April 28, 2009 06:17 PM UTC

Ken Buck Does His Best "Shifty Schaffer"

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• by: Colorado Pols

If reading today’s Greeley Tribune seems a little like deja vu, flashing back a couple of years to another Senate candidate who had trouble figuring out if he was actually running (even though he plainly was running), that’s probably because it, well, should:

Weld District Attorney Ken Buck denied reports circulating on the Internet on Monday that he was officially throwing his hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Michael Bennett, D-Colo.

The Republican previously said he was leaning toward running for the Senate and recently spoke with district attorneys across the state to gauge his chances. He said an announcement on whether he will run would likely come in April, but he did not give an exact date…

Check out his website today, though–unlike this weekend, it’s no longer “coming soon.” It’s beet-red and confident and, oh, look here, a donate page.

What exactly are donors donating to, Mr. Buck?

Seriously, folks, what is the point of pussy-footing around like this? It’s been out of the bag for weeks that Buck was a budding Senate candidate. What possible sense can it make to deny you’re running at this point? The only thing we can imagine is that despite all the backroom discussion and flashy Tea Party appearances (and a really nice website), Buck still hasn’t bothered with the paperwork to be a U.S. Senate candidate. Even though the website says he filed said papers “today” (no date given).

As we alluded to at the beginning, we asked all these questions of 2008 GOP Senate candidate Bob Schaffer as he waffled back and forth between “running” and “not running” public statements. Chief among those questions was, “how does this possibly help you?”

We know the answer now, don’t we?

UPDATE: Well well well, as the Denver Post reports (below the fold):

Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck today announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat now held by freshman Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet.

Buck’s office has played high profile roles in both the conviction of transgendered woman Angie Zapata’s killer and a controversial scheme to snag illegal immigrants with false identification.

In his announcement today, Buck cast himself as a pro-market, small government advocate.

“Big government policies have chilled the vitality of our work force and denied fundamental rights to Americans,” said Buck, a Republican. “During times of financial hardship, we need to rely more on the marketplace and less on big government, not the other way around.”

Buck has traveled to all 64 Colorado counties building a network of activists in the last few months, his campaign said.

He joins fellow Republican and Aurora city councilman Ryan Frazier, who announced earlier this month that he’s raising money for a U.S. Senate bid, though he hasn’t yet officially announced his candidacy.

Apparently, the Post’s Jessica Fender was so caught up in the spectacle of Buck’s big announcement that she forgot to ask him why he, um, denied he was running yesterday. Just enough time to regurgitate the celebratory release, eh? We’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, and assume she’s saving the actual journalism for the print edition.