Suthers Running For Senate Is A Good Thing

Has the Colorado Conservative Project gone off the deep end in promoting AG John Suthers running for Senate? No, not quite, though we feel it is good that he is talking about running. Let us explain.

The current political environment of the Republican nominee is as follows. Scott McInnis has dropped out. Bob Schaffer has not announced he is running though those close to him think his announcement is coming before summer.

These two former Congressmen are Colorado’s best shot at winning the seat being vacated by Conservative hero Wayne Allard. However now that Scott McInnis has dropped out of the race while Bob Schaffer had not yet announced he is running, the potential for an unknown self funder entering the fray arises.

This is a problem in that the self funder might not go away when a legitimate contender for the Republican nominee announces their candidacy. A Republican cannot win the Senate seat with a divisive primary and Republicans will not see a Senate primary with the current cast of politicos jockeying for the job, however an unknown self funder might not play by those rules and drastically hurt our chances of retaining the seat by engaging in a primary.

By having legitimate politicos such as John Suthers and Dan Caplis talking about running for Senate the chances of an unknown jumping in dramatically decrease as the unknown already knows others are thinking about going to the dance. Take those guys out though and the unknown potentially thinks he is the only R in the room and starts a campaign which he may not want to stop once the wheels are in motion.

Both Suthers and Caplis are principled enough to withdraw their names if Schaffer jumps in. And while we would surely not enjoy seeing Governor Ritter turn over the Attorney General position to Democrat control, John Suthers would be Colorado’s best choice for Republican nominee if Schaffer decides not to run.

So keep up the talk Mr. Suthers and help Colorado Republicans avoid a primary.