He lost at the state assembly. He doesn’t have enough valid signatures. But don’t count Marc Holtzman out yet.
If Colorado history is any indication, the Republican gubernatorial candidate could still make the primary ballot – and win.
Twenty-six years ago, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mary Estill Buchanan was in a similar boat. But five days before the primary, she got on the ballot and won.
That’s why Holtzman has hired Buchanan’s attorney – Denver lawyer John Head.
“Well, we did have a good result then,” Head said Friday. “And it did keep her on the front page for weeks.”
Holtzman, who did not capture enough votes at the May state assembly to automatically make the Aug. 8 primary ballot, was notified Thursday that he did not have enough valid signatures to petition on.
Buchanan, the secretary of state running for the U.S. Senate in 1980, also did not garner enough votes at the GOP state assembly to make the ballot, according to news reports at the time.
What transpired afterward was “one of the most extraordinary political dramas in Colorado history, resembling at times a soap opera, a stampede and a dog fight,” according to a Sept. 4, 1980, Denver Post article.
Buchanan noted Saturday that there were some vast differences between her situation and Holtzman’s.
For instance, polls indicated she would win over other candidates at the assembly. But she had tied her campaign to presidential hopeful George H.W. Bush, who, three days before the Colorado assembly, bowed out of the race to become Ronald Reagan’s vice presidential candidate. Many of those Bush delegates, she said, stayed home.
“Marc didn’t go into the convention with a reasonable chance of making the ballot and didn’t have a strong presence in the caucuses,” she said.
After Buchanan’s office notified her that she had successfully petitioned onto the ballot, Adams County Republican chairman Hal Shroyer challenged the validity of some of her signatures. A state hearing officer agreed, and her name was then stricken.
Buchanan appealed that decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. Then her attorneys filed a different lawsuit in Denver District Court, contending she needed fewer petition signatures than the rules required because of a calculation technicality.
After the judge ruled against her, that case was also appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Five days before the primary, the court agreed with Buchanan on the calculation issue.
“It was absolute chaos,” Head recalled.
Buchanan won the four-way primary by less than 1 percentage point. Her opponents felt she had greatly benefited from media coverage painting her as a scrappy underdog. Even so, Buchanan said she was able to make amends with those in the party that opposed her.
“If Marc comes out of this on top, I think he will be able to mend fences with the party,” she said.
Two months after the primary, Buchanan lost to U.S. Sen. Gary Hart in the general election.
Holtzman, like Buchanan, said he isn’t going anywhere.
“Our plan hasn’t changed. We’re moving forward,” he said, vowing to take the issue through the court system if the secretary of state doesn’t validate more of his signatures.
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
