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July 07, 2009 04:28 PM UTC

Penry's Long March Kicks Off Saturday

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Putting an end to the when-not-if speculation, the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:

State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, will end the speculation Saturday when he is to announce whether he’ll run for governor.

Penry, the minority leader in the state Senate, has said he was considering a bid to challenge Democrat incumbent Bill Ritter but hasn’t tipped his hand on his decision.

Penry, his wife, Jamie, and their children will announce his decision at 9 a.m. Saturday in front of the old Mesa County courthouse…

Penry’s running, of course (you don’t book the steps of the courthouse and tote the family on-stage to announce you’re not running, and his intentions have been pretty clear for some time), and we have to admit that Penry is in a stronger position now as a primary candidate than we would have predicted a few months ago–partially due to his opponent’s endless fumbles, but he gets some credit for having managed his pre-launch fairly well. Not announcing at last Saturday’s “Tea Parties” robbed Democrats of what would have been a delightful podium/crazies telephoto.

Game on folks, a poll follows.

If the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary were held next week, who would win?

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34 thoughts on “Penry’s Long March Kicks Off Saturday”

  1. If Penry’s anything, he’s disciplined.  It’s exactly how he beat the McInnis machine in 2006.  Head down, focus on what matters and be smart about things.  

    I suspect he will run a strong, focused race while McInnis impales himself on every sharp object he passes.  

    1. Having already become the dominant western Colorado politician the debate for the general will be focused on winning the I-25 cooridor.  Does Penry sell better then Ritter?

      I suspect R36 is hunkered down in his/her 1st floor Capital office reviewing the “free” 3rd party polling data and feeling like the New Coke brand manager circa 1992.

  2. I think David Thi reported that he found Penry reasonable and normal when he interviewed him.

    Conflicts with the clownish behavior Penry shows as a legislator, but perception is everything.

  3. Penry will definitely harm the Republican’s chances at defeating Ritter.  In my opinion, his radicalism makes him a long shot even for the republican primary, and even longer for a general election win.  The only thing he will accomplish is weakening Scott McInnis for Bill Ritter.

    Outside of a handful of fever swamp supporters in Mesa County, and a pocket here and there of supporters who value gun rights and anti-gay-marriage legislation over job creation and economic growth, Penry will have a hard time gathering support and raising money.  He has no chance in swaying independents or any centerist democrats or republicans. His entry is good news for democrats and Governor Ritter.

    1. You must be a McInnis campaign committee member.  McInnis is irrelevant and Penry is fresh and young.  Scott is the pass, Josh is the future!  Do people even know who McInnis is?

      1. I’m not even a republican.  I just call it as I see it, which apparently makes me a “committee member.”  This coming from a person with a Penry sticker applied directly to their forehead.

        And yes, people do know who McInnis is just as they know who Ritter is.  You obviously have a lot of vigor for your candidate, Eastern…Heart.  But you should also remember that just because you deeply wish something to be true, doesn’t make it so.

    3. The ‘Pubs are done for.  Scooter’s ship has sailed in the eyes of Colorado’s voters.  Ritter will have a cakewalk to reelection.

  5. He’s a business man, a guy who has “created jobs”, a sort of GOP Hickenlooper.  But he’s not going to rouse the far-right wing the way Penry can, since Penry gave a green light to all the hate speech by the GOP Senators he led.

    1. There is be a significant constituency in the Republican Party open to a candidate who isn’t just another creepily-ambitious politician. Maes’ job is to identify and get those folks to coalesce around him; then he will start getting traction.  

      1. I know at least a couple of moderate R’s who left the party and are now unaffiliated. They’re the types that would have voted for Maes in a primary. I have no doubt that they’d vote for him in a general if he gets that far.

        Unfortunately, I don’t see people like my friends going back to the Republican party until they see some evidence that it’s moderating the hubris and more extreme positions. Nominating the most far-right candidates won’t help. Neither do headlines like the affairs of Ensign and Sanford.  

    2. I’ve met all three potential candidates, and whatever you think of his politics, Dan Maes is an honorable person and easily the friendliest of the bunch.  He has no shot at overtaking the two highest ranked elected Republicans in the state in a primary, but it’s not for lack of substance or character.

  6. I agree.

    Glad to see someone decided to make the campaign real, despite where it was posted, which is nit-picking at best. Who cares where it was posted as long as the news was released.

    Speaking of news, hearing that Penry moved his announcement date to July 11th. Can anyone confirm this?

    Maybe Pols can, then he would be forced to move his announcement date back another few weeks.

    Actually, that could be fun. Pols releases the date, Penry states Pols won’t get the news and he continues to move the date,in order for Pols to not have the edge until it’s too late. HA! HA!  

    ——————————————————————————–

    by: walk_the_line @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 09:04:18 AM MDT

    [ Reply ]  

    1. I’m not going to prognosticate here, but an announcement on Saturday ensures coverage in the Sunday papers.  The Sunday papers have the highest circulation, just what you’d want if you wanted maximum exposure.

      If you wanted to bury the story, a Monday announcement for the Tuesday papers is almost as good as you can do. (Friday, for the Saturday papers, being better, or worse, depending on how you want to define it.)

      Think what you want about him, Josh is a smart kid.  Whatever announcement he makes will be timed for whatever impact he wants.  You can’t buy any kind of coverage that’s as good as good timing.

