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| Colorado's primary: a GOP addicted to crazy can't paint it red in November | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| photo: tom tancredo supporters listen as he concedes to bob beauprez via telephone. #copolitics w/ @denverpost pic.twitter.com/NOHverflzB | photo: tom tancredo supporters listen as he concedes to bob beauprez via telephone. #copolitics w/ @denverpost pic.twitter.com/NOHverflzB |
| The Colorado GOP is no doubt giddy about Tom Tancredo's defeat in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary. The former Congressman, failed presidential candidate and notoriously unselfconscious zealot's comeback had been propped up by Democrats with a $200,000 advertising buy criticizing his moderate opponent, Bob Beauprez, in hopes of continuing the relative moderation of incumbent Democrat governor John Hickenlooper as a blue streak across the most purple-ish state in America. | The Colorado GOP is no doubt giddy about Tom Tancredo's defeat in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary. The former Congressman, failed presidential candidate and notoriously unselfconscious zealot's comeback had been propped up by Democrats with a $200,000 advertising buy criticizing his moderate opponent, Bob Beauprez, in hopes of continuing the relative moderation of incumbent Democrat governor John Hickenlooper as a blue streak across the most purple-ish state in America. |
| But Beauprez pulled it out, Tancredo said he was looking forward to more walks with his dog, and, hey, Colorado might have a chance of blushing red come November – even though polls showed Hickenlooper ahead of Beauprez by even more than his hard-core conservative challenger. | But Beauprez pulled it out, Tancredo said he was looking forward to more walks with his dog, and, hey, Colorado might have a chance of blushing red come November – even though polls showed Hickenlooper ahead of Beauprez by even more than his hard-core conservative challenger. |
| The temporary resurgence of the legend of Tancredo, though, leaves embers burning on both sides: Sure, Democrats can only use their "Not as Embarrassing as the Other Guy" campaign slogan for so long, but more worrisome for Republicans is that they can't get rid of fear and zealotry on the rocky battleground trail. | The temporary resurgence of the legend of Tancredo, though, leaves embers burning on both sides: Sure, Democrats can only use their "Not as Embarrassing as the Other Guy" campaign slogan for so long, but more worrisome for Republicans is that they can't get rid of fear and zealotry on the rocky battleground trail. |
| Indeed, the GOP was already supposed to have vanquished Tancredo – an ideologue on abortion, immigration, guns, the death penalty and, yeah, the birth certificate – back when his comically inept presidential campaign stuttered to a close. | Indeed, the GOP was already supposed to have vanquished Tancredo – an ideologue on abortion, immigration, guns, the death penalty and, yeah, the birth certificate – back when his comically inept presidential campaign stuttered to a close. |
| In 2007, then-Rep Tancredo was just a single-issue – anti-immigration – candidate with a theory: President Bush was "an internationalist" who backed immigration "amnesty" in order to "create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. I mean this is where this guy is really going." Another of Tancredo's theories: Pope Benedict's entreaty for Americans to welcome immigrants was just a cover for "recruiting new members of the church". Tancredo barely cracked the single-digits during his run at the White House, and a last-ditch effort to appeal to spending hawks by calling for an end to aid for post-Katrina New Orleans did not do much to further endear him to voters. | In 2007, then-Rep Tancredo was just a single-issue – anti-immigration – candidate with a theory: President Bush was "an internationalist" who backed immigration "amnesty" in order to "create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. I mean this is where this guy is really going." Another of Tancredo's theories: Pope Benedict's entreaty for Americans to welcome immigrants was just a cover for "recruiting new members of the church". Tancredo barely cracked the single-digits during his run at the White House, and a last-ditch effort to appeal to spending hawks by calling for an end to aid for post-Katrina New Orleans did not do much to further endear him to voters. |
| After that, Tancredo further distinguished himself by hiring, and then refusing to fire, Marcus Epstein, as the executive director of his Pac (called Team America – the "fuck yeah" is silent), even after he pled guilty to attacking a black woman by yelling "nigger" and delivering a "karate chop" to her head. | After that, Tancredo further distinguished himself by hiring, and then refusing to fire, Marcus Epstein, as the executive director of his Pac (called Team America – the "fuck yeah" is silent), even after he pled guilty to attacking a black woman by yelling "nigger" and delivering a "karate chop" to her head. |
| Tancredo's second life as a statewide candidate – and his near-win on Tuesday night – attests not only to the depth of GOP base voters' frustration but especially to the dizzying arc available to what can now only euphemistically be called "swing states". | Tancredo's second life as a statewide candidate – and his near-win on Tuesday night – attests not only to the depth of GOP base voters' frustration but especially to the dizzying arc available to what can now only euphemistically be called "swing states". |
