Just about a week ago, I wrote about how Tom Tancredo was going to replace Josh Penry in the GOP Gubernatorial primary against Scott McInnis. I wrote about how dangerous a candidate Tancredo was going to be and how McInnis was going to wish Penry was still in the race.
While I stand by my analysis of Tancredo, what I didn’t see coming was the swift kumbaya moment that formed this week. Apparently McInnis, Tancredo, Josh Penry, Dick Wadhams and other Republican leaders came together to arrive at a party platform that would shrink the GOP Gubernatorial field back down to one former Congressman.
Denver Post Columnist and KOA Talk Show Host Mike Rosen wrote about the potential platform on Thursday. While the details are interesting because it walks a fine balance between fiscal and social policies, it doesn’t address my big question.
What I am wondering is who called the meeting and who crafted the compromise. To me, that is the most important detail.
Let’s think about the possible answers and the ramifications.
- Scott McInnis – It would make sense for McInnis to call this meeting and make these arrangements to settle any shot at a significant primary challenge from Tancredo. However, if that is the case, why didn’t this happen earlier, without provocation? If McInnis considered himself the front runner, why didn’t he get everyone behind this platform earlier? Waiting until now makes it look like he’s only behind these ideas because of Penry and Tancredo. The timing does not put McInnis in a position of strength, even if they are his ideas.
- Dick Wadhams – To me, it makes the most sense for Wadhams to have made this happen. He’s not in a position to tell Tancredo what to do, but he is in a position to find out what would make him support McInnis, and then broker the deal with McInnis, and encourage Penry to sign on for future influence. If it goes well, everyone, especially the Colorado GOP, wins.
- Penry or Tancredo – I’m eliminating the chances that either of these guys called the meeting or came up with the idea mainly because if they had the idea, they would have used it against McInnis instead of offering it as a potential compromise. While both will probably end up endorsing McInnis through this plan, neither are totally sold on him enough to have called the meeting.
- Anyone Else, including Major Funders – The odds here are actually not that bad. I could see a couple of major funders getting together to make this happen. It still makes more sense to me that Wadhams would have called the meeting, but maybe he was encouraged by some big money GOP supporters that urged him to do whatever it takes to stop any significant primary challenge. I could even see some big money supporters mandating the basics of the platform. That’s a job more suited for the actual leaders of the party, but it’s not difficult to fathom that some funders would want to be involved.
So why is this little guessing game relevant? Well, in my eyes, who ever orchestrated and pulled off this platform meeting and eventual compromise truly leads Colorado’s Republican Party. Establishing the identity of that leader is important because that’s whose shoulders the success of 2010 will rest. Leadership can be abdicated, meaning you can have the good idea and give the mantle to someone else, but the big players will always know who really set things straight.
So, who do I think it is? I have a hunch, but we know where those have gotten me lately. Let’s just say that Colorado’s GOP may not be the rudderless ship that some had previously thought. This should certainly make 2010 much more interesting.