July 06, 2009 10:47 PM UTC

Help Scott McInnis Learn Colorado Geography!

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• by: Alan

(We’ve updated this diary to include some press links generated by Pols users uncovering the McInnis mountain problem – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE TUESDAY: Grand Junction Sentinel:

Schaffer was embarrassed last year when a photo of Denali National Park appeared in a televised ad that was supposed to feature Pikes Peak in his ill-fated campaign.

McInnis took note of the Schaffer misstep at the time, noting that candidates get few such mistakes.

The images file consulted by a “young group of techies” working on the campaign was supposed to be for “Colorado Rockies,” but included the Canadian Rockies photo that was chosen, Hesse said.

That’s now been replaced on www. ScottMcInnisforGovernor.com by the stark, rusty red sandstone Fountain Formation that runs up and down the Front Range, outcropping at various spots such as the Garden of the Gods and Red Rocks Amphitheatre…

Sorry, that last bit from the Sentinel’s Gary Harmon is just too much. Is it really necessary to work that hard just to avoid saying the words “Boulder Flatirons?” Especially since that’s the part of the geologic “Fountain Formation” in the picture? Very odd and defensive wording for a journalist.

POLS UPDATE: Westword’s Michael Roberts chimes in today on McInnis’ geography problem: “When politicians make a gaffe, an army of online smart asses is ready, willing and able to make them feel stupid about it.”

POLS UPDATE #2: The Denver Post adds those three damning words, “newspaper of record.”

Republican strategist Mike Hesse wants to know if anyone is offering a class for campaign types on how to recognize mountain ranges.

If so, “I’d be happy to join,” he said today.

Hesse made the tongue-in-cheek comment after GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis’ debut Web site mistakenly featured a Canadian mountain range.

Last year, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer famously displayed Alaska’s Mount McKinley in a TV ad as he talked about Colorado’s mountains.

The McInnis mountain gaffe gave left-leaning blogs some fireworks to write about over the Fourth of July weekend…

And the blogs last week were quick to note that McInnis chimed in on Schaffer’s mountain mistake.

Such mishaps tended to accumulate, McInnis told the Grand Junction Sentinel. “They can afford this one, but one or two more and that’s all you can absorb,” he said.

TW UPDATE #3: Slow news day? The LA Times Top of the Ticket Blog weighs in:

The Democrats have Vice President Joe Biden for gaffe laughs. Now the Republicans in Colorado have a candidate wrestling with an all-too-familiar PR scandal in his scenic home state: Not being able to recognize his own state’s mountains.

[…]

Now it’s former congressman Scott McInnis, who hopes to become the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee next year. His web page debuted with a striking image of snow-capped peaks. Problem is, the peaks look like none in Colorado. The slip-up was unearthed by the political junkies at ColoradoPols.com (who, like many Coloradans, seem to be a bit mountain-mad as well).

They determined the image is actually of the Canadian Rockies. The McInnis campaign swiftly replaced it with a photo of the Flatirons, iconic peaks that loom over the left-leaning town of Boulder.

Original post follows.

I’ve just learned that former Congressman Scott “McLobbyist” McInnis doesn’t know Colorado geography, and we’re reaching out to our network members to help him.

That’s right, I’m asking you to help us help Scott McInnis learn Colorado geography.

Last week, McInnis rolled out his new campaign website, “McInnis for Colorado.” The headline on the site asks “what do you want for the future of Colorado,” with the text displayed on a lovely backdrop of mountains and an alpine lake.

Unfortunately, within a few hours of launch, it was determined by local bloggers that the picturesque mountain peak in McInnis’ “future of Colorado” photo is actually a mountain in Canada. (Colorado Independent, 7/2/2009).

That’s right, folks, Scott McInnis apparently doesn’t know the difference between Canada and Colorado. Now, some of you might be inclined to burst out in hysterical laughter at this news, but as a geography minor at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, this actually makes me very sad. Nobody, certainly not a college-educated former elected official, should be this clueless about the state they desire to serve. And like a good student, I immediately thought of a way to help.

Can you take just a minute right now to donate $10 towards a Colorado geography textbook for Scott McInnis?

http://progressnowcolorado.org/McInnisMountains

Your donation will help pay for a hardbound copy of Geography of Colorado, an excellent college-level primer on our state’s fascinating physical and cultural features–as well as help fund other ways we plan to educate Scott McInnis in the coming months.

I admit I was surprised to learn that McInnis needs such a basic textbook on a state he’s lived in for so long, especially after all the snarky things he said about GOP Senate candidate Bob Schaffer’s confusion of Alaska’s Denali for Pikes Peak in a television ad last May (Grand Junction Sentinel, 5/18/2008). But all I, like any good student, want to do is help: every Coloradan entitled to a good education, after all. Thanks for doing your part.