Regional
(2010-07-26)
DENVER, CO
(KUNC) -
Former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo has formally announced his entry into the Colorado Governor's race. Tancredo is leaving the party to run as a third party candidate on the American Constitution Party ticket. He's said he has no choice but to step in because he believes the two scandal-ridden Republicans currently vying for the seat can't win this fall. The developments over the last several days have left many Republicans scratching their heads, wondering if they've lost any chance at capturing the Governor's office. State party chair Dick Wadhams has warned that Tancredo's candidacy will split the Republican vote and ensure a Democratic win. Things got heated between the two Monday on the Peter Boyles Show on Denver's KHOW Radio.
"We talked about this exact process that I was contemplating. You told me when I left your office, that you thought it was a good idea, you were going to make a couple of calls," Tancredo said on the show.
"Tom, that is lie and you know it I never said it was a good idea. My God. You are unbelievable," Wadhams replied.
Tancredo then went on to say that he thinks Scott McInnis and Dan Maes stand no chance of beating Democratic nominee Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
"All I've said is make a promise, a public promise that if you're not even or ahead that you will so that you and the party which is what you'd like to do, to get rid of these two guys. You want to get them out, OK, I am giving you this opportunity," he said.
But both of those candidates have said they will not drop out of the race. Dan Maes tells KUNC that Tancredo's antics are absurd, but not surprising.
"There was a concerted effort to see that I didn't even get 30% at the state assembly by people saying Dan Maes can't win," Maes says, "Well, we won and that was historic. And now they're simply saying the same thing. This is political rhetoric. And that's all it is."
Scott McInnis, whose plagiarism scandal has put his candidacy in jeopardy, issued a statement saying that the voters should decide whether he stays in the race.
Republicans were once thought to have a good chance of winning back the Colorado governor's office, though some worry the recent developments are putting that in doubt.
State Representative Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud) says Tancredo entering the mix will only make things worse.
"When somebody says 'well I'm going to abandon the nominees and go my own way,' I think they're violating that process that's necessary and essential. It cannot be a free for all," he says.
Lundberg also worries Tancredo's popularity will draw enough voters away from the eventual Republican nominee.
"Ironically Tancredo steps in for conservative issues, and the liberal issues win. That to me is upside down, and shows when the process is violated it just blows up in your face," Lundberg says.
But the third party candidacy isn't a done deal just yet. The Constitution Party must form a vacancy committee to appoint Tancredo as their nominee. And that means the current candidate, Ben Goss, needs to step aside.
It's something Goss says he's more than happy to do.
"A number of people have said, are you being pushed around? Are you being coerced? Are you being dumped on? And the reality is that I initiated contact with Congressman Tancredo over a week ago," Goss says.
Goss says Tancredo's star power and political savvy can give the party a boost. And he believes Tancredo is the only true conservative candidate. Tancredo declined to speculate when his nomination will become official. © Copyright 2012, KUNC
