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I liked the Tea Parties better when they were about issues, not partisan politics.
Yesterday I received the following e-mail:
Defend the Republic Rally
Saturday, December 12th from 1:00 to 2:00pm
Colorado State Capital Building – West Steps
Colfax & Lincoln
Denver, CO 80203
Northern Colorado Tea Party is encouraging all supporters to attend this rally. We are asking for a voice in the debate taking place regarding the 2010 elections. If we want the GOP to listen to us, we need to show them we are a political force to be reckoned with here in Colorado.
As the war between the United State of America and the Progressives in both political parties continues to wage, the Tea Party and 912 supporters have stepped up and answered the call of duty.
Let us stand together at the State Capital on Saturday, united to make one single statement:
Principle Over Party in 2010
Speakers will include:
Mike Holler – Author of The Constitution Made Easy
Lu Busse – Leadership Chair for Co 912 Project
Dan Maes – Candidate for Colorado Governor
Tea Party & 912 Activists
See the Denver Post article by Jessica Fender or the People’s Press Collective review by Michael Sandoval for more background.
So the complaint is that Republican leaders have endorsed a candidate who might actually be able to win. I’m confused as to why this is some sort of grand sin. Anybody who thinks Dan Maes has any chance of winning the Republican primary and beating Bill Ritter is simply delusional.
(For the record, I’m registered unaffiliated, so I’ll have no vote in the GOP primary. I have yet to decide whether any candidate in the governor’s race will get my vote as the lesser of evils. I voted for Ritter last time around.)
As somebody who has attended, written about, and spoken at various Tea Party and related events, I have to wonder about this overtly partisan turn of the Northern Tea Party. I thought this was about issues, not parties. I thought it was about liberty, not personality.
I challenge those organizing the December 12 rally to articulate their ideological differences with Scott McInnis, and their ideological affinity with Dan Maes. I must frankly question the motives of those unable or unwilling to do so. Please leave a comment or respond via e-mail.
Dan Maes doesn’t have a chance in hell of becoming the next governor of Colorado. This is a guy who lists under his “public service” qualifications: “Boy Scout Leadership as a teen and in his early 20’s.” Scott McInnis, on the other hand, served in the state legislature before spending twelve years in Congress. Maes has no political credentials. He has zero chance of winning the Republican primary, and if by some bizarre chance every other possible Republican candidate died first, Maeas would have zero chance of beating Ritter.
Nevertheless, Maes did respond to a question quickly, and that counts for something.
On November 24, Maes sent out the following e-mail:
I was speaking with a county chairperson today and the subject of leadership for the party came up. He expressed his unhappiness with the lack of leadership in the republican party. I do not think he was referring to the state office but rather to our elected officials and candidates. The question is…was he issuing a challenge to me or simply stating a fact?
Lesson one when talking to me, I actually do listen. Number two, I look for those messages one is really trying to communicate. Maybe he was just venting but perhaps there was more to it all especially in light of the so called attempt to provide leadership this week by those without the authority or credibility to do so.
I jumped in this race months before others did. Obviously, I had a lot of catching up to do; but more importantly, I sensed there was a leadership vacuum myself that someone had to proactively fill. That has been my style since I was a teen. When a position needed to be filled or a responsibility taken on, it was not unusual for me to stick my hand up for the job. Ah, you might have thought I was the sucker in the old days but all those rolls prepared me for what I am doing today. Boy Scout Troop Leader, Student Council Member and President, Senior Class President, Captain of the football team, manager and owner of businesses… you get the point. Many ask, why do it? It is just how God wired me I suppose and for better or worse, I am here trying to become a leader for the Republican party.
I will suffer the slings and arrows of those who would rather be leader. That is also part of leadership. I will continue to work hard in my attempt to earn the right to be your leader. Do actions match words?
Dan Maes
The People’s Candidate for Governor
www.danmaes.com
Thinking that his campaign is rather Quixotic, I asked, “Hey Dan, I challenge you to describe five *substantive* differences of policy or ideology you have with McInnis. I will be happy to publish your reply on my web page.”
