November 02, 2017 10:23 AM UTC

Denver Post Plays Sad Trombone for Brauchler

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• by: Colorado Pols

We wrote yesterday about how Tom Tancredo’s entry in the Republican gubernatorial race is strangling the campaign of Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, and today the Denver Post picks up on a similar theme in a story that is all kinds of sad for Team Brauchler.

Denver Post reporter John Frank confirms a story from Ernest Luning about the departure of Brauchler’s campaign manager — including the news that Brauchler doesn’t play to hire a new manager anytime soon:

Later in the day, the campaign manager for Republican rival George Brauchler announced he departed after six months. The move will leave Brauchler, the 18th Judicial District attorney, without a campaign leader for the foreseeable future and comes after weak fundraising spurred questions about whether he can mount a successful campaign.

Ryan Lynch left the campaign Monday as anticipation mounted about Tancredo’s entry into the race. Both candidates are trying to court conservative activists, but Tancredo’s prominence in the party gives him the edge against Brauchler, the prosecutor of the Aurora theater shooting case who is making his first statewide bid.

Lynch issued a statement that celebrated the campaign’s work to date. He declined to comment further because he signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Brauchler campaign. Brauchler did not return a message seeking comment.

The “nondisclosure agreement” is a nice touch of baloney. Lynch isn’t talking about Brauchler’s campaign because he doesn’t have anything good to say.

Frank notes in the Post that Brauchler is being mentioned as a potential candidate for Attorney General, although Brauchler has reportedly said he is only interested in running for Governor in 2018. The very fact that Brauchler’s name is being associated with a different statewide race is a damning indictment of the state of his gubernatorial campaign; people generally don’t start suggesting that you run for a different office unless your current campaign is cratering.

This is not what momentum looks like.