Is the CO GOP that much in disarray?? Still no top tier candidate here??

No offense to announced candidates but they just aren’t raising the money and Fmr Congressman Bueprez ran horrible campaign the last time ( first impressions are hard to remake)

I sorta think Congressman Coffman should run now. I still wish Bill Ownes would run; I emailed him and he said he was not interested.

The fact Ritter is free falling indicates Bennett is even more vulnerable.

Fmr Senator Cambell run again u think??

Here’s hoping Pete Coors has his license back!

Coffman should run he already was elected statewide, served in Iraq, been tested, and has fundraising power

The only person other person was AG and he is running for re-election

It frustrates me that Ownes won’t run. He was so popular and yet he left party in disarray.

Either that or I wish we weren’t having a primary for Gov ( I like McInnis) so I wish Senate Minority leader took look at this race

Any Mayors in state that could run?

CO GOP really needs to rebuild

Ryan Frazier is building name recognition. He’s the kind of conservative candidate that RS usually gets behind. I met with Ryan last year and this guy’s for real. He’s exactly the kind of person we need to be sending to Washington.

So Fmr Lt Gov Jane Norton may run??

I think she would be an impressive candidate

Perhaps, we should ask why you are against her?

1. She has been tested at state level and state level identification

2. She would appeal to females ( something could help party in fall)

3. She can raise cash

4. comes off very well and has education background which could go toe to toe with Bennett on his supposed strong suit

If Norton were to throw her hat into the ring then there would be 7 likely or confirmed candidates for this 1 seat. The largest immediate problem in this situation is trying to get down to 1 candidate during the State Assembly/State Convention.

I agree with NightTwister that Coffman needs to stay in his House seat for now. I will disagree on Frazier as I am thus far unimpressed but time could change that. Frazier can give A speech well. I have heard him speak on 3 separate occasions and he has given, verbatim, the exact same speech on every occasion and I have never had the chance to hear him field questions. He’s also liberal on some social issues which will dampen his appeal to conservative primary votes and donors. Really none of the 7 candidates are all that impressive but hopefully the GOP can eventually rally around 1 of them because Bennet is going to have a massive fund-raising advantage. He is weak though and his support of a public option will be a major area of contention for his eventual opponent.

Bob Beauprez has the highest name recognition of the announced/likely candidates but also ran literally the worst campaign in the nation when he challenged Ritter. I pray that he has learned a few things about running a campaign if he emerges as the GOP challenger to Bennet.

Ken Buck looks to be a good candidate but of course name recognition and fund raising will be hurdles for him. Personally he is my choice right now.

7 candidates is too many. At least 2 of them could bow out tomorrow, though, and almost nobody would notice.

On Frazier, I obviously disagree. Except for his exploratory committee’s one quarter of fundraising numbers early in the process, I’m not sure what there is to be unimpressed with.

Liberal on social issues? You mean, he’s not opposed to government employee benefits for same-sex couples? That’s hardly a reason to throw him overboard. I am on the socially conservative side of the spectrum, but I hope you’d agree with me that 2010 isn’t a time to run on social issues — especially here in Colorado.

Haven’t seen him field questions? Go to my site (bendegrow.com) and search for ‘Ryan Frazier’. I’ve linked and embedded videos of a few of his interviews, and included a write-up of an interview another blogger and I conducted with him.

Ken Buck isn’t bad, either. Both he and Frazier have been working hard and good conservative messages overall, but Frazier is more inspirational. I have concerns about Buck’s views on hate crimes legislation, though that alone isn’t a deal-breaker. I’m curious, though, whether you think Buck’s views on hate crimes harms him as much or more with the conservative base as Frazier’s views on same-sex government employee benefits.

A bigger key will be how the GOP decides to address and frame immigration. Between this issue and his strong championing of school choice, Frazier has the opportunity to reach out into a non-traditional Republican constituency for votes. Many Hispanics are not thrilled with Bennet.

We have no quarrels about Beauprez.

We need to rally around a frontrunner at some point. But Night Twister is correct that it’s still early in the process, and we need to push for the type of candidates we want to see while there’s still time.

An update for those who might still be checking in on this:

Sources indicate that Jane Norton will indeed be running and thus Bob Beauprez will not run. I honestly don’t think that Norton can win the primary but an endorsement from Owens (who knows how likely that is) could make things interesting.

Meanwhile, Republican donors are staying on the sidelines while Bennet raised $1.2 million last quarter with the majority coming from out-of-state sources like David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA. The Colorado GOP better figure this thing out quickly or we might as well hand Bennet the seat back again.

It will take time. I am patient and know we can’t have instant results. Unfortunately many in the leadership nationally are too willing to compromise. That’s the danger we have because any ground we give up to the liberals will be very hard to get back.

The Left will try to gobble up as much as they can as fast as they can. When that doesn’t work, they will take it a piece at a time through compromise.

We need candidates that will stand up and draw a line in the sand. If they just want to get along, they can go away. It is a matter of principle. Bipartisanship will just get us beat to death.

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When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
-Ronald Reagan
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It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority
keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.
-Samuel Adams