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May 18, 2016 11:08 AM UTC

Keyser Senate Campaign Craters Amid Calls to Drop Out of Race

  • 29 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Jon Keyser.
Sweaty Jon Keyser.

Jon Keyser’s campaign for U.S. Senate is now as dead as one of the “voters” who allegedly “signed” his petitions for ballot access. That sort of thing will happen when fellow candidates publicly call on you to drop out of the race and it becomes a headline a day later. As the Associated Press recaps in the first paragraph of a story today:

An exchange between Darryl Glenn and John Keyser over forged voter signatures submitted by Keyser’s campaign highlighted a Republican U.S. Senate debate over who should take on incumbent Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet in November…

…“I will not drop out of the race,” Keyser said in response to a question from Glenn, an El Paso County commissioner who is the only candidate voted to the primary by delegates at the state GOP convention.

Look, if you have to publicly state “I will not drop out of the race,” it’s a pretty good signal that you aren’t likely to win an election anytime soon.

Tuesday marked yet another bizarre milestone in the latest whirlwind series of events regarding the Republican U.S. Senate race. As impossible as it might seem, things continue to get worse for Jon Keyser. Late Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s office announced that it had somehow missed warnings of petition fraud related to Keyser’s campaign — including news that at least one deceased person had somehow signed a Keyser petition to get his name onto the June 28th Primary ballot. This news prompted a one-sentence statement from ProgressNow Colorado — the group that first uncovered improprieties in Keyser’s petitions — calling on Keyser to “Just drop out already.”

A few hours later, the five Republican Senate candidates took part in a debate hosted by the Denver Post, which did not (surprise!) go well for Keyser. As Post political reporter John Frank explains:

Reiterating what he said  in an interview with The Post on Monday, Keyser distanced himself from the signature controversy, attributing it to the conduct of an employee of a subcontractor connected to his campaign.

“I didn’t know what was going on with the signatures and the circulator and all that stuff,” he said later, dodging a question about whether he would accept personal responsibility for the mistakes.

[Darryl] Glenn, a fellow Air Force Academy graduate, pressed him on the point, saying both operated under an honor code. Glenn asked Keyser whether he would drop out if an independent audit found he didn’t qualify.

Keyser rejected the suggestion, prompting Glenn to quip: “I’m sure the academy will appreciate that answer.” [Pols emphasis]

The front page of today’s Denver Post includes a headline about Republican Jack Graham taking center stage at the debate, which appears next to a story about dead people signing Keyser’s petitions. The Washington D.C. publication Roll Call is also out with a big story about how Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet appears to have “lucked out” with such a weak field of Republican challengers, and Keyser takes his lumps here, too:

Pressed by the moderators about whether he bore any responsibility, Keyser instead blamed the media for having a liberal bias.

You can read more on Keyser’s struggles from Mike Littwin of the Colorado Independent, but by now you’re probably getting a pretty good picture of what happened (you can also catch on our debate grades for all five Republican candidates). It took Keyser two weeks to actually respond to repeated media inquiries about petition fraud related to his campaign, and his exclusive interview with the Denver Post didn’t turn out any better than his previous run-ins with Marshall Zelinger of Denver7 — responses that turned Keyser from candidate to Internet meme.

If you were once a Keyser supporter and you’re looking for closure, here’s the clip from last night’s debate in which Darryl Glenn calls on Keyser to drop out of the race if an investigation finds that he did not legally qualify for the ballot. This is what it looks like when a candidate craters:

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29 thoughts on “Keyser Senate Campaign Craters Amid Calls to Drop Out of Race”

  1. The last person Keyser wanted to draw his number during the candidates exchanging questions was Darryl Glenn. Glenn has shown he has no qualms whatsoever about taking it to Keyser, and he above all others on that stage had not only the chops but obligation to ask Keyser that question. Both Keyser and Glenn graduated from the AFA, and Glenn is a retired Lt. Colonel. Glenn could have ignored the situation and played Mr. Nice Guy, but he didn't, and he held Keyser accountable right then and there. I think Glenn's comments on Keyser using his Bronze Star as a prop is the reason why Keyser quit mentioning it. As the article staes, Glenn reminded Keyser of the honor code they all take at the USAFA, and his snarky comment at the end of Keyser's answer was the coup de gras. I guess if you're going to trash your own political career, you might as well do like Keyser and just go ahead and totally destroy it for good. In that case, lucky us.

    http://www.academyadmissions.com/the-experience/character/honor-code/
     

  2. Glenn's comment to Jon (“Triple Checker”) Keyser regarding the AFA honor code, was the political equivalent of, "I'm glad your mother isn't alive to see what you've become."  It's meaningless, passive aggressive BS, and proves that Glenn's not got a lot substantive to say here either . . . 

    . . . I'm filing this one under, Honor Among Thieves.

  3. Jon "I'm on the Ballot" Keyser doesn't seem to have a robust group joining in his defense. I'd expect someone to step in and try to help in the face of

    * local and national media describe the underlying problems with signatures and Keyser's ridiculous efforts to respond,

    * the Secretary of State's office incompetence in determining the extent of fraud or communicating problems within the office or to the candidate,

    * another candidate asking if you will have an ethical response to fraud.

    But so far, no other candidate or Republican leader has jumped in to try to aid Keyser. I can hardly wait to see the final fund raising reports and vote tally to find out how badly Mr. Keyser will be defeated.