This morning he obliged (sort of):
Hi Ari,
Responding to your question regarding differences in me and Scott McInnis is a bit difficult in itself because Scott rarely articulates policy in his forums and speeches. We tend to hear about his family, how long he has been in Colorado, and railing against Bill Ritter. His failure to articulate any real policy was the main reason for the recent Contract for Colorado which had Josh Penry and Tom Tancredo helping his campaign actually develop a message of any kind. Thus, I do not see any connection between this document and his past or future behavior and thus nothing to differentiate myself on.
I will leave the opposition research to you and I will not attempt to articulate where Scott is on any issues. I will tell you where I stand.
1. Pinyon Canyon – I await the facts from the Army. I will seek a mutually beneficial resolution via willing sellers/leasers if at all possible.
2. Taxes – I am a true fiscal conservative and for downsizing government, and reducing taxes to spur growth not just maintaining status quo.
3. Social Issues – I have said consistently that we must stop preaching and start reaching out for a more diverse party yet I stand firm on a pro-life, and pro marriage between a man and woman platform. Some claim to have recent “revelations” and a come to Jesus but do their actions match their words?
4. Qualifications – people confuse experience with qualifications. The Governor’s office is an executive office not a legislative one. Legislative experience does not translate into executive experience. Scott has very little to no executive experience. I have 20+ years of managerial and executive experience. This experience is the core qualification for the office and our current president is a great example of a legislator turned executive.
5. Campaign Style – I am becoming very popular very fast because I connect with people and truly care about what is important to them. Ask anyone who has spent a few minutes with me and they can sense the genuine, honest, hard working person who wants to earn their support and work for them. This is not 1994 anymore. People want to be treated like they are the boss. They are more informed and educated than ever before. I recognize that and treat people accordingly.
Ultimately, after all the facts are considered, people perform gut checks and ultimately ask themselves, do I like and trust this candidate. They are discovering more and more that they like and can trust me. Maybe that is the reason the full frontal assault against any choice in this primary has happened so early in this election cycle.
Thank you for the opportunity to address your readers.
Dan Maes
Re-Energizing Colorado’s Economy
Republican Candidate for Governor
www.danmaes.com
Perhaps I should upgrade Maes’s chances from zero to one. But hell is a pretty big place.
A number of my friends are upset that Josh Penry has withdrawn from the Colorado governor’s race, leaving Scott McInnis as the clear Republican frontrunner.
The word is that a political attack group threatened to hammer Penry if he stayed in the race. Welcome to politics. Such strong-arm tactics are hardly new in the American political arena. They are the norm.
The fact is that Penry trailed in fundraising, name recognition, and polling against Governor Bill Ritter. So, in retrospect, it comes as little surprise that the Republican establishment supported McInnis or that Penry decided to pick a fight he knows he can win.
Some guy named Dan Maes also remains in the race, and he has about the same chance of becoming the next governor of Colorado as I do. There’s also been talk of roping former Congressman Tom Tancredo into the race. I think that would be a disaster for the GOP. There are a lot of things I like about Tancredo (as well as a lot of points of disagreement), but he simply isn’t governor material. He’s too divisive, too polarizing. He always won his conservative district, but he would bomb in the Denver-Boulder corridor.
So that leaves McInnis as the presumptive nominee. Even though McInnis used to serve in Congress, I have little idea what his ideas are.
I find it amazing that his web page features a “Scott on the Issues” button that offers exactly zero direct information on McInnis’s views. Instead, the reader is directed to an OnTheIssues.org page. An “ideas” candidate McInnis is not.
So who is Scott McInnis?
Taking abortion as a good indicator of a candidate’s relationship with the religious right, Lynn Bartels reports for the Denver Post:
Gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, for example, entered Congress as a pro-choice Republican, although he exited in 2004 having received a zero ranking from NARAL Pro-choice America, an abortion-rights advocacy group.
“He makes no bones that he changed his views while in Congress,” said McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy.
Bartels follows up:
He voted against some abortion measures, supported others and once chaired the national Republicans for Choice.
