Tom Tancredo has his Harley. Mike Kopp has his bike. Bob Beauprez has his cows (he won’t talk about the horse anymore). Scott Gessler has the badger.
What else can you say about the GOP primary race for governor?
Well, we can start here. The ballots are in the mail. There’s a poll out. And the latest money numbers are in. Is that enough for you? OK, me neither. But with three weeks to go in the race, it’s starting to get at least a little newsy. And for those who want to stop Tom Tancredo — which would be everyone in the Republican establishment and a few others — there is hope. Not that anyone can knock him off the top spot in the Latest Littwin Weekly Rankings (last week’s ranking in parentheses).
1. (1) Tancredo. According to a new Magellan poll, Tancredo comes in at 27 percent, with Bob Beauprez just behind at 25. In other words, he’s within the dreaded margin of error. I’m not quite buying it, although after watching the Tancredo video, it seems a little more convincing. Tancredo is the old man riding, helmet-less of course, on his Harley when he passes a dweebish Hickenlooper lookalike, helmeted of course, on his little scooter. The point being, Tanc’s is bigger than Hick’s — unless you’re measuring poll numbers and money raised and fewer nut cases in his inner circle. And this is the man Republicans would nominate for governor?
2. (2) Beauprez. The poll numbers are good. His money numbers? Not so much. He finished last. Yes, last. He loaned his campaign another $100,000 — and he’s trying to buy his way into convincing people to forget that he lost by 17 points the last time he ran for governor. To Bill Ritter. I’m thinking no one has that much money.
3. (2) Scott Gessler. I’m not sure what to think here. He just put out an ad calling Tancredo and Beauprez losers. He’s not wrong. In the ad, he also says he’s the true conservative in the race. Is he? Would he want to be? For the second consecutive two-week period, Gessler has led, if barely, in the money race, giving him the chance to claim momentum, except for the fact that in the Magellan poll, he came in with a very un-mo-like number: 13 percent.
4. (4) Mike Kopp registered 10 percent in the polls. His big push is a bike ride. Yes, he’s borrowing from Greg Brophy who, you may remember, finished fifth in what has turned into a four-way race. I keep rooting for Kopp to escape from the Littwin cellar. And yet, he still can’t find his way out.
