Update: Mount Virtus, People’s Press Collective, and Rocky Mountain Right weigh in on this story.

I was part of a conference call last night hosted by Laura Goode, spokeswoman for Ryan Frazier. Ben Degrow and T.L. James were also on the call. Goode immediately confirmed the rumors that Frazier was dropping out of the U.S. Senate race to run for the U.S. House seat in Colorado District 7 currently held by Ed Perlmutter(D). Ryan is making a public announcement regarding this today at Brighton Ford in Brighton, CO at 10:00am MDT.

One of my greatest concerns when I first heard about this rumor was whether or not the national Republican organizations were maneuvering to remove Frazier from the Senate race to clear the field for Jane Norton. A few weeks ago, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was thought to be supporting and/or endorsing Norton in the Senate Race. After considerable backlash, the NRSC ran away from the race as quickly as they could and we were assured they were not going to get involved. Unfortunately, it seems only that they moved from overt to covert support.

I asked Goode during the meeting if the NRSC had any part in Ryan’s decision to leave the race. She assured me that the NRSC had never contacted Ryan, and he had never contacted them. When James asked if the NRCC was promising any support for Frazier if he switched races, her reply was,

I can’t answer that, but we have compiled a list of heavy hitters, finance, endorsements, will release list of names early next week

It doesn’t take much to read between the lines of that response. The fact is, this race was going to be a good one for Colorado. There’s a struggle here right now in the state GOP between the typical conservative single issue values voter who tend to lean to the populist side of the spectrum, and fiscal conservative, small government supporters that include conservatives, libertarians, and independents. This race would have settled that struggle for now, and a primary race is the right place to have this type of discussion within the Party. With Frazier out, the race is now effectively between Jane Norton and Ken Buck, who most believed stood the most to lose by Norton entering the race.

One of my concerns that I brought up during the conference was that there was a lot of excitement among the grassroots base all over the State in support of Frazier’s senatorial bid. This support was brought about be people involved with <a href=”http://taxdayteaparty.com/”Tea Parties, Liberty On The Rocks meetings, the The 912 Project and other organizations. I warned the NRSC about getting involved in this race back in August, but it would appear that my warnings have gone unheeded (or more likely unheard). This organization is taking a huge risk of demoralizing these people and keeping them from being involved where we need them; within the party structure itself, and helping to get out the vote on Election Day. These Washington insiders are the very same ones that brought about huge losses in 2006 and 2008 because of their fiscal irresponsibility and failure to lead during the previous six years. It’s about time they understood that the American people are not longer buying what they are selling.

Frazier will be a great candidate in the 7th congressional district for Colorado. He will, I believe, give Ed Perlmutter a good challenge there, and should he win it would be an important pickup for the Republican Party. I met Ryan last year when he personally made the effort to contact me and let me know how much he wants to help Coloradans reclaim their liberty and get government out of our lives. Since then, nothing has changed my mind about him. The citizens of CD-7 are very fortunate to have a great candidate like Frazier. I wish him the best as he takes on this new challenge, and encourage the people in his district to give him all the support they can.

Crossposted at Night Twister