motions of making out) Well you were involved in some sort of amorous…

          ELAINE: Noooo.

          JERRY: You mean he just

          ELAINE: Yes.

          JERRY: Are you sure?

          ELAINE: Oh quite.

          JERRY: There was no mistaking it?

          ELAINE: (looks straight into his eyes) Jerry.

          JERRY: So you were talking, (Elaine makes an agreement sound “mmm”) you’re having pleasant conversation, (Elaine makes an agreement sound “mmm”) then all of sudden…

          ELAINE: Yea.

          JERRY: It.

          ELAINE: It.

          JERRY: Out.

          ELAINE: Out.

    1. I am the 4th generation of my family to live almost my whole life in Colorado. I grew up in a ranching turning ex-urbia community southeast of Parker Colorado. My mother grew up in Denver, my grandomother and grandfather were largely raised in Grand Junction, my great grandparents were all over. Fairplay, Lake George, Fruita, Marble, Florisant, and Basalt.

      I think Colorado is more like other places than it used to be. What I mean by that is that the influx of conservatives from California searching for their conservative promised land changed things for the worse for a time as they combined with rural fears about rapid urbanization, a long standing hate of Denver (Denver Water Board in particular), and talk radio to bring us along on the same wild conservative ride as much of the rest of the country.

      But things have changed. My father, who’s the sort who’d vote for amendment 48 because he’s a devout and inflexible Catholic, also voted for Ref. I two years ago. He’s voting for Barack Obama because he also f reverently hates war and thinks health care the highest priority.

      And then there is the slow passing away of my grandmother’s generation (born 1916). She won’t be voting this time because she’s quite a bit less than all there. Her all but one of her brothers and sisters are dead, many of them in the last four years. They were nearly all solid and reflexive Republican voters.

      Between demographic changes and being out of touch with real conservatives, I honestly think that the Republican Party will have to work to get back into power rather than returning to the playbook that worked to get Owens elected.

      Colorado was one of the first states to decriminalized homosexuality by legislative action. It also legalized abortion before Roe.

      I think you see us through too short a period of time.

  5. Beauprez will continue to talk about a potential race with the hope of earning serious financial backers.  He won’t get any.

    Tancredo will try to frame a candidacy upon a silly platform of GOP ‘unity’. He will fail.

    Penry will see a potential CD-3 run and set his sights there…

    …Hillman will look to CD-4.

    Eid will run for AG, Suthers will go private, and we’ll have some fun horse races for Treasurer and Secretary of State.

    Norton, Brown, Allard, Armstrong, and Hefley will all pass up the opportunity to run.

    Wiens won’t run – his GC is the same guy Tancredo uses (Durham) and he’ll never run against Tom. He’s out.

    Elway will begin to understand the real work involved and won’t pull the trigger.

    It’ll all be so fun to watch.  

      1. But no, Wiens isn’t running.  He will never primary Tancredo and his general consultant is working for Tancredo, as well.  Tom thought he was running – but that was before Tancredo saw the Salazar numbers and changed his own sights.  

  6. I personally think DeGette is a bit disappointing. Going back further…how about Dick Lamm.

    Probably the biggest disappointment of all, of course, Ben Campbell.

  7. I’d be happy if Colorado has changed in the last 14 years. Still….how many times was Tancredo reelected?

    A few years ago the Dynamic Trio of Allard, Musgrave and Tancredo were doing a pretty good job of embarrassing my home state — Allard/Musgrave trying to amend the constitution to ban gay marriages and Tancredo trying to seal all the borders.

    I understand Colorado politicians and voters can’t be East Coast liberals or hard-core Chicago-style Union supporters. But why do they have to be so mean spirited so often?

    Why can’t they be more about protecting the environment, using natural resources sensibly, providing opportunities for people to work and prosper and keep government out of our lives (like  not legislating which consenting adults can get married).

    1. followed by a bruising primary for the GOP gubernatorial candidate.  Personally, I expect the CO GOP to keep digging it’s hole deeper and deeper, at least for one more cycle (after current).

      While Penry would probably do better than Wayne ‘Who?’ Wolf in the 3rd, it would still be a delight to watch him get spanked (which I think is likely to happen).  Wolf might even win Mesa County as it is, so I’m not sure how Penry’s loyal blue-haired base translates in a district-wide run(think Pueblo).  Salazar, on the the other hand, is already  well-established across the district.  

      Ritter has gotten the message that the oil and gas industry GOP is coming after him.  So expect the trend that Obama has set to build real infrastructure across the state to continue over the next couple of years.  Ritter’s campaign starts 11/5/08.

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