DENVER—At a time when Republicans across the nation are counting on victories in gubernatorial races, Colorado’s Republican Party is struggling with gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates who have stumbled in recent months.
For Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams, it’s another macaca moment, reviving memories of the failed 2006 campaign he managed for former Virginia Sen. George Allen. A potential presidential contender, Allen blew a comfortable lead in the polls and lost his re-election bid when he referred to the son of Indian immigrants as “macaca,” regarded by some as a racial slur.
The latest problems include a spat between GOP Senate candidates Jane Norton and Ken Buck touching on gender issues. There were also allegations of misbehavior by GOP gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis and Dan Maes—McInnis for allegedly plagiarizing water essays and Maes for campaign finance violations.
Former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo said it’s the job of party leaders to recruit good candidates and he believes they’ve fallen short, though he stopped short of calling on Wadhams to step down.
Tancredo is threatening to bolt from the party at noon on Monday and run as a candidate for the American Constitution Party unless the winner of the gubernatorial primary agrees to step down if he’s trailing in the polls.
Despite grumbling from members of his party, Wadhams says people shouldn’t blame him for the party’s latest troubles. He said no one can control candidates, nor should they try to control who gets to run.
“My role is not to pick candidates. My role is to facilitate candidates in the general elections. My job is not to run campaigns,” said Wadhams, who has been party boss for the past three years.
But Tancredo said Wadhams is interfering in races. He said Wadhams called him several times and told him, “Don’t do anything that might screw things up.”
“How can you possibly make this a bigger mess?” asked Tancredo.
Wadhams warned Tancredo that he could cost the party an opportunity to recapture the governor’s office, and it could hurt other GOP candidates in the general election, at a time when the Republican Governors Association is targeting 37 races across the country on the heels of big victories in New Jersey and Virginia last year.
“Let there be no mistake about it: Regardless of who our nominee is for governor after the primary, if Tom Tancredo carries through on his threat to run as a third party candidate, he will be responsible for the election of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper as governor and for other races that will be imperiled as well,” Wadhams said.
In the U.S. Senate race, Buck kicked up more dust when he told a voter in a videotaped remark to vote for him “because I do not wear high heels” like his GOP primary opponent. He later said he was only trying to make a joke and conceded it “wasn’t very funny”—but not before the video made national news.
Norton turned the remark into an ad and is running another spot questioning Buck’s manhood. In it, Norton points out that independent advocacy groups, not Buck, have aired attack ads against her.
“You’d think Ken would be man enough to do it himself,” Norton says.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said it’s unfair to blame Wadhams for the party’s problems.
“Many people demanded he take the lead and pick candidates, but I admire him playing the objective role he plays. He says he won’t show favoritism, and I believe him. People believe he’s causing a lot of the internal bickering, and I don’t think that’s the case. But he’s the leader, and he takes the heat,” Maes said.
McInnis also said he doesn’t blame Wadhams.
“It’s tough being chairman of the party,” he said.
