President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Kamala Harris

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) V. Archuleta

98%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Marshall Dawson

95%

5%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

50%

50%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(D) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank

(D) River Gassen

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) John Fabbricatore

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen

(R) Sergei Matveyuk

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

70%↑

30%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
April 07, 2008 07:56 PM UTC

Nonsense Springs Eternal for John Andrews

  • 23 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

We always get a kick out of the columns written by Republican John Andrews, but in a “we feel sorry for his inane ramblings” sort of way.

Check out his latest nonsense-filled mess from The Denver Post, in which Andrews – the man who was largely responsible for Republicans losing control of the state in the first place – talks about the “bright future” for Republicans in years to come:

Many of us at the fundraiser had bygone glories on our mind. We were gauging not only the prospects for a White House victory in 2008, but also the personnel for a Colorado comeback by the GOP in 2010 after years in the wilderness. What I saw was a roomful of intriguing possibilities.

At a press conference earlier, U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and the candidate running to succeed him, former Rep. Bob Schaffer, stood flanking McCain. Hopes for electing both are buoyed by Schaffer’s resilience in the polls against Democrat Mark Udall and by the Obama-Clinton bloodbath to McCain’s benefit.

Schaffer’s “resilience in the polls?” He’s a Republican candidate in a Republican state. As we’ve written before, Schaffer SHOULD be leading in the polls this early in the race.

But who, the athletic club crowd wondered, might be our starting team for these contests? Take the governor’s race first. Ritter has shown weak leadership, accomplished little, and alienated business with his labor moves. He can be had. Allard, former Sen. Hank Brown, former Rep. Scott McInnis, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, businessman Pete Coors, or state Senate stars like Mark Hillman and Josh Penry could all run.

Wayne Allard is not running for governor. That’s silly.

Hank Brown would be a tough candidate, but he’ll be 70 years old in 2010. Scott McInnis? He’ll tell people every two years that he’s “thinking of running,” but he’ll never actually do it; he backed down from the 2008 Senate race faster than Dick Wadhams can change the subject whenever someone mentions George Allen.

Jane Norton has passed up too many opportunities and obviously isn’t seriously interested in anything. No way Pete Coors runs again – for anything. Everyone says that Coors hated being a candidate.

That leaves us with Mark Hillman and Josh Penry. Hillman already lost a statewide race to Cary Kennedy, but he’s a solid bet to run again. Penry clearly has higher ambitions and would be a good choice for the GOP.

Challenging Salazar may be tougher, but his chameleon voting record spells vulnerability. Former Gov. Bill Owens, his 65 percent popularity intact and marital troubles behind him, might grab the brass ring this time after passing in 2004. Done with Congress, battle-tested from the presidential primaries, Tom Tancredo admits a Senate run in 2010 appeals to him. Former Rep. Bob Beauprez may have the itch as well.

For wild cards in either race, think about Attorney General John Suthers, assistant Senate leader Nancy Spence, radio host Dan Caplis, Colorado Springs kingmaker Steve Schuck, Bruce Benson (after a couple of years running CU), education reformers Alex Cranberg and Ed McVaney, or restaurateur John Elway. (Yes, No. 7 does fantasize about recreating The Drive with voters.)

Bill Owens would be a tough candidate, but by most accounts he’s making too much money now to come back. Tom Tancredo is a likely candidate and should be considered seriously, but Bob Beauprez’s name shouldn’t even be mentioned for dogcatcher; his gubernatorial campaign was so bad that it probably precludes a statewide run ever again. The rest of that list, other than John Elway, is just stupid, not to mention old (Benson and Cranberg are too old and too polarizing to run themselves).

It’s nice that Andrews has hope, but he’s wishing on the wrong star here. The Republican bench is not strong – not at all. The GOP will come back in Colorado at some point, just as the Democrats rose back in 2004, but it will be some time before they are prepared to really mount strong challenges year after year, race after race.

Tweet
Share

Comments

23 thoughts on “Nonsense Springs Eternal for John Andrews”

  3. Andrews states that 2010 will be a great year for Republicans to knock off Perlmutter and John Salazar.  If there are so many strong candidates to challenge these two why are they waiting two years?  Seems to me that a Presidential year would be the best year for a Republican in Colorado to take on a Democratic member of the house, given our state’s proclivity to go for Republican Presidential candidates.

    What is Andrews’ beef with John Suthers?  He’s one of only three statewide elected Republicans–and in my opinion, the most likely nominee for Governor in 2010, yet Andrews relegates him to “wild card” status?

  5. (Apologies to Chris Crocker.)

    Look, John Andrews gets paid to write a column. He’s gotta write about SOMETHING, right? And it’s not likely he’s going to write about how the Republicans are making a hash of things and that a RINO is their presidential candidate, etc. etc.

    It’s like Peter Boyles going on and on and ON about Cory Voorhees. They’re entertainers, pure and simple.

    1. He is a purely a partisan, and makes no excuses, and in fact brags about it.  There are any number of righties and lefties that express their opinions about subjects from their own slanted view.  Andrews just cheerleads for republicans and takes shots at democrats.  Why is he paid by someone other than the GOP for this?  

      1. one could argue that Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Rosen and a list of literally hundreds more do the same thing.  All of them very seldom stray from the party line.

        He just isn’t nearly as good as they are.

    1. Andrews and his overreaching deserves most of the credit/blame for the Dems taking over Colorado.  (Remember the silly hearings about the poor Metro students being indoctrinated by liberal professors?)  

  7. If this truly is the state of the Republican party in Colorado then they are in deep denial. You don’t talk deep bench when you have a player in just 1 competitive race (U.S. Senate). They have no bench.

  8. My only beef is that it’s the same names-Allard, Brown, and Owens?  Having a strong bench to me means that there is someone who is well positioned to be the next Allard, Brown or Owens.  We can’t keep relying on them to win statewide office.

    The focus should be on the Penrys, the Mitchells, the Hillmans, and the other rising stars.

    My pick for 2010 governor would be Suthers, but it might be better for him to wait until 2014.  Penry is a close second, Norton a third.  And yes, I’d say that’s a good bench!

  10. Others have made this point, but is it really a bench when most of the names on Andrews’s list have been running for office since the 1980s? Maybe it’s one of those motorized benches that zips up staircases.

    Hey, I’d back an all-septuagenarian ticket if the GOP is bold enough to field it. Owens for Senate, Brown for governor, Cranberg for … something, maybe secretary of state, Beauprez can challenge again for the 7th, Benson can run for treasurer, Steve Schuck steps in to clean up the 5th, and Pete Coors deigns to run for Golden City Council. Bring back the 70s! And get off of my lawn!

      1. the kind of shower you hold in your hand and only use while you’re sitting on a plastic chair that fits solidly in the tub. Except for Bruce Benson. For some reason, he strikes me as a sponge-bather.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

102 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!