A quick update from the Republican state treasurer primary. From a new press release from the Walker Stapleton campaign:

Walker Stapleton, candidate for Colorado State Treasurer, will launch a grassroots statewide petition drive to earn a spot on the Republican Party primary ballot.

“I am really looking forward to starting the petition process,” Stapleton said. “This is a great chance to get out and talk to thousands of registered Republicans across the state about the need to put taxpayers first and put Colorado back on the path to fiscal discipline.”

Stapleton said his campaign will be out at major events statewide throughout the spring collecting signatures.

“We’ll have the chance to talk directly to Coloradans about the fiscal mess that the Democrats in charge at the state Capitol have made,” he said. “We can turn Colorado around, and with fiscal common sense and caps on spending, we will.”

Candidates seeking a statewide office must get the support of a minimum of 10,500 registered Republicans consisting of 1,500 from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts in order to be placed on the ballot. The last day to turn in the required 10,500 signatures is May 27, 2010.

Indicating they were prepared for this announcement, the J.J. Ament camp responded 25 minutes later with their own release:

Centennial – Today the Ament campaign responded to the news that Walker Stapleton is skipping our party’s nomination process and instead will attempt to collect petition signatures to gain access to the primary ballot.

“Stapleton’s move is really no surprise unfortunately,” said Jesse Mallory, Ament’s campaign manager. “J. J.’s message and experience is resonating with people across Colorado giving him a large base of support. In fact, repeated surveys have shown Walker Stapleton a distant third in the race, trailing us and Muhammad Ali Hasan.”

“I find it ironic that a candidate who has been in the race for nearly a year and just last week sent out a fundraising letter claiming to be the “front runner” would need to skip the caucus and assembly process,” said Mallory. “I think it’s troubling that he is doing this in a year where grassroots involvement is at its highest and people are engaged in making a difference. It’s clear that Walker Stapleton doesn’t want to get to know our party’s activists, and he doesn’t want to give them an opportunity to get to know him.”

No word yet from team Ali Hasan. J.J. Ament has been the top pick for state treasurer’s candidate among participants in the last five editions of the Survey of Colorado’s Political Temperature.