A Colorado Pols reader reminded us over the weekend that we had long ago predicted that Republican Walker Stapleton would not be the next Governor of Colorado.
We had honestly forgotten about this, but everything that we wrote in this May 2015 post — “Walker Stapleton Shows (Again) Why He’ll Never Make it to Higher Office” — held up pretty well in 2018. For example:
Walker Stapleton [is] Colorado’s “gold standard” when it comes to the stereotypical, fast-talking, bullshitting politician. Stapleton has made such a caricature of himself over the last couple of years that it he hardly seems real. Surely, you think, nobody can truly be this transparently smarmy and exist as an actual human politician…or can he?
The State Treasurer doesn’t traditionally generally get a lot of press in Colorado, and Stapleton has been no exception to the norm. But when Stapleton’s name does end up in the news, the odds are pretty good that it’s because he did something stupid. Stapleton is good at stupid.
When we wrote about Stapleton in May 2015, it was in relation to his bizarre attempt to claim that he had opposed a controversial PERA-related bill — nevermind that he wrote a letter in support of the legislation and even testified in favor of HB-1388. We marveled at the fact that Republicans were looking at Stapleton as a contender for higher office in the future despite his obvious shortcomings:
Stapleton is pretty good at fundraising, largely because of his family connections (he’s directly related to the Bush family), but he’s otherwise a complete political dunce who frequently stumbles into obvious potholes. Stapleton was re-elected as State Treasurer in 2014, but it was an unexpectedly close race due entirely to his own idiocy; when an open records request revealed that Stapleton rarely bothered to show up at his office, he made ridiculous excuses and then wouldn’t stop talking about it.
We wrote after the November election that Stapleton’s panicky errors and laughable TV ads should remove his name from future discussion about higher office; since then, Stapleton has done nothing to prove us wrong. Democrats can only hope that Stapleton is someday the Republican nominee for Governor or Senate. [Pols emphasis]
Walker Stapleton was always the candidate that Democrats hoped they would face in November 2018. As the Republican candidate for Governor, Stapleton was exactly who we thought he would be.
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Staplegun's five-point loss was still less than the pols predicted for the big doofus. R&R and moi both feared the polls might hide a hidden anti-gay vote and I think the results showed they did, 2 to 4 pct.
Let's hope we now have that particular toxin out of our system and can go back to hating the Oakland Raiders.
Polis won by 8
More than that. While the exact totals will probably change a bit the reported results are:
52.68% Polis
43.58% Stapleton
1.02% Hammons
2.73% Helker
This is a 9.1% margin. He did better than I expected, I thought the hidden homophobe vote would knock him down to 6% from the 9% that a generic Democrat would win. So… fewer homophobes than I thought? Unless there are more authoritative figures out there I bet the certified count in December will be within about 0.5% of that.
I will also note that the crowd on ColoradoPols was correct in predicting a win by 5-10 pts.
Yes, I was very happy to be wrong in over-estimating the hidden homophobic vote. We really have come a long way since 1992.
No Bradley Effect for us.
(Next step is Florida learning a thing or two from us.)
Happy to hear that, I was going by earlier tallies.
OK, so if we're so good at predicting let's dust off those crystal balls and update the Big Line. First up: Con-man Cory?
Exactly.
No time to waste in getting rid of Trump's favorite Coloradan.
Whatever the Big Line percentage, it should be trending downward for the con man. If the guy is so delusional that he doesn't think Colorado voters were expressing their discontent with the Republican Party then he won't let go of his infatuation with Trump which will be a big burden in 2020.
!!!!!
*coughcough* Cory Gardner *coughcough*
Cory doesn't talk fast.
When I've seen him live (rarely) and when I've seen videotape, he seems to talk at a moderate pace — plus throw in pauses just a couple beats short of awkward and squirm worthy.
Okay. But that probably does give him extra "authenticity" and "relatable" points. When we all know the only constituent he cares about is named Koch.
The GOP would have been better off giving Bob Beauprez another shot at the governorship. Perhaps in 2022?
Too old. Boomers need to leave the stage.
Actually, Both Ways was too old when he ran in 2014.
Both ways was too old when he turned 18.
Newsflash for davebarnes: I'm a "boomer" and I'll leave the stage when I'm good and ready.
Me too and I'm definitely not ready.
Amen, my aged brothers!
I'm a straggling Boomer (technically 2 years too young), and I ain't goin' nowhere!
So with you, davebarnes, regardless of which side of the aisle they're on.
No, Itlduso!😛