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November 12, 2009 10:41 PM UTC

"The Tank" Hasn't Filed Yet, But...

  • 56 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

It appears that the avid fans at the “Draft Tom Tancredo for Governor” Facebook group got a little ahead of themselves when they announced that former Rep. Tom Tancredo had filed “exploratory committee” papers to run for Governor. But, as Fox 31 reports, they may have only been temporarily mistaken:

Contrary to published reports, former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo has not yet filed papers with the Secretary of State’s office to form an exploratory committee to run for governor — but Tancredo tells FOX 31 he is planning to file in the next several days.

“I haven’t filed anything yet,” Tancredo said. “There are a whole bunch of things we have to put together to get to the point of filing. We’re not there yet, but we are looking. Once we get those ducks in a row, those organizational things, I anticipate we’ll file in a relatively short time.”

Tancredo, who twice ran for president on a hard-line anti-illegal immigration platform, had been a strong supporter of state Sen. Josh Penry. Penry ended his gubernatorial run this week and cleared the way for former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis to be the Republican party’s challenger to Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who is seeking reelection next year.

“I’ve said all along that if Josh wasn’t in the race, I would be,” Tancredo said. “Now, he’s no longer in the race. So stay tuned.”

We maintain our long-held view about a possible Tancredo gubernatorial bid–a stupendous gift to Democrats, which enough smart Republicans understand that it continues to amaze us how we’re actually discussing it. Let’s be clear: when we say the GOP base wants (and maybe needs) a “real Republican” to run, and Scott McInnis may not meet the test, we don’t mean a national laughingstock looney-hatch fringe icon who happens to call himself a Republican.

That would be enough commentary on this story, since the only thing that’s really going on with this in all likelihood is Tancredo acting out his pathological fame-whoring, but there’s something else related here that bears mentioning–why is Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams not jumping on the McInnis “clear the field” bandwagon? From the Denver Examiner blog:

Using familiar rhetoric, Colorado state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams fell just short of pleading for another Republican to jump into the 2010 Gubernatorial Race.

When asked his thoughts on State Senator Josh Penry’s exit from the race to become the Republican nominee for Governor in 2010, Wadhams responded by saying that, “There is plenty of time for another candidate or candidates to get into the race.”

Wadhams and Republican frontrunner Scott McInnis have not seen eye-to-eye since McInnis made disparaging comments about GOP candidate Bob Schaffer in the midst of a close race with eventual US Senator Mark Udall.  McInnis had been lobbied to end his run for that open US Senate seat in much the same way that Penry was urged to leave this gubernatorial race; for the good of the party.

Now it is Wadhams giving opponents fuel as he fails to endorse the only broadly appealing candidate for Governor likely to come out of the Republican Party for next year’s elections…

Alright, so let’s assume for a moment that Wadhams is not utterly clueless–and we don’t think he is. That being the case, Wadhams cannot possibly be referring to Tancredo when he says there’s “plenty of time for another candidate to get in.” Though based on Wadhams’ open hostility toward McInnis so far in this race, it certainly does make sense that Wadhams would like to see somebody else challenge McInnis. Or is Wadhams just paying lip service to the raging base?

And if Wadhams means it, who might that candidate be?

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56 thoughts on ““The Tank” Hasn’t Filed Yet, But…”

  1. this

    “We’ve not filed any papers exploring anything. I full intend to run. It’s just that I have to do a few little things in the meantime before we can make a formal announcement. I need to get my own house in order.

    “I’m in the precarious position of saying, ‘Yes, I want to run. I think I will run. But no, I can’t tell you I am running,'” he continued, laughing. “It’s a weird thing, but it happens in politics.”

    I wonder what he means when he says he needs to get his own house in order. I wonder if he’ll hire more undocumented workers to do that job for him.

    1. Maybe file those papers but it’s just to keep his name out there and enhance his marketability.  How’d you like that Lou Dobbs instant resignation from CNN,  effective immediately? Suppose he’ll turn up on Fox?  With Tancredo as his sidekick? And Palin for that rightie bimbo appeal?  Correspondent (not) Joe the (not really a) Plumber doing man on the street interviews? Maybe MSNBC can send Pat Buchanan over to pitch in?  

      1. I will have been vindicated. There is no God.

        I can’t believe Dobbs. I read that last night. I mean, no notice. He just quit, on the spot. Last show. Bon voyage. Palin can’t join him. She’s busy plugging her book on her giant book tour, doncha know? 🙂

      3. Joe could move here and ge tlicensed to plumb, be an R and run. Run Joe run.

        No- just kidding. He’d get creamed here.

        But TT would be very competitive- and I think he’d win the nomination.   He’d win CD6, CD5 and 1. He’d split in 2, get beat in 4 and 3. Who wins 7? TT is the nominee?

        Then in the general you have a disinterested D base. Just not excited about Ritter. And an energized CO R organization.

        It would be close.

          1. I tihnk the voters that will trash will vote in the D primary.

            But the establishment is a tossup and the hell raiser part of the R voters would got TT not SM.

            ANd yes- I think McInnis carries 3&4 over TT

  5. I know every Democrat in the state is licking their chops about this. But how can any Republican think this is a good idea? Wadhams & co. will go from being in the best possible position to take the Governor’s office, to putting themselves in the worst possible position in a three day span. Whew.

    This has to be a clear sign that the CO-GOP has lost or pushed out anyone who cares about political strategy and foresight.

    Well, who am I to second-guess their thinking. I’m sure rigid, pure, xenophobic ideology has its advantages over actually winning elections, right?

      1. …in order to compete w/ Tanc for votes from the Raging Base, McLobbyist will need to veer to the right on many positions, then swing back to middle for the general election campaign.

