Colorado's Ten Worst Campaigns of the 21st Century
Submitted by wallyedgeco on December 16, 2007 - 8:54pm.One of our regular features at PolitickerCO.com will be a series of lists that we hope you will enjoy. With the launch of our new Colorado-based political news site, we are pleased to offer our list of Colorado's Ten Worst Campaigns of the 21st Century.
For the most part, we looked at races that were highly competitive. Some campaigns perform extremely well, but of course, they are expected to win. And there are the so-called sacrificial lambs, running for various offices across the state that are not expected to raise money, go in the mailbox, or even send out press releases; we tried not to bother them.
Remember, this list – like all lists – are highly subjective. And as always, we encourage the feedback of our readers.
1 Description:Winning cures all, they say. But in the freshman congressman’s case it just served to highlight Lamborn’s lack of intellectual capacity for the job of U.S. Congressman. And it highlighted his temper problem. Leaving an angry voice message about a letter to the editor carried in a neighborhood newsletter? Lamborn had a target on his back in Washington before that happened, as evinced by his incapacity to raise money. Now the sign just says “Kick Me.” |
2 Description:If you’re gonna throw stones at people in glass houses, you had better have competent people around to keep them off your own house. Despite spending millions, Holtzman can’t even get on the primary ballot because people on his campaign can’t count to the required number of petition signatures. And he wanted to be our Governor? Please. |
3 Description:Dubbed “Both Ways Bob” early in the campaign by his rival for the Republican nomination, Marc Holtzman, Beauprez was never able to shake the moniker. The campaign was dispirited, dejected and sluggish. Also, Beauprez was tarnished by a too close relationship with Governor Owens who had fallen out of favor with the wing-nuts of the GOP. |
4 Description:Let’s face it, it’s bad enough that we elect some of our officials to public office (think Mark Paschall). But with initiatives and amendments we just let the officials off the hook in tackling the really tough issues, like funding transportation. So we get the “Vote-yes-on-saying-no-to-increased-authority-to-not-use-the-line-item- veto-on-same-sex-basketball-camps-after-school” initiative. And then we are told we MUST defeat this proposal. Children’s lives are at stake. Or we MUST support this proposal. Children’s lives are at stake. Let’s go back to the old days and ask our leaders to lead by their votes in the legislature. |
5 Name: Description:Campaign County Commissioner, District Attorney, <Insert Office Here>, etc., 2001-date You have to give her some props for running over and over again. Like a corpse washing up on the beach, you know she’ll turn up again, even if always DOA. |
6 Description:Heath really worked poorly, getting under 35% of the vote running against a popular incumbent Governor. His effort was so poor in 2002 that Dems gave him the stiff arm in ’06 despite Heath’s avowal to spend $2 million of his own money in the Guv’s race in 2006. |
7 Description:In a year where Dems put the pedal to the metal and ran competitive in most races, when it came to Colorado AG they nominated….Fern? Who? This was payback for the Reps nominating Marti Allbright for AG in 2002. |
8 Description:Centrist Republican incumbent got knocked out of the race on a four-page hit piece by group associated with conservative leader Bob Schaffer. Wow! That’s some powerful paper! Or maybe just a poorly planned campaign? |
9 Description:Denver Dem and state senator can’t close the deal in a year where Republicans get pilloried. Gordon on a horse is as believable as Mark Holtzman as a Christian Conservative. Sure that’s the point of the ad, but it did nothing to win the campaign. Gordon does win an award from Westword for the shark-in-the-tank TV advertisement. Which goes to show you that art doesn’t imitate politics. |
10 Description:You knew it would end badly for Pete when he didn’t know who the prime minister of Canada was, but still won the GOP primary by a good margin. The Coors Light Twins didn’t help him much either |
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Beauprez is spelled wrong,
Beauprez is spelled wrong, and was not hurt by his relationship to Owens, but by his lack of organization and policy. Fern O'Brien ran in 06 not 02.
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