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August 08, 2013 08:30 AM UTC

Roundup: Buck Is Back For 2014

  • 15 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: As the Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic reports, Ken Buck’s entry into the 2014 U.S. Senate is making big waves–for other Colorado Republicans.

The national Democratic House Majority PAC is already positioning Buck’s candidacy as a liability to Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, who is running in what’s now the state’s toss-up Sixth Congressional District.

“Mike Coffman and Ken Buck are two ideological peas in an extremist, Tea Party pod,” Andy Stone, communications director, was quoted in an email blast Thursday. “After all, both Coffman and Buck have shown themselves to be dangerously out of touch with Coloradans in supporting a personhood amendment to ban abortion even in the case of rape and incest and opposing the promise of treatment for previously untreatable diseases potentially offered by embryonic stem cell research.”

—–

UPDATE: People for the American Way answers news of Ken Buck's entry into the 2014 Senate race with a clip video they originally released in October of 2010. This takes us back.

—–

2010 GOP Senate nominee Ken Buck.
2010 GOP Senate nominee Ken Buck.

Progressive Cowgirl noted it first here last night, and here's a quick coverage roundup (so far) of 2010 GOP U.S. Senate nominee Ken Buck's entry into the 2014 race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall.

Washington Post:

Republican Ken Buck, who in 2010 lost narrowly to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), will seek to challenge Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) in 2014…

“Ken’s going to finish the job in 2014,” Buck consultant Walt Klein told the Denver Post.

Buck lost to Bennet by less than 2 percent in 2010 — a strong year for Republicans nationally. But, as with some other GOP candidates that year and in 2012, Buck committed some gaffes that appeared to cost him — including comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and making a remark about high heels while running in the GOP primary against former lieutenant governor Jane Norton.

The Hill's Jonathan Easley:

In 2010, political watchers believed Bennett, who was appointed by then-Gov. Bill Ritter (D) in 2009 to fill the seat left by Ken Salazar (D), who became Secretary of the Interior, was vulnerable to a Republican challenger in a year that a wave election gave the GOP a majority in the House.

But Bennett squeaked out a victory over Buck, whose campaign was plagued by controversial comments. Buck believes global warming is a hoax, and at one point appeared to liken homosexuality to alcoholism.

The Denver Post's Kurtis Lee:

Buck, a Tea Party Republican, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday and will officially launch his campaign with an announcement tour around the state in early September, according to a campaign official. He joins state Sens. Randy Baumgardner and Owen Hill, who have both announced they will seek the GOP nomination to unseat Udall.

Huffington Post's Paige Lavender:

The tea partier has made headlines in the past for some of his more outrageous statements. In 2010, Buck said people should vote for him because he doesn't "wear high heels."

"I have cowboy boots on. They've got real bulls**t on them," Buck said. "That's Weld County bulls**t, not Washington D.C. bulls**t."

We'll have more to say as the field of GOP primary candidates adjusts to the entry of 2010's nominee and "Tea Party" favorite son. We've discussed at length the reasons for Buck's on-paper unlikely defeat in 2010, against a freshly-appointed incumbent in a year that perhaps uniquely favored staunchly conservative Republican candidates. That said, certainly Buck has experience as a candidate for high office that no other GOP contender can match. Buck's entry represents a moment of truth for the other candidates in this primary, who had better be able to match (or supplant) Buck's national connections right now if they want to stay in this race.

But the happiest people we've talked with today are Democrats dusting off their thick 2010 oppo files. Within a Buck re-run for Senate in 2014, they say, lay gifts to the party's electoral prospects in this state well beyond this one race. As we'll have lots of time to explain in the coming months, Buck represents the model of exactly what Democrats have mastered the art of campaigning against.

But for today, Buck is the candidate to beat in this primary. And as we've said before, this race makes a lot more sense for Buck than a run for Attorney General. For all of his problems in 2010, he did come close to defeating Sen. Michael Bennet. Had Buck run for Attorney General and lost, his political career would be essentially over. Instead, he's the GOP favorite for his Party's Senate nomination in 2014; if he's going to run a statewide race, he might as well aim higher.

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15 thoughts on “Roundup: Buck Is Back For 2014”

    1. Things Ken Buck has that the others don't: Campaign apparatus, statewide name recognition, state wide political base of support, state wide donor base, chits to cash in and a primary electorate dumb enough to give him another shot thinking he should have won last time and probably a personal feeling that he should have won last time. 

       

      It's not spin, numb nuts. It's common sense

      1. I wonder what lessons New Buck learned from Old Buck.  Will he wear high heels?  Will he be empathetic to rape victims?  Will he have gay friends he drinks beer with?

        He'll certainly hold strong on No-Choice until the baby is born, then it'll be Tough Luck Kid.

      2. I know there are lots of Republicans who support Buck, but there are many more of us who would like to move on from past struggles. But the fact that liberals are itching to refight 2010 should give conservatives pause, even if we like Buck's politics.

        1. This is actually a fairly intelligent comment by Moderatus.  But my question to you, Sir, is simple:   If not Buck, Who?   Randy Baumgartner?   Owen Hill?

          Neither seems likely to beat Buck in a primary, still less Udall in the general.   An ancient political adage says it takes somebody to beat somebody and right now, the only half-serious name in the GOP lists is Buck.  

        2. And I forgot, New Buck will forever be called for "Buck-Pedaling" away from the Tea Party that even Kurtis Lee of the DP associates him with.

          Yes, this is truly a thin bench problem for today's CO GOP.

          1. And with these primary opponents and the teahadist makeup of the GOP primary electorate, he's going to have to pedal right again before Buckpedaling back to the middle for the general.

  2. I don't remember many people talking about high heels or comparing homosexuality to alcoholism in Buck's 2010 race. The biggest things I remember seeing discussed were his abortion views and the rape case.

    The only thing I remember anyone ever saying about Buck's views on global warming is, "I think you could lock Al Gore and Ken Buck in a room and they would rapidly come out with a solution that was acceptable to both, and was better from having both viewpoints involved."

  3. Interesting that Udall was already fundraising off of Buck entering the race.  Democrats have an ability to anticipate their opponents.  This could be a fun race.

    Pols makes an interesting observation that this kind of extermist nomination by the Republicans can have down ticket benefits.  No way Buck can shake the extermist tag after his 2010 performance and his support for the secessionists in his county.

    1. Say what? Ken Buck has actually given some measure of support to the North Colorado secession movement? Do you have a source for that? I was unable to find one.

      I'd think something like that would be pretty devastating to a campaign to become a Colorado statewide elected official. "Vote for Ken Buck – he wants to tear apart the State of Colorado!"

      1. Me neither. But as an official for the lead secessionist county, somebody ought to ask. No doubt by now he'll have a more careful answer than he would have…

    2. Ken Buck may be wrong about a lot of issues, but no one will accuse him of being stupid.  I sincerely doubt he's said anything publicly in support of the Weld County Commissioners on secession.  He is afterall, the DA, and knows the law fairly well.

    3. Isn't that how rumors go viral?

      I apologize and retract my statement about his support for the secessionists but I bet he gets asked and his answer either way is going to piss somebody off.

  5. People for the American Way?
    Pshaw – those guys probably still have that petition that Tancredo signed advocating the abolition of all public education – p-20.

     

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