          This, of course, will make him vulnerable to charges of trying to have it Both Ways.

        1. is to run as the reasonable moderate, starting in the primary. The radical right won’t vote for him, no matter how far right he goes. While he can try to have it both ways, that didn’t work out so well for the last guy that tried it.

          If he can win as a moderate R in the primary, Ritter is in trouble in the general. If he has to run hard right to win the primary, he ain’t going to win the general anyway.

      2. This might actually be good strategy on DW’s part. Alright fine, I don’t actually think DW can see past his own ego, so I’m sure he wants McLobbyist to lose, but still, the only way this makes sense to me is through your glasses.

    2. unless they are so far to the right they start seeing the left. A small majorit will support crazy Tom but in general I think they would vote McInnis…however, the Republican party has this amazing technique where they screw themselves out of races by fighting and never coming together as a party. So yah, they have a good chance with McInnis but watch them flush it all away. This could be good.  

      1. unless they are so far to the right they start seeing the left

        Nice comment.

        The Tank’s kinda like that. He actually wants to legalize marijuana.

        So Republican primary voters will have a choice between a pro-abortion McInnis (formerly national chair of Republicans for Choice) and a pro-drugs Tancredo.

        That’s change we can believe in!

  6. If Mr. Tancredo enters the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination we will see the beginning of the Republican civil war in Colorado similar to what happened in NY CD-23 and what is happening all over the United States.

    Mr. McInnis represents the moderate wing of the Republican Party and he will never be trusted by the social/religious conservatives because he was once the Chariman of the Republican House Caucus for Choice. The right-wing never forgives sins like that. For them, he will never meet the litmus tests.

    Nor does he meet the Grover Norquist test for “starving the baby in the bathtub” but those kind of socia/religious and extreme anti-government types (they’re not conservatives) are the ones who run the Republican Party and certainly will  dominate the 2010 state Republican assembly.

    In other words, the match-up between Tancredo and McInnis goes much deeper than the fact Mr. McInnis openly critisized the Republican Party immediately before the 2008 election. Within the past forty-eight hours Senator Penry indicated, at least by implication, that Mr. Mcinnis is not far enough to the right when he said he not only had to learn more about how Mr. McInnis will govern but he specifically stated he wanted to make sure “conservatives” (he didn’t say Republicans) have a legitimate choice for governor.

    This fight will be for the soul of the Republican organization in Colorado. I predict, Mr. Tancredo has the upper hand in this fight.

      1. The right-wing fanatics aren’t going to let anyone who is perceived by them as moderate to capture any nomination for any major office in the country and I’m including school board elections (look at what happened in Douglas County). These people really believe that moving to the extreme right is the only way to win elections.

        I mentioned New York CD-23 because from my perspective that is exactly what happened there. Scozzafava was the Republican nominee, duly chosen under existing party rules, and the right-wing fanatics went crazy because she didn’t pass the litmus tests for abortion, gay marriage and budget strangling. The fanatics want it their way or no way. Tolerance of other ideas within the Republican Party is no longer allowed. If anyone, no matter who it is, no matter how long they have served the Republican Party, is subject to these litmus tests. For example, if Hank Brown, who is universally respected in Colorado, tried to run for his old state seante seat in Greeley, Colorado, he would be blown out of the water at the senate district assembly. He has always been pro-choice and he voted for the Equal Rights Amendment for Women. Therefore, he doesn’t pass the litmus tests and can’t be nominated. Its that simple.

        Once this battle between the moderates and the right-wing is joined it must be fought to the finish. The fantics are winning within the party but are loosing badly in general elections. In Colorado, the fanatics already have the upper hand. A Tancredo/McInnis fight will be a fight for the soul of the Republican Party organization.

        1.    There was time I actually was registered as a Republican albeit many years ago, and I would be considered a Lincoln Chaffee-Olympia Snowe RINO by current standards.

            There were some good things the old GOP stood for.  Government cannot and should not try to do everything.  Those things it must do, it should do effectively and efficiently.  

            Fiscal responsibility and elimination of corruption.  Personal responsibility and personal freedom which includes keeping the government out of my wallet and out of my bedroom.

            But those days are gone and they are not coming back.  The question is whether it’s worth trying to save the GOP as the opposition party, or let it simply go under as a group of extremists and then let a new opposition party develop.

            I think we need to let nature take its course.  

          1. who is now far too moderate for today’s Republican Party. I think the best thing for the United States is to let the Republican Party implode and a new opposition party be formed. I don’t see any value in today’s Republican Party.

    2. The state GOP does need to fight its civil war. And a primary for governor is where they need to fight it. If McInnis runs moderate and wins the primary, that moves the GOP back to being a relevant political power in this state – and a partner in governing.

  8. I don’t think there is anyone, other than Tancredo, waiting in the wings. I don’t have any insight into the workings of the GOP or Dick Wadhams, but his comments would appear to simply be a reflection of his dislike (opposition to) McInnis.  Between the “money” on the one hand, and the “base” on the other, McInnis has the money, so in response, Wadhams has to reach for the base.  At some point in the future (when Tanc gracefully bows out), Wadhams and McInnis may declare a truce, but at this point there is no reason for either to concede defeat in the power struggle.  If either were inclined to “play nice with others” they wouldn’t be in their current lines of work.

      2. Plus, it would be tasty twist.  BNC jerked around Scooter a lot when the latter desperated wanted to run for Senate but BNC wouldn’t retire.  And, then, when BNC finally did so, it was too late for Scooter because Ken Salazar was in his way.  HAHAHA

  10. That’s what he said on KOA this morning when asked if he was intending to run. He made it about as plain as he could that he was going to run, but due to election laws he couldn’t make the formal announcement yet.

    “Absolutely.”

    That’s pretty absolute.

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