September 19, 2016 01:06 PM UTC

Glenn: "I Am The Human Equivalent Of A Unicorn"

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• by: Colorado Pols

This week’s quotable quote is in a weekend story from the Durango Herald’s Jonathan Romeo, writing about a Southwest Colorado visit by longshot Republican U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn:

“That has been a theme,” Glenn said of his stops in Cortez, Durango and Salida, among others. “They expect their representation to come out more and talk to them. If you aren’t talking with people and understanding their concerns, you can’t do your job.”

Most polls show the current El Paso County Commissioner trails Bennet with less than 50 days until the election, but Glenn, now on his “third or fourth” visit to the Western Slope, said he’s gaining traction.

“We have a lot of support,” he said. “They appreciate the fact I’m willing to come out here and listen. Sometimes people outside of the Front Range feel like they’re being left out.”

Now the problem with this statement from Glenn, by his own account only on his “third or fourth” trip to the Western Slope, is that Sen. Michael Bennet is in no way a stranger to western Colorado or rural parts of the state in general. Bennet serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and has been heavily involved with such Western Slope issues as the battle over oil and gas drilling in the Thompson Divide. Googling Bennet’s name along with “Durango,” “Grand Junction,” or “Western Slope” will return ample proof.

But as we’ve foreshadowed, that’s not the punchline:

“I am the human equivalent of a unicorn,” he said. [Pols emphasis]

It’s been said (famously and recently) that Republicans are not very good at what they derisively call “identity politics”–that is politics that center on one’s race or other superficial identifier. But unless we’re missing something obvious with Glenn calling himself “the human equivalent of a unicorn,” we’re pretty sure he’s trading on the fact that he is a conservative black man running for office.

It’s either that, or Darryl Glenn has joined the Bronies.