There's a showdown in the Colorado Republican gubernatorial primary coming Monday at high noon.
As if there were not enough turmoil in the scandal-plagued contest, former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo has issued an ultimatum to the two candidates: Drop out of the race, or I'm coming after you.
It's actually a little more complicated than that. Mr. Tancredo has vowed to enter the governor's race as the candidate from the American Constitution Party at noon Monday unless the two Republican primary hopefuls, Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, agree to his conditions.
Those conditions are: They must commit to withdrawing from the race the day after the Aug. 10 primary if polls show the winner trailing likely Democratic nominee John W. Hickenlooper.
Republicans immediately denounced Mr. Tancredo, calling on him to rescind his threat and predicting his candidacy would spell disaster for the party's chances in November. But the way Mr. Tancredo sees it, he's doing the Colorado Republican Party a favor.
He says the Republicans have no chance of winning the race with Mr. McInnis, who's embroiled in a plagiarism scandal, or Mr. Maes, an unknown who was recently fined for campaign-spending violations.
"We're at the point where Scott is not a viable option," said Mr. Tancredo in an interview Sunday. "So I have a responsibility to the conservatives in this state to do what I can to make sure John Hickenlooper isn't elected."
If Mr. McInnis withdraws his candidacy after the primary, the state Republican Party can form a vacancy committee to select a replacement candidate, which, Mr. Tancredo acknowledges, "won't be me."
So far, however, Mr. McInnis has shown no inclination to drop out for the good of the party, vowing that he's "in it to win it" and blaming the plagiarism uproar on the media and his political enemies.
So Mr. Tancredo has decided to give him a push — or a shove. Mr. Tancredo is a polarizing figure nationally, but he remains one of the most popular Republicans in Colorado. A SurveyUSA poll taken after the plagiarism scandal broke two weeks ago showed him leading all potential Republican gubernatorial candidates.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
