This morning’s Denver Post begins the Bob Beauprez post-mortem: a long process, since everything that could have gone wrong for him more or less…did.
Often there is a moment in time that, viewed in retrospect, reveals where things went wrong.
In the case of Bob Beauprez’s gubernatorial bid, however, the moments were legion.
Political professionals said a mix of wayward campaign strategies, poor timing and the political judgment of Beauprez himself all contributed to a resounding loss for a candidate who 18 months ago was handpicked by the Republican establishment to be the next governor of Colorado…
He lost his seasoned campaign manager, then handed the reins to his relatively inexperienced communications director.
Then, despite the backlash over his Referendum C stance, he made a public splash by being the first person to sign a petition to roll back provisions of the measure that let the state keep extra tax revenue.
He blew a golden opportunity to pick a moderate running mate in August, and instead tapped Janet Rowland who once asked during a discussion of gay marriage: “Do we allow a man to marry a sheep?”
Two weeks later he contended that black women get abortions at the “appalling” rate of up to 70 percent.
And finally, political analysts threw up their hands in disbelief when he ended the fall campaign season with television ads that had him appearing next to a horse’s rear and an FBI investigation into where his campaign obtained information for an attack ad.
“He suffered so much damage and never managed it,” said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.
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It just doesn’t get any better for a farmer who is all hat and no [more] cattle. The only flaw was that he forgot to wear his flip flops.
I love how the politician talked so much about how much he hates politics. He just wanted to be governor. He had no plan.
He was following Bush’s lead a little too closely.
Bob Beauprez was a terrible candidate because he is so radical on social issues that he alienated the unaffiliated voters and conservatives who believe in limited government, and he never offered a platform.
He ran to be governor, not to get anything done, and he showed early and often that he’s out of touch with the real world.
The best campaign manager in the country could not have saved this candidate.
May his retirement be fun, luxurious and happy.
“He ran to be governor, not to get anything done..”
In the debates, Ritter always had a plan, a suggestion, something to look into and try. He had the Colorado Promise, an umbrella attitude of hope (and promise?)
Bow-prey had nothing more in his arsenal than “We need to make changes” and variations on that theme.
The surprising thing is that, still, almost half of the voters preferred lack of leadership to leadership.
And, gecko and other diehards, did you notice that the 17% lead of Ritter was exactly what most polls said? That the Zogby Interactive might as well been a colonoscopy for all it was worth.
I don’t remember this. He constantly bragged about his 100% rating from the Christian Coalition, so where was he radical?
I’m a bit dusty on CO political history – the line says “worst campaign in 30 years”. Is that in reference to any particular campaign, or a non-specific statement?
that it was referring to the piss-poor campaign that swept Dick Lamm into the Governor’s mansion when he was chosen over incumbent Vanderhoof.
The big issue was a looming fiasco involving the Winter Olympics in Evergreen. Lamm opposed, Vanderhood supported.
Thanks Helen!
didn’t help himself with some of his tactless remarks. More than once his wife had to mollify people (“John is sometimes hard to understand.”)! His “best” remark, IMO, was his referring to the Roan Plateau as a “Godforsaken place” no one should care about.