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June 27, 2016 03:16 PM UTC

Jon Keyser Declares Death of Senate Campaign

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Good luck trying to find Jon Keyser on Tuesday.
Good luck trying to find Jon Keyser on Tuesday.

This is a pretty astounding admission from the Senate campaign of Republican Jon Keyser. As Brandon Rittiman reports for 9News:

As the results come out in Tuesday’s GOP primary for US Senate, all but one of the five candidates will hold election night parties for their campaign supporters.

Former state legislator Jon Keyser will take the quieter option of watching election returns “at home with his wife and kids,” according to campaign spokesman Matt Connelly.

To political observers, it’s an obvious sign that his campaign is in bad shape.

“That’s a really bad sign,” said 9NEWS Republican expert Kelly Maher. “The only reason to not have an event is if you have some information that doesn’t point to a favorable outcome.” [Pols emphasis]

It’s certainly an unusual move. Even when candidates expect to lose badly, they tend to hold events on election nights to thank donors and volunteers for their support.

It’s not much of a surprise to learn that not even Jon Keyser thinks Jon Keyser is going to win the GOP Senate nomination on Tuesday, but hiding in your house on Election Night is damn near unprecedented. We can’t recall the last time we heard that a candidate for a major statewide office was completely forgoing any sort of election night event; even Scott McInnis had an election-night party after it was obvious that he was going to lose the 2010 GOP gubernatorial Primary to Dan Maes.

Republican commentator Kelly Maher, once a big cheerleader for Keyser, put the final nail in Keyser’s coffin with her quote for 9News that all but declares the patient campaign dead. This isn’t just an embarrassing loss for Keyser — this is an embarrassment for the entire Republican establishment that tried to invent Keyser as a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Keyser was a tough-talking candidate when it came to his military service and his shameful attempts to browbeat reporters. Taking the coward’s way out on Tuesday sums up Keyser better than any attack ad could have spun things, and it may very well end whatever could have remained of his political career.

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18 thoughts on “Jon Keyser Declares Death of Senate Campaign”

  3. it seems that the Colorado Republican Party is a reflection of the National Party…A bunch of has beens, who can't/won't find the door to obscurity…So they spread the lies and misinformation for anyone who will pay them…

  4. There wasn’t any character assassination going on here. Keyser's candidacy was simply ridiculous, even aside from the forged signatures, and as stated in this article, he was nothing more than an "invented candidate". That particular description from the article nails it perfectly. The fact that the Colorado Republican party tried to simply force him upon the unwashed masses was offensive, just like it is with the guy that was on the Bachelor. Keyser is unqualified to be a US Senator, and contrary to the belief of the guy he was paying to paint rosy pictures of his campaign, Michael Bennet probably couldn't believe his dumb luck that the Colorado Repubs picked a candidate like Jon Keyser for the US Senate campaign. Instead of being scared stiff of Keyser, Bennet was laughing all the way.  You know when a Republican toadie like Kelly Maher sees the writing on the wall, it's over. I sure hope this is just Keyser seeing the obvious and this isn't based on some kind of leaked info from the Republican run SoS office that they're giving him so he can save face so he can be pushed out on the stage again in another race. Goodbye, and good riddance to Keyser.
     

  6. The simplest explanation for not holding an event tomorrow is to save scarce campaign funds.  I'll bet Keyser wishes he could get back all of his own money that he dumped into this campaign.  Better his suckers, er, supporters' money, what remains, is used to pay himself back.

    1. But no explanation would change the fact that this is a very unusual thing to do. As we wrote above, we can't remember another statewide candidate who didn't have some sort of event on election night.

      2. Do I remember that Musgrave had one but didn't show up for it herself? Or did she just not make an appearance at the Republican's general do? I remember that there were people out beating the bushes for her and rumors that she might have done herself an injury.

  8. A lot of people (a few?/some?) worked on his campaign.  Some cheese and crackers and generic Chardonnay along with a few pats on the back might have been a nice send off. It's cheap and disrespectful not to give them that.

          1. It's gonna be Robert Blaha all the way because he's pro-life and pro-2nd amendment; and wants lower taxes (check out his TV ad). And then it will be Senator Robert Blaha come November. Remember: you heard it first here!

            (Hmmmm.  Wonder if I might have a future in stand-up comedy?)

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