March 31, 2016 11:16 AM UTC

DCCC Calls Out Coffman's Stealth Trump Support

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• by: Colorado Pols

As released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) yesterday, calling attention to an obscure but on-record signal of support from Rep. Mike Coffman for embattled Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump:

With the acrimony in the Republican presidential primary reaching an all-time high, the remaining candidates have walked away from their respective pledges to support the eventual nominee. The writing is on the wall: the Republican Party is falling apart, and with it, Coffman’s reelection chances. Remember that Coffman’s campaign has already said he will “obviously” support Trump as the nominee…

“The Republican presidential nomination process has turned into a dumpster fire that is engulfing Congressman Coffman’s campaign,” DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law. “At this point it’s really troubling that Coffman thinks it’s so ‘obvious’ that Trump is worthy of his support.” [Pols emphasis]

While much is still unknown, two things are clear: the Republican Party has zero chance of uniting after this primary, and both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz cause great harm to candidates down-ballot. At the hands of Trump, all Republicans can expect to suffer amongst women, Latinos, millennials, independents and other key voting blocs. And the ultra-conservative Cruz (who’s singular accomplishment is shutting down the government), according to NRCC polling, is even worse for down-ballot Republicans’ reelection prospects than Trump.

By way of explanation, the DCCC is referring to a paywalled report we noted a few weeks ago from the Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning, in which Coffman’s spokesperson was directly asked if Coffman would support Trump as the GOP  presidential nominee. The answer was an unequivocal yes:

“Will Mike Coffman support the Republican nominee over Bernie or Hillary?” said campaign spokeswoman Kristin Strohm. “The answer is obviously yes. [Pols emphasis] And he believes strongly it is going to be Marco Rubio.”

But in a later story from 9NEWS, Coffman declined to comment on the “hypothetical” of Trump winning the nomination:

Coffman (who has endorsed Marco Rubio) “is not commenting on a hypothetical,” his spokeswoman Cinamon Watson told 9NEWS, though he did offer some criticism in a written statement.

“If he has any true aspiration of winning the White House, [Trump] needs to elevate his rhetoric out of the gutter,” Coffman said.

These two comments have yet to be, you know, reconciled. In fact we haven’t seen any new statement from Coffman on the GOP presidential race at all since favored candidate Marco Rubio pulled out after another humiliating defeat in his home state of Florida.

Given what Trump appears to be doing to the GOP’s reputation among women voters, that is, destroying it for a generation, America’s Most Vulnerable Congressman® probably should make some kind of updated statement! Then again, doing so would invite questions about Coffman’s own record on issues like abortion that Trump is presently toxifying on behalf of the entire Republican Party.

All told, it’s kind of a shit sandwich. But he can’t hide from it forever.