November 14, 2009 12:29 AM UTC

Will Penry Even Keep His Senate Seat?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:

No longer a candidate for governor, Josh Penry is planning to leverage his withdrawal from the race for maximum Republican advantage.

It’s also possible that he’ll run again for the Senate seat he already holds, Penry said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Sentinel editorial board Thursday…

Penry has yet to endorse McInnis, for whom he worked as press secretary in Washington, D.C.

He didn’t press McInnis for a job, he said, and made no other arrangements with him, but is hoping to press him to offer more definitive budget plans to voters, Penry said.

As to whether he’ll try to keep his current job in the Senate, Penry said he would speak with state Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction. King announced he was running for the Penry’s Senate seat after Penry announced his gubernatorial bid.

The two frequently drive from Grand Junction to Denver together during the legislative session, and Penry said he planned to speak with King before deciding whether to run again.

We assume a disappointed Rep. Steve King would still understand that Josh Penry stepping out of the gubernatorial race so early must inevitably delay his own move up. But such a big yet-to-be-decided detail highlights the unplanned nature of Penry’s withdrawal from the race to begin with–anything’s possible in this hard landing we suppose.

From a career advice point of view, we’d encourage Penry to keep his Senate seat for another term: it’s a lot easier to make your move to higher office from an existing office. Or have the events of the last week left a worse taste in Penry’s mouth than we know…?