Hotline: Wadhams backing Anuzis in RNC chairman race

In the race to elect the next Republican National Committee Chairman, Colorado GOP leader Dick Wadhams has reportedly thrown his support behind Saul Anuzis, who was state party chairman in Michigan from 2005 to 2009. Gimlet-eyed observers might call the endorsement sympathetic: Anuzis struggled with losses similar to those presided over by Wadhams in the last three years. Under Anuzis’ leadership, Michigan Republicans lost two Congressional seats and their majority in the state House.

In lengthy Statesman interview, Wadhams fends off critics, weighs future

The Colorado Statesman this week published a massive interview with Colorado GOP Chair Dick Wadhams. The reading is good but, for the most part, the information he relates is not that new.

It’s a good read, and the…

Tancredo and Curry: forever linked in destruction of two-party system?

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams is plenty worried about the precedent set by former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo’s high profile gubernatorial run as a candidate for the American Constitution Party (ACP).

According to the Durango Herald, Wadhams last week…

Ken Buck discusses coordinated sliming by the left

Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck says he was slimed by last-minute ads that distorted who he is.

Unlike Colorado Republican Chair Dick Wadhams, he said the Democratic ground game made a huge difference in an election he expected to…

Talking point: The Tea Party is not about abortion

In a Q&A hosted by the Washington Post last week, Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks– the multimillion dollar Dick Armey advocacy group that fueled the Tea Party movement– said GOP Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck lost his…

Wadhams: Bennet played dirty

Colorado Republican Chair Dick Wadhams doesn’t always send us his memos, so we had to go to unusual lengths to dig this up–namely to Lynn Bartels blog on the Denver Post web site. We’re not proud.

To summarize, Michael Bennet…

Frazier hopeful for win; Wadhams confident of one

Republican Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier this evening told the Colorado Independent he is hopeful for a win over incumbent Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter in the 7th Congressional District, but is concerned because the polls have been so close.

Speaking…

Colorado Election Day smackdown: Tea Party enthusiasm versus progressive infrastructure

Republicans expect this year’s Tea Party enthusiasm to translate to enormous victories for the GOP tonight. Yet evidence on the ground seems to be confirming what some political analysts have been saying for a while: that Tea Party enthusiasm is no substitute for well-organized political movement infrastructure. The fact that the U.S. Senate race in Colorado pitting Tea Party GOP candidate Ken Buck against unloved Democrat Michael Bennet is so close down the stretch speaks volumes, according to longtime Republican Party strategist Ford O’Connell.

Colorado GOP staffers blame Wadhams for candidate vetting lapses

The Colorado Republican Party’s effort to win back top seats has been characterized nationally as a “gaffapalooza” and a “farce,” with many analysts pointing fingers at state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams. Observers on the ground in Colorado, including GOP staffers and candidates, say that in the year of the Tea Party, Wadhams simply failed to properly vet candidates. The top-of-the-ticket false starts and shuffling have drawn plenty of attention and spawned mockery but the farce grows dark at the bottom of the ticket, where GOP candidates with criminal histories of violence and abuse dot the ballot.

Colorado’s GOP leadership rallies around Maes, Wadhams – with a few exceptions

Whether Republicans like it or not, Dan Maes is their nominee for governor. Whether they like him or not, most GOP county chairs in Colorado say they support Maes. The Colorado Independent called all 64 county GOP chairs, spoke with 28, and left messages for most of the rest.