March 03, 2014 10:14 AM UTC

"Both Jobs Bob" Botches Campaign Rollout

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• by: Colorado Pols

TUESDAY UPDATE: Correcting one detail below, multiple sources reporting today that Bob Beauprez will look to petition onto the primary ballot–not seek the nomination via the GOP assembly process. Beauprez will seek both routes to the GOP nomination, befitting someone nicknamed "Both Ways."

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UPDATE #3: It's official: per the Secretary of State's office, Bob Beauprez has officially filed as a candidate for Governor of Colorado while in Washington, D.C. presenting to the Republican National Committee. Sources also tell us that Beauprez has committed to campaigning in the caucus process that kicks off tomorrow–so hopefully the runways at Reagan National Airport reopen!

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UPDATE #2: 9NEWS' Brandon Rittiman:

Former congressman Bob Beauprez will file as a candidate for governor of Colorado on Monday, becoming the eighth GOP candidate in the field hoping to challenge Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado.)

Sources in the campaign tell 9NEWS that Beauprez will not begin active campaigning until Tuesday, after he delivers an in-person pitch Monday with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock for a bid to bring the 2016 Republican National Convention to Colorado.

He declined to provide a comment to 9NEWS on his entry into the race Monday… [Pols emphasis]

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UPDATE: It's official: "Both Jobs Bob" has botched this thing.

Today, @bobbeauprez will file as candidate for #COgov, won't campaign until tomorrow b/c he's making Denver's #RNC2016 pitch in DC. #9NEWS

— Brandon Rittiman (@BrandonRittiman) March 3, 2014

Politics 101 protip: never, ever, ever launch your gubernatorial campaign from Washington, D.C. If Beauprez's gubernatorial opponents, not to mention Democrats, don't make mincemeat of Bob Beauprez over this, they're missing a truly glorious opportunity. After so much lead time, Beauprez didn't have to let this happen, and that's just another reminder of the man's star-crossed ineptitude.

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As FOX 31 and the Denver Post broke on Friday, former Congressman Bob Beauprez is expected to announce today that he is running for governor. But as the Post's Lynn Bartels and Kurtis Lee note helpfully, there's a hitch:

GOP sources told The Denver Post that Beauprez has been looking at office space in the Denver Tech Center and at staffing hires.

Fox 31 Denver reported that Beauprez will enter the gubernatorial race Monday, the same day he's expected to appear in Washington, D.C., before the Republican National Committee in an effort to lure the 2016 convention to Denver. [Pols emphasis]

We haven't seen any schedules for today's host city candidate presentations before the Republican National Committee, but it would have to be pretty early in the day for Beauprez to catch a return flight to Denver in time to announce his campaign. And the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority is throwing a fresh wrinkle in Beauprez's presumed plans:

Reagan National Airport: All runways are closed at this time while crews plow and treat the airfield in an effort to resume operations as soon as possible.

As of now, we haven't seen any press advisory directing reporters to an announcement event, There are two possibilities: either the news reports that Beauprez would get in the race today were wrong, which we doubt, or Beauprez didn't think through his tight schedule before leaking his plans. The weather in D.C. is no excuse, and highlights Beauprez's conflicting obligations as lead pitchman for Denver's 2016 RNC bid. And if he feels he has to announce before tomorrow's GOP caucuses, why the hell didn't he do it weeks ago?

For a moment, you might be tempted to give Bob Beauprez the benefit of the doubt over this apparently screwed-up campaign launch after lurking on the periphery of both the governor's and U.S. Senate primaries, disparaging the entire pack in both races, for weeks. But then you remember–it's Bob Beauprez.