“I personally don’t support abortion,” McInnis said in 1996, “but feel the decision shouldn’t be made between a woman and the government but between a woman and her doctor.”
He said Friday he no longer feels that way, although he has maintained his reputation as a political moderate.
“You grow older and you have kids and grandkids and friends die and you realize how important life is,” said McInnis, 56.
At a November 3 event at Colorado Christian University, McInnis said, “I’m 100 percent pro life. I oppose gay marriage,” Bartels reports.
(Maes, obviously trying to appeal to the state’s social conservatives, added, “Marriage is not a right, it’s a privilege, and it is a privilege that is ordained in the Scripture.”)
Bartels summarizes McInnis’s history with the issue of abortion:
The Rocky Mountain News in 1996 called McInnis a maverick on abortion.
He long had opposed partial-birth abortions and backed parental notification. But he opted to allow for privately funded abortions at overseas U.S. military hospitals, to let federal employees choose health insurance plans to cover abortions and to preserve federal funding for family-planning programs.
In 1995, NARAL tracked 21 roll-call votes. McInnis sided with their issues seven times.
From a civil libertarian perspective, McInnis is mixed, judging from the votes noted by On the Issues. In 2004 he voted against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. But thrice he voted for an amendment banning flag desecration in violation of free speech and property rights.
I’ll certainly have some questions for “100 percent pro life” McInnis. Does he want to ban abortion even in cases of risks to the woman’s life, rape, incest, and fetal deformity? Does he want to overturn Roe v. Wade? Does he support the “personhood” measure likely to share the 2010 ballot?
Ritter (for whom I voted) is a tax-and-spend, corporate welfarist bungler, no doubt. Yet, even though Ritter also nominally opposes abortion, I don’t have to worry about him trying to throw my wife in prison should she need to end a medically risky pregnancy.
McInnis couldn’t possibly be any worse than Ritter on economic issues. But, as much as I don’t want Ritter in my wallet, I certainly don’t want McInnis in my bedroom or doctor’s office. It remains to be seen which candidate will least frighten mainstream Colorado voters.
A few hours ago Ryan Frazier, candidate for U.S. Senate, commented on his Twitter feed: “Hi everyone, I’m going to be making a big announcement this week. Stay tuned for more details.”
Ben DeGrow writes: “My guess? Fundraising numbers for the third quarter were less than stellar, and higher-ups in the party finally had the leverage to persuade Frazier to take a stab at the 7th Congressional District instead.”
This is so obvious I’m stunned I didn’t think of it before. Last month I speculated that Frazier might jump races to lieutenant governor. But there’s one huge problem with that: Scott McInnis and Josh Penry are duking it out for the Republican nomination for governor. Plus, it’s sort of a lame position, especially for someone with Frazier’s political hunger.
Perhaps I didn’t think of congress because I think of the Seventh as Arvada, not Aurora. But look at the map. It is a strangely drawn district that goes right around Denver.
I personally like Brian Campbell, the guy currently in the race on the GOP side. But I never seriously thought Campbell had a chance to beat out Ed Perlmutter, who has walked over his opponents with ease.
A Frazier run against Perlmutter means that the Colorado GOP has a serious chance to pick off three big Democrats: Governor Bill Ritter (via Penry or McInnis), Senator Michael Bennet (via Jane Norton), and Perlmutter. Suddenly the best-case scenario for Republicans looks very good indeed.
Unfortunately, I know very little about Norton, except that she worked for Bill Owens, which means that she’s at least strongly associated with the tax-and-spend “Country Club” wing of the GOP. Apparently she’s against abortion.
I know a bit more about Frazier. He’s better than most Republicans on economic matters — which is sort of like saying he smells better than Roquefort. He supports domestic partnerships for gay couples. And he seems to personally oppose abortion without getting too excited about banning it.
Frazier’s socially moderate views will play much better in the metro ‘burbs than they would play in rural Weld County or in El Paso, home of Focus on the Family. And the House seems a much more plausible step up for a city councilor.
I suppose we will see very soon whether the official story matches the obvious scenario.
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