| Political polarization breeds political polarization and, at the legislature level, Colorado is the second-most polarized state in the country, with the schizoid legislative and social past to prove it. They've got a turbulent now-you-see-it-now-you don't history on gay marriage, they're the the first state to legalize the recreational sale of marijuana, and they sport the first university system to name a professor of "conservative thought and policy". The state is home to both the "least religious community in America" (Boulder) and its "holiest" (Colorado Springs). In the wake of the Aurora shootings, the state legislature moved quickly to rein in gun ownership – and the state's gun owners then moved just as quickly to recall the state legislators involved. | Political polarization breeds political polarization and, at the legislature level, Colorado is the second-most polarized state in the country, with the schizoid legislative and social past to prove it. They've got a turbulent now-you-see-it-now-you don't history on gay marriage, they're the the first state to legalize the recreational sale of marijuana, and they sport the first university system to name a professor of "conservative thought and policy". The state is home to both the "least religious community in America" (Boulder) and its "holiest" (Colorado Springs). In the wake of the Aurora shootings, the state legislature moved quickly to rein in gun ownership – and the state's gun owners then moved just as quickly to recall the state legislators involved. |
| Is this really a state turning purple, or one changing lanes from red to blue in such a hustle that it just looks purple? | Is this really a state turning purple, or one changing lanes from red to blue in such a hustle that it just looks purple? |
| A recent Columbia University study put scientific support to the intuitive notion that politicians elected in ideologically divisive states "overshoot" the policies desired by the majority of voters. They mistake even a small-margin win over a political opposite as a defeat of an entire way of thinking about government and attempt to govern accordingly – only to be thrown back against the other side of the pendulum. It's this pump action that nearly resuscitated Tancredo's career. As another famous Coloradan – Hunter S Thompson – said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." | A recent Columbia University study put scientific support to the intuitive notion that politicians elected in ideologically divisive states "overshoot" the policies desired by the majority of voters. They mistake even a small-margin win over a political opposite as a defeat of an entire way of thinking about government and attempt to govern accordingly – only to be thrown back against the other side of the pendulum. It's this pump action that nearly resuscitated Tancredo's career. As another famous Coloradan – Hunter S Thompson – said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." |
| Tancredo made a third-party run for governor in 2010 and wound up with a respectable 37% take. This time around, commentators insisted that he was far from fringe: Michelle Malkin praised him as "a patriot who stands firmly in the mainstream – and voters of all backgrounds, including hardworking, law-abiding Democrats and independents, stand with him." He was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and got stump support from the newly omnipresent Ted Nugent. He only lost by a few percentage points. | Tancredo made a third-party run for governor in 2010 and wound up with a respectable 37% take. This time around, commentators insisted that he was far from fringe: Michelle Malkin praised him as "a patriot who stands firmly in the mainstream – and voters of all backgrounds, including hardworking, law-abiding Democrats and independents, stand with him." He was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and got stump support from the newly omnipresent Ted Nugent. He only lost by a few percentage points. |
| Beauprez was supported by the outside group "Republicans Who Want to Win", a political organization monicker that seems redundant until you realize that we're coming up on a whole generation of GOP candidates who are not interested in winning, who actually do value purity over victory. (Looking at you, Ted Cruz.) | Beauprez was supported by the outside group "Republicans Who Want to Win", a political organization monicker that seems redundant until you realize that we're coming up on a whole generation of GOP candidates who are not interested in winning, who actually do value purity over victory. (Looking at you, Ted Cruz.) |
| But the brand of ideological purity brandished by the Tom Tancredos of today's GOP comes at a cost to a party trying to maintain its own. And the only way Democrats can stop this particular state from spinning, or swinging, is to actually address the majority of voters' needs. Of course, the last candidate to honestly assess those needs might have been Hunter S Thompson himself, who ran for sheriff of Aspen county on a platform that promised both legalized drugs and weaponry: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." | But the brand of ideological purity brandished by the Tom Tancredos of today's GOP comes at a cost to a party trying to maintain its own. And the only way Democrats can stop this particular state from spinning, or swinging, is to actually address the majority of voters' needs. Of course, the last candidate to honestly assess those needs might have been Hunter S Thompson himself, who ran for sheriff of Aspen county on a platform that promised both legalized drugs and weaponry: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." |