  4. Important questions about the role of Progress Now in this scandal, and how they magically found this needle in a haystack, have not been answered. Until the alleged forger is arrested and her motives are known it's too good to be true for Democrats. I smell a rat. We all know Keyser is the one Bennet fears most.

    2. ROFLMAO — Moddy that is the funniest, pathetic, most desperate comment you have ever made!  You sure you couldn't fit BENGHAZI in there somewhere?

      My advice is if you smell a rat, get your nose out of your party's ass.

       

      1. How can you say that? We don't know anything about "Maureen Moss." She could be a Democrat plant. Progress Now could have put her up to it and helped her slip town. These are Democrat sleaze merchants and I wouldn't put anything past them. And without more facts you shouldn't either.

        1. We know, the SoS knows,and  the Denver DA is coming to know that there are forged signatures on one or more petitions.

          You, being a clueless twit that you are, instead of condemning this fraud are condoning it with your attempt to ignore and distract from the clear facts.

          (hmm, weren't you the one screaming about "if just ONE vote is fraudulent, the entire election is suspect" when Gessler was on his witch hunt)?

          Idiot, shameless Koch-sucker and hypocrite — you are a miserable example demonstrating how far the GOP has sunk.

        2. I have some Democrat seeds. If I water them, will they grow into little Democrat plants?

          Progress Now could have put her up to it and helped her [Maureen Moss] slip town.laugh

    3. What we all know mostest is that you're a grade-A, prime, #1, idiot; a fool's fool; a blithering knucklehead of the highest order . . . 

      . . . everything else is up for debate. 

      1. "When you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It's only painful & difficult for others. The same applies when you are stupid."

    4. You've never given a reason why Keyser supposedly scares Bennet so much, and why Keyser is the best candidate in this race. Instead of an answer, all there is is the sound of chirping crickets. Keyser proves you wrong time and time again. It doesn’t matter how ProgressNow or anybody else found petition problems. The fact is that the problems exist, and they are serious. The SoS contractor saw problems long before ProgressNow was involved with this, and that’s a fact too. Your denial of reality regarding Keyser's lack of credibility and lack of leadership as well as your passing the buck for Keyser's campaign would make Baghdad Bob proud.

      1. Keyser is young, and articulate, and has a great record. He's a Bronze Star winning Air Force major and combat veteran. As a legislator and attorney for one of the nation's most important law firms he gained the experience he needs for Washington.

        America needs warriors like Jon Keyser, not spineless stooges living off their father's reputation.

        2. Ummmm, Fluffy, …

          … doesn't really matter how many times it's repeated over and over, "I'm on the ballot" is NOT the pinnacle of articulation.

        4. Articulate: 

          "I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. The important thing is that I'm on the ballot. Ballot. I'm on. Ballot. The."

        5. I'm not sure how a half term in the state house builds much of a record to go by. It's fine he served in the military, but if he was so proud of his record as an attorney or in the state house, I'm sure we'd hear a lot more about that instead of his repetitive "national security" talking points. As for his Bronze Star, the Air Force has awarded them for meritorious service to people who were good accountants.

          His handling of this signature fiasco has shown a severe lack of leadership and responsibility. It took two weeks for him to say something coherent about it other than "I'm on the ballot". I know all candidates are flawed, but Keyser is in way over his head with this whole charade.
           

          1. That is right, cpolind.  In my Army days there were two classes of Bronze star — and one was for purely administrative stuff, the other for combat related.  Keyser may have been one heckuva typist, but I doubt he charged San Juan Hill.

            1. It's called being awarded for Meritorious Service or being awarded for Valor.  One can be used as an end of tour award for someone serving in a combat zone, whether that person actually engaged in combat or not (such as hanging out in the Green Zone creating data management programs).  The other is tied to a direct action related to a combat incident, i.e. entering a burning vehicle to extract a wounded comrade while under fire.  However, demeaning the guys who've earned Bronze Stars for combat tours with exceptional service, but no one exceptional event, isn't fair.

              Keyser's award citation doesn't seem to fall under that category (exceptional service in combat) as there's no mention of him being directly involved with combat missions versus being in a supporting role while kicking it in the TOC/CJOC.  It would also help if he actually posted some photos of his time in Baghdad instead of just putting a couple of photos of being in Afghanistan (of which he makes no mention meaning that his time there was uneventful achievement wise)

        6. Moderatus, you earn a Bronze Star, you don't win it.  Thanks for spitting in the face of every single veteran out there with your woeful ignorance of military terms and culture.

           

          If you're the best that the GOP in terms of social media specialists….. well that's just pathetic.

           

  5. You know, I think the GOP should pay more attention to the Modster than it is likely that they do.  Boy, can he pick losers, and I mean, loser, after loser, after loser.  Look how his darling Cynthia outed the House and gave him the boot.  Look at Honey Badger.  And now Keyser.  Attention all GOP donors, don't give money to any candidate supported by Moddy, because, l-o-s-e-r-s, one and all.

  6. What I haven't heard much of yet, is anyone screaming for Wayne Williams' head on a pike. He knew a month ago that there were bad signatures and even dead ones on those petitions and he didn't call Keyser in to "Stand right there on that carpet while I mark you disqualified." Williams has some 'splainin' to do to, IMO. 

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