GOP Senate front-runner Jane Norton said Tuesday that she will petition her way onto the ballot rather than go through the traditional vote-getting at the state assembly — a move she said was driven by her incumbent Democratic rival doing the same thing.
Political observers called the move risky because it means the former lieutenant governor will have virtually no presence at the May 22 state assembly, a gathering of more than 3,500 party stalwarts deciding who gets a spot on the primary ballot.
“The caucus process is even more relevant than ever for a Republican candidate to build the kind of campaign necessary to win in November,” said state GOP chairman Dick Wadhams. “We have a great combination of longtime and newly involved activists in 2010, and it is a missed opportunity for candidates to turn their back on this process.”
Norton campaign officials said the petition process provides a path to garner thousands of signatures from regular Republicans who may not be participating in the state assembly.
Norton said she will work to meet with state delegates on her own.
“Obviously we don’t want to slight our delegates,” she said Tuesday. “We are going to court them.”
Norton faces a heated primary against the self-described Tea Party candidate, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, former state Sen. Tom Wiens and several other GOP candidates.
Buck campaign adviser Walt Klein said Tuesday that Norton’s decision meant she was “deathly afraid of what the verdict might be among the Republican activists” at the state assembly.
“I’m tickled to death,” he said. “Activists are the heart and soul of the Republican Party and she is thumbing her nose at activists.”
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet announced a few weeks ago that he was going the same route to get on the primary ballot — but his campaign still plans to participate in the state assembly.
Norton said in a statement her decision was based partially on Bennet’s move because “this election for me has always been about focusing on the issues and unseating Michael Bennet.”
Norton leads Bennet in several polls and fares better in those hypothetical matchups than other Republican contenders. But in a straw poll conducted at GOP caucuses in March, Buck edged Norton 38.1 percent to 37.5 percent.
A candidate needs the support of 30 percent of the delegates to the state assembly to qualify for the August primary ballot.
To make it onto the ballot via petition, Norton will have to collect 1,500 signatures from registered Republicans in each of the state’s seven congressional districts.
