Former Gov. Dick Lamm in his office in Denver, Colorado November 20, 2014. Boulder Daily Camera/ Mark Leffingwell
Former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm is expressing concern about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy amid the controversy about her handling of classified emails as secretary of state — suggesting there is a good chance it gets worse and costs her the Democratic nomination.
In reading a recent New Yorker piece about how retired Army Gen. David Petraeus and former Bill Clinton aide Sandy Berger pleaded to misdemeanors for divulging classified information, Lamm said “all the sudden it dawned on me — there’s an FBI study out there.”
The three-term governor and his wife, Dottie Lamm, are close to the Clintons’. Though often outspoken, the Democratap thoughts on the race offer an insight into the nervousness among party’s leaders regarding the 2016 election.
“What are they to do? My poor wife. We’ve know the Clintons — we’ve served with the Clintons. Dottie and Hillary are really very close and she’s just shattered,” Lamm said in with The Denver Post, published in Sunday’s edition. He quickly added that his wife is “not discouraged” and “still very much on board.”
Asked if Hillary Clinton can win, Lamm said: “I think she can win the Democratic nomination unless something worse happens, and I think there’s a one in three chance that something worse does happen.”
“But I think the words they associate with her — distrustful, liar and dishonest — thatap not good stuff,” he added.
Lamm suggested Vice President Joe Biden could enter the race and have a chance, but he wrote off two other candidates, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
To nominate Sanders, Lamm said, “would be a tragic mistake,” though he said he would likely vote for him if he became the party’s nominee.
On the Republican side, Lamm said he believes Donald Trump “is just beyond any model that we’ve had.”
“I think he will go too far too many times,” Lamm added. “Itap just so unthinkable that he would be their candidate. I think he’s doing damage to the Republican Party for a generation, particularly with Hispanics.
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