The rumors look as though they indeed are true: Politico talks to former Congressman Bob Beauprez and learns that he is “leaning towards running” for the seat held by appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.
Looking back at the 2006 debacle that was the campaign for governor, Swing State Project raises the serious, fair, and open-ended question of whether Beauprez is the man to beat Bennet. Senate Watch over at Rocky Mountain Right offers similarly subtle sentiments.
My initial reaction?
If Beauprez goes through with it, not only will Tom Wiens‘ entry be upstaged but also the current candidate in the field to lose the most momentum likely will be Ken Buck. Despite a phone booth-full of candidates now, by convention time next year we could be looking at the race shaking out into a two-way showdown between Beauprez and Ryan Frazier.
After the slightly disappointing fundraising numbers, Frazier needs to accelerate his momentum but should be less affected in doing so by Beauprez’s presence in the race, or lack thereof.
Where will Beauprez’s support come from? I think the analysis of our recent survey of 600 Colorado Right-leaning political activists provides some insights.
Bob Beauprez is a good, decent man. The good, decent man got his ass handed to him by 17 percentage points in his campaign for governor against Bill Ritter.
The biggest argument for his entry into the Senate Campaign is his name recognition.
The Titanic has great name recognition, too.
I wouldn’t recommend boarding either one.
BlueCarp hits the nail on the head.
In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of voters are royally pissed off at ANYONE who’s held office in DC for the past 4-8 years.
Bob, you’re a decent guy, but if you want to keep what’s left of your political legacy intact – STAY OUT OF THIS RACE.
You damn sure won’t get my support,