Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams recently sat down with the Colorado Statesman for an extended interview. There isn’t much in the way of new information, but there is one passage worthy of comment.
Namely, it’s interesting to see whom Wadhams is talking up for the U.S. Senate race to challenge the newly-selected Michael Bennet:
Well, I think right now you’ve got Ryan Frazier, who I’m a big fan of; Mark Hillman, who, even though he’s been a statewide elected official and he was in the Legislature, I still think is a face of the future. I do not think Mark is part of the past, because he’s very young. The guy went into the Senate when he was ridiculously young, and he’s still young- looking. And he is — what, is he, 41? And I think Mark is still one of the best speakers we have. He’s one of the most articulate, smartest guys we have. I hope Mark is looking at it. He and his wife just had a baby, so that’s kind of factoring in with this stuff. But I hope Mark Hillman’s looking at it.
Dan Caplis. I’m a big fan of him, as well, I think Dan is looking at it. I don’t know what Josh Penry’s going to do, but I just think he is really an outstanding senator and leader. I don’t know if he’ll run for governor or not, but I sure think he would be a great candidate.
Not surprisingly, the first two names out of his mouth are the two leaders in Rocky Mountain Right’s straw poll. In my humble opinion, either Ryan Frazier or Mark Hillman would be an excellent choice to carry the Party’s banner next year.
Dan Caplis doesn’t show up on the poll. He seems like a great guy, and I suspect will continue to be a great local attorney and talk radio personality. Not sure why he was omitted from the poll, except that maybe Wadhams and RMR have access to different information.
The Statesman‘s interviewers brought up Bob Beauprez‘s name first. Wadhams finally said that he “would be a very good statewide candidate for the U.S. Senate”.
To some extent, I agree. But whether fair or not – politics often is not – Beauprez will be perceived as a “Bush Republican” and a member of the recent Republican Congress. Elsewhere in the article, Wadhams correctly acknowledged that the GOP “deserved to lose Congress”. That’s probably why Beauprez lags a distant third.
Why is Bentley Rayburn included in the poll? You’re asking the wrong person.
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