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June 06, 2009 04:24 PM UTC

Penry Owns McInnis In New Straw Poll

  • 27 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports, apparently the right-wing of the party still rules, even in Denver.

A straw poll of Denver County Republicans on Thursday placed Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry atop the list of prospective Republican candidates for the 2010 race against Bill Ritter for governor.

Penry swiped more than half the vote, beating fellow Grand Junction resident Scott McInnis 53.3 percent to 26.7 percent. Gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes placed third with 13.3 percent of the vote…

“Obviously it’s very flattering to receive this kind of support before making an announcement one way or the other,” Penry said. “I think it’s evidence that there’s real enthusiasm for new energy, new leadership and a new way forward in the Republican party.”

McInnis, who won a recent straw poll among El Paso County Republicans, said he doesn’t give much credence to straw polls…

Mike Hesse, McInnis’ former chief of staff and a volunteer for his current campaign, said McInnis doesn’t plan to put much emphasis on straw polls in general this election season because they can be skewed by the amount of friends people “bring to breakfast.”

“The real poll is going to be a year and a half from now,” McInnis said.

We don’t disagree that straw polls at events are less than reliably predictive of actual results–but we’re still surprised to see Scott “McLobbyist” McInnis fare this poorly in a poll of Denver Republicans, where one could reasonably expect a stronger turnout of moderates, fellow lawyers and lobbyists, and urban professionals that conventional wisdom would tend to align with McInnis.

Because frankly, if can’t even get traction in Denver…

Comments

27 thoughts on “Penry Owns McInnis In New Straw Poll

  1. how much control the extremist wing of R Party has in their chosen direction.  If they do keep nominating extremists like Penry, their perpetual slide into oblivion in Colorado will continue.  And as they continue to exclude moderates and diverse opinion, their tent shrinks to neutrino size.  But that is the myopic failure of allowing the extremists to control a party.  Democrats learned the lesson when we allowed the far left to take control in the 80’s.  Republicans have yet to learn that lesson. They just continue to put all their eggs in the baskets of the most far right extremists they can come up with, then wonder why Americans do not buy their garbage.  And they know that the only chance they have of getting one of their extremists like Penry in the Governor’s office, is to do it with smoke and mirrors before anyone can figure out who a young puppet like Penry is.  

    1. When one candidate gets “13.3” percent and another gets “26.7” (i.e., 2 x 13.3) and another gets 53, it’s pretty easy to figure out that only 15 people voted.

      Two voted for Maes, four voted for McInnis, 8 voted for Penry, and one we don’t know.

      Just do the math.

      WHAT A FREAKING JOKE. Why even bother publicizing ridiculous straw polls of barely a dozen people???

  2. You’re really stretching it here.  You say McInnis won El Paso County but I don’t recall a similar headline in his honor.  You could (quite) easily argue that the El Paso poll is more relevant than Denver’s.

    Bottom line, I agree with most here that these types of straw polls don’t add up to much – especially this far out.

  3. regardless of the small sample, if Penry beats McInnis in other, similar, if not more populated straw polls, Ritter will glide to re-election; and although i’m not the biggest fan; the three scariest words in Colorado politics are Governor Josh Penry.

          1. Whether Penry can campaign anywhere outside Mesa County, where he’s the hometown, fair-haired boy who can do no wrong.

            McInnis, on the other hand, won five elections for the state House in a multi-county district and six elections in the huge 3rd CD.

    1. Republicans are not thinking clearly, they are still upset with McInnis for going off reservation the week before the election and they don’t want to reward him. McInnis is also ideologically moderate, a corporate Republican not a culture warrior, and the Independence Institute/Tea Party crowd will have nothing to do with him.

      We’ll get Penry, and unless David Kenney completely destroys Ritter by triangulating away all his friends Ritter will beat Penry by Bob Beauprez-like margins.

      1.    McInnis did vote against Musty and Allard’s Federal Marriage Amendment when he was in the U.S. House.  (Don’t construe this observation as an endorsement on McInnis by O.Q.D.  I’m still hoping Holtzy reconsiders and throws his little hat in the ring.)

        1. It’s Ritter’s own damned fault.

          You can only screw people over so many times before they quit being enthusiastic for you.

          Which is basically what you said–I’m just restating it for emphasis.

  4. they would choose someone who has been on the public dole his entire adult life, like Penry.

    “I wish I didn’t have to support guys like Josh Penry.” -MesaModerate

    1. He’s young, intelligent, articulate, and completely willing to spout whatever his handlers (O&G) write for him. He’s just what the party needs.

  5. “Obviously it’s very flattering to receive this kind of support before making an announcement one way or the other”

    It seems to me that by his silence and the fact that he’s done nothing to lower expectations for his eventual candidacy, he’s silently running, much the same way McInnis was running without announcing.

    I don’t see why he doesn’t just announce his candidacy and get to work promoting “new energy, new leadership and a new way forward in the Republican party.” Can’t wait to see his contribution to the cause.

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