From a post of mine on rhrealitycheck.org yesterday:

Rep. Mike Coffman is on record opposing embryonic stem-cell research, but that didn’t stop the Colorado Republican from touring a stem-cell laboratory at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and tweeting, “Happy to get the chance to tour the Stem Cell Research facility.”

A spokesman for the school, which is located in Coffman’s district, confirmed that the stem-cell facility visited by Coffman November 8 uses stem cells obtained from human embryos.

In 2008 and 2010, Coffman supported Colorado’s failed “personhood” initiatives, which aimed to define life as beginning at conception, when embryos form, and would have banned not only embryonic stem-cell research but also all abortions and some common forms of birth control.

Coffman is one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the U.S. Congress, and reporters should be watching for him to make statements and stage events, like this stem-cell tour, that may appeal to moderate voters but run counter to Coffman forever-held beliefs and policy positions.

Other examples include Coffman’s shifting position on the government shutdown, his attempt to label himself a no-labels politician, his once hard stance against allowing abortion after rape and incest,  and his evolving position toward undocumented immigrants and their children.

Reporters should remind readers of Coffman’s major and mini-makeovers as more emerge. The pattern is now part of the story.

Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck and his conservative talk-show allies like to blame “the left” for distracting them from what they say are the real issues, which somehow don’t include immigration or a woman’s right to choose abortion.

But the obvious truth is that it’s Buck and other conservatives who bring up the taboo issues (immigration, abortion) on their own, because their own base voters demand to know about them!

To prove the point, during a recent radio interview, I timed the number of seconds that elapsed between 1) Buck saying he won’t talk about immigration and 2) Buck brining up his extreme immigration position on his own!

For the record, it took Buck exactly 30 seconds, from promising not to talk about it to saying, with no leftist provocation, he’s opposed to immigration reform at this time.

Here’s the proof, from KVOR’s Jeff Crank Show Nov. 9.

CRANK: Well, it is one of those things. And I talked about this earlier. It just seems to me that Republicans in the last couple of election cycles, have allowed the left—They’re very good at diverting our attention from the issues that matter….issues like immigration. The life issue. Things like that….

BUCK: Well, you’re absolutely right. The – what a Senator spends most of his or her time doing are the issues involving the expenditure of federal funds….

CRANK: Sure, and there’s no question about it. I think where the left sees their opportunity is that like, if they can bring up immigration, they know where John McCain is going to be….

BUCK: Well, and it goes to credibility, also. They don’t just want to talk about immigratioin. They want to give amnesty, and then say, “Trust us, we’ll secure the border. Trust us, we’ll develop an employee verification program in the country.” And we don’t trust the federal government. And that’s why we’re divided.

Similarly, on the Mike Rosen Show, Nov. 14, Buck said social issues like abortion are “less sigificant” for a U.S. Senator.

Then, exactly 71 seconds later (@22:00 in the podcast), Buck told a caller that individual employers should not have to carry insurance policies for their employees that cover birth control, as required with some exceptions by Obamacare. That’s not significant these days?

It was already self-evident that Buck brought his problems on himself during his last failed Senate run (See, “I am pro-life. And I’ll answer the next question. I don’t believe in the exceptions of rape or incest.“). But just because it happened once before, shouldn’t stop reporters from pointing out the Buck phenomenon as it emerges once again.

CLARIFICATION 11-10-2013: The Colorado Statesman’s Peter Marcus originally reported that Recall Hudak Too hired two young staffers who are involved in the signature-gathering effort, but Marcus found no evidence at the time (Marcus’ article was published Oct. 28.) that Kennedy Enterprises was on the payroll. He also reported that RMGO promised financial support.

UPDATE 11-9-13: Here’s a some evidence that McAlpine’s organization, Recall Hudak Too, has money for signature gathering. It might be gearing up in case money comes in, of course. But signs point to a paid effort.

——————

The tone of the Hudak-recall organizers was one of forced optimism this morning, as they told KNUS’ Peter Boyles that they’re “just over half way” to their target goal of signatures, and they blamed Colorado GOP Chair Ryan Call and Colorado Republican leaders for obstructing their efforts