April 20, 2016 08:29 AM UTC

Everybody's Dissing Jon Keyser

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

It’s been an awful seven days for Republican U.S. Senate clown car passenger Jon Keyser, whose widely-rumored anointment by GOP Washington, D.C. insiders has so far completely failed to manifest in the form of support–on the ground among likely Republican primary voters or in his fundraising numbers for Q1. The latter in particular must be considered a huge blow to Keyser’s chances, since everyone was watching for a massive number to broadcast his status as the field-clearing pick.

After the GOP state assembly and Darryl Glenn’s surprise victory there, we’ve seen supporters of unexpectedly eliminated contender Sen. Tim Neville basically writing off the 2016 U.S. Senate race. At the same time, Glenn has taken aim Karl Rove-style as Keyser’s greatest supposed strength, calling Keyser out for running for office on his military decorations (and little else).

With all of this in mind, Politico’s Elena Schneider reported yesterday (behind the paywall), adding fuel to the GOP’s internal conflict:

One more wild card could come if Dudley Brown, a wired-in activist who leads the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, decides to get involved with another candidate after Neville’s demise.

“Darryl Glenn answered our survey and got 100 percent, but we also look at whether the candidate can win. Are they putting in the effort? Do they have a real campaign? We’ll see.” Brown said. “Blaha has thumbed his nose at us a couple of times. I can’t imagine Jack Graham getting anywhere near answering our survey. It’s only Glenn who could earn our support.”

Brown also didn’t rule out actively working against a few candidates – particularly Keyser.

“Keyser had one vote on guns in his Colorado House career and he voted with the Democrats,” Brown said. “We don’t allow that stuff to go without some repercussions.” [Pols emphasis]

Dudley Brown would be less fearsome to Keyser if Keyser was ahead by some metric in this race. But at this point, Keyser is deep in the pack compared to better funded and more widely grassroots-supported contenders. Whether it’s Glenn or one of the wealthy self-funding candidates who stands to benefit most from Keyser’s failure to thrive remains to be seen.

But you can’t tell us this is looking good for Jon Keyser.