January 04, 2022 01:45 PM UTC

Gino Campana One-Ups Bremer's "Biggest Loser" Endorsement

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• by: Colorado Pols

We took the briefest possible note last October of an endorsement rolled out by the campaign of political neophyte U.S. Senate candidate Eli Bremer, who had apparently concluded that the backing of a former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party who presided over the early stages of what became a historic electoral nosedive in the second half of the 2010s was a news event worthy of publicity.

Which it was, we guess, noteworthy in being a pathetically weak endorsement.

Well folks, fast forward to today, and another political bush-leaguer running for the 2022 Republican U.S. Senate nomination, Gino Campana, has rolled out an endorsement that puts Jeff Hays endorsing Eli Bremer to shame! Or maybe it’s being out-shamed? Ernest Luning of the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog reports, you decide:

Former Republican congressman and 2008 U.S. Senate nominee Bob Schaffer on Tuesday endorsed Republican Gino Campana in the GOP primary for the seat held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet…

Schaffer also pointed to Campana’s tenure on city council in Fort Collins, where they both live: “He established a solid reputation as a fierce advocate for his constituents. He is a proven, thoughtful community leader driven by principles of honest hard work, rugged individualism, self-reliance, liberty, freedom, and a clear vision of the American dream.”

Campana, a real estate developer, is one of eight Republicans campaigning for the nomination to challenge Bennet, who is seeking a third full term this year. Others running in the primary include state Rep. Ron Hanks, former Olympian Eli Bremer, construction company owner Joe O’Dea, conservative talk radio veteran Deborah Flora, former congressional candidate Peter Yu, nonprofit founder Juli Henry and Colorado Christian University professor Gregory Moore.

Luning was gracious enough not to elaborate in his story, but ex-congressman Bob Schaffer didn’t just lose running for the U.S. Senate: he got clobbered in his 2008 run for the U.S. Senate by double digits. Schaffer didn’t just lose the Colorado U.S. Senate race in 2008, he lost by a bigger margin than any U.S. Senate candidate in Colorado has lost since then. And it wasn’t just a blue-wave rollover: Schaffer went down ugly after being implicated in since-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s campaign to cover up human rights abuses in the U.S. territory of Saipan.

With all of this in mind, Bob Schaffer is a name we would maybe slip in at the alphabetical bottom of a big, long list of Republican endorsements–not an endorsement to build a whole press release around. All that’s going to do is make people Google Bob Schaffer’s name, whereupon they’re reminded how long Colorado Republicans have been losing big elections and why.

Thanks for the memories.