  7. Oh H Penry shows his mentor his deep appreciation for all he did for him.

    Sez Penry, “Is anyone else here tired of the flimflam, mealy-mouthed Republican?”  Yes, Josh, we are.  As you’ve said you are president of the Sarah “quitter” Palin fan club, does this mean you will be following Palin’s lead?

  8. The main focus of the Crown Prince of the Republicans is to unit his party, not divide it. Penry cannot afford the risk of losing a governor’s race because he would be Palinized for the next two to four years before he could run for another office (his state senate term is up for re-election in 2010.) Therefore, my prediction is that on Saturday, he will announce that he is NOT running for governor but for re-election and that he is backing his old pal Scooter.

    2. has worked out a deal with his mentor where Penry will enter the race now and bow out a few months down the road.  That would appease the far-right extrermist Penry fanatics while helping Penry get the name recognition and attention his me-me-me ego needs.  Plus, a guv run would snag him much more money which can always be used down the road.  I don’t see him needing a lot of cash for his senate run, here.  

      2. Some mentor.  The same guy who took on Penry and tried to squash his political career when it was first taking off.  Don’t forget that Penry took McInnis and his “machine” on in 2006 and handily defeated him.   McInnis worked delegagtes at the Mesa County assembly against Penry.  He ran tv ads against Penry.  In the end, McInnis lost.  Big time.  

        I hope Penry runs and beats McInnis AGAIN.  

    3. Penry strikes me as the kind of guy that is pretty firmly entrenched in his far-right beliefs. It seems to me that he sees himself as the last, best hope of the ultraconservatives. I can’t see him laying down his arms and playing nice out of some sense of responsibility to McInnis for getting him to where he is.

    4. I think he sees that he can easily take McInnis and Ritter is clearly vulnerable. Keep in mind he is looking at it from a Republican viewpoint with the biases from that side.

      And the thing is, I think he will easily win the primary and be a very strong competitor to Ritter. McInnis appears to be Beauprez/Schaffer all over again and the GOP does not want another candidate who is their own worst enemy.

      1. He must believe he can be like Alan Embree in tonight’s Rockies game.  He wants to pick up a win without doing anything to earn it. Embree got the win without throwing a pitch.  Penry seems to believe he could get a win without doing anything for the people of Colorado.

        1. including Dick Wadhams, don’t look at it that way. Their comparison is with Barack Obama — a bright, young, somewhat unconventional (because he hasn’t “paid his dues”) politician who can inspire voters. It’s a clear contrast with McInnis (and Ritter, at least as an incumbent), and it’s not entirely a foolhardy approach in this day and age.

      2. McInnis is vulnerable.  Penry is a rising star in the party, and he’ll have the party faithful towing along behind him quickly enough to be the favorite going into the primary.

        He can challenge Ritter if Ritter can’t stabilize his position and shore up support.  Otherwise he’ll get to the general election and his hard right ideology will doom him to a defeat in Nov. 2010.

        1. Penry probably has a 50-50 chance in the primary. But, I bet most of the Kenney crew is rooting for Penry. McInnis would run to the middle in a general election against Ritter and it would be VERY close. Especially if the economy and unemployment is still in the crapper. Labor folks may still be ticked off at Ritter and some progressives may decide to vote for a green candidate or just keep it blank because they are tired of democrats who look alot like republicans. Could get interesting. If the election were today, I am afraid that the R’s would be more fired up to vote than D’s. Ritter would have to win the unaffiliated’s by a big margin to beat McInnis right now. But, the election is not right now, maybe Ritter will improve next year?

    5. and I think he has a good chance of taking out McInnis in the Primary.

      I guess TaxCheater (below) is referring to the senate race against Matt Smith?  I believe that issue was more complex–certainly lots of folks counseled Josh to take another couple of terms in the House, and Smith is McInnis’ brother-in-law.  But I don’t think its quite the betrayal that TCG portrays.  

      But McLobbyist is yesterday’s news.  Hesse appears to be the Jon Marshall of the McInnis campaign, ‘whoops, guess I need to learn how to research my mountains better…’

      And the taint of DeLay hangs in the ear, along with handing over a then-safe congressional seat to one of the dratted Salazars!

      Anyhow, Penry wins the Western Slope–and a lock on the counties out here can make a difference in a primary…and the race comes down–as usual–to the suburbs and such along the Front Range.

      I think Penry wins here too. His buddies in the state senate will definitely stump for him, imagining the rewards they are bestowed when the Prince becomes King.

      McInnis has a moustache.

      McInnis is old news.

      McInnis is a corrupt Delay-era Republican–while Congress was asleep at the swich the deficit mushroomed and forever soiled the name of the Republican party…

      Penry, on the other hand, is new.  He’s young, smart, ambitious.   Sure his ideas might be the same old dusted off failed right wing bromides of old, John Andrews with a Twitter account, but the package is made new in Josh…and that will be a theme…

      Proven Leader. True Conservative. New Direction.  

      blah blah blah

      Now, for whatever reasons–self imposed and otherwise–Ritter will be in for a tough race.  I think Penry is beatable by painting him as a sub-state (regional) populist that is really just in it for himself and too extreme for Colorado…but the Gov needs to step up his game, and he needs to remember who it is that turn out and get enthusiastic for Democrats on election day…

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