I’m a freelance journalist based in Colorado, where I specialize in writing about the changing American West and travel writing from a shrinking globe. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to contact me at david.m.frey@comcast.net.
When Scott McInnis announced his plans to run as a Republican for governor of Colorado in his hometown of Glenwood Springs, he got a hero’s welcome. He looked unstoppable, beaming beside his wife Lori as he called out names of old friends who had turned out to see him in a warehouse on the edge of town decked with campaign signs.
He sported cowboy boots and jeans and he glowed as country singer Michael Martin Murphy turned “Home on the Range” into a political anthem. As he criticized Democrats and made a plea for “jobs, jobs, jobs,” McInnis seemed to be the right man with the right message for Republicans hoping to make the most of discontent with Democrats and the Obama administration.
McInnis was a natural GOP choice for governor. A former Congressman turned lobbyist, he had name recognition and charisma. He had a successful political track record, and a not-too-far-to-the-right reputation that seemed like an easy sell in a middle-of-the-road state at a time when Democrats were losing their luster.
His Democratic opponent at the time seemed certain to be Gov. Bill Ritter, a one-term governor whose popularity was flagging.
Then everything changed.
On the Democratic side, Ritter stepped aside and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper jumped in. Hickenlooper, a geologist turned businessman turned politician, brought star power. He’s a tremendously popular mayor whose business background an collaborative approach has given him crossover appeal.
But Hickenlooper never had time to try to vie with McInnis. The Republicans devoured him themselves.
The Tea Party movement was gaining steam, so to speak, back when McInnis was announcing his candidacy. He was in a three-way race for the GOP nomination back then. His former protégé, Josh Penry, a firebrand legislator from conservative Grand Junction, seemed like his toughest challenger. Penry had won over a cadre of followers, but he dutifully towed the party line and stepped aside to help McInnis.
McInnis was also facing a challenger from Dan Maes, a businessman from Evergreen who was otherwise unknown. Maes didn’t step aside.
Once upon a time, a race between a power player like McInnis and a political nobody like Maes would have been a certainty. But with the Tea Party movement’s anger at anybody who smelled like an insider, the unexpected happened. McInnis lost his mojo, and Maes found his.
McInnis tried to float above the fray, even avoiding the GOP state convention. But that pretension only dragged him into the morass.
Then a flap about plagiarism exploded and McInnis’ campaign imploded. He was accused of ripping off other people’s words information about water law for a high-paid foundation job.
The scandal didn’t help, but McInnis was already on the way down.
“Scott has the knowledge, the looks, the charisma to be a tremendous governor,” Don Vanderhoof said as he introduced McInnis to the crowd back in October. “He can win this thing. He’s a great campaigner.”
McInnis had served 10 years in the state legislature and 10 years in Congress. It used to be, those were the kind of credentials you needed to be a candidate. Now, in the GOP, it’s a resume that can get you the boot – in this case, the cowboy boot.
Vanderhoof knows a bit about McInnis the candidate. He was his campaign manager when McInnis was running for the state house, all five times. That first time, Vanderhoof said, McInnis earned himself a nickname: “Landslide McInnis.” The name was a joke. He beat his Democratic opponent then by just 13 votes.
Then, McInnis became a juggernaut. Democrats couldn’t find a candidate who could beat him. But what Democrats couldn’t do, Republicans could, with a candidate whose claim to fame was having no claim to fame.
Now Maes may face a similar fate. As Tom Tancredo, the hero of the anti-immigrant right, steps in as a third-party candidate, he threatens to divide conservatives again.
