January 19, 2012 06:47 PM UTC

Tipton's Outlook Darkens

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Durango Herald’s Joe Hanel reports:

Western Colorado’s race for Congress is again in the national spotlight with the news that national Democrats have anointed challenger Sal Pace as one of their top candidates.

Pace, a state representative from Pueblo, was named one of 18 candidates on the Red to Blue list Wednesday. He is challenging Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez…

A Republican campaign spokesman sought to tie Pace to President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

“Sal’s about to find out that Nancy Pelosi’s promise of getting him a job in Congress is as empty as the president’s promise to create jobs for Americans,” said Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Tipton is not on the NRCC’s list of top incumbents to defend, known as the Patriot Program. But national Republicans think Tipton is in good shape for the campaign, Scarpinato said.

We reported almost a year ago that freshman Rep. Scott Tipton was at the top of expected Democratic pickup opportunities in 2012. In November, it was reaffirmed that Tipton is high on the list of vulnerable GOP representatives. Redistricting increased already-decent odds of taking Tipton out ever so slightly, and Tipton has just not put down roots in CD-3 as a congressman sufficient to weather a determined Democratic challenger.

Tipton faces lingering resentment over his primary victory in 2010 against a “Tea Party”-backed challenger, which has in part resulted in a third-party challenge on his right from upstart Pueblo candidate Tisha Casida. In addition, Tipton has faced ethics controversies regarding family members improperly using his name and office to score business deals. And as we’ve said repeatedly, Tipton’s performance in Congress has basically pleased no one–not the right, who says he broke his campaign pledge to “cut the government in half,” or the left, who points out other campaign promises Tipton made like “no cuts, no privatization” of Medicare.

With other on-paper vulnerable Republicans (named Mike Coffman) showing relative strength in their new competitive environments, it’s clearer than ever that CD-3 will be the central battleground in the fight for Colorado’s congressional delegation majority this year. Perhaps the best evidence Republicans are not very confident about defending this seat is the other news from Rep. Tipton’s office that came out yesterday: chief of staff Mike Hesse, a fixture in Western Slope GOP politics and former chief of staff for Rep. Scott McInnis, is leaving Tipton’s office to “pursue other opportunities.” Replacing Hesse is a comparatively junior staffer we don’t know.

Who will maybe have the job of turning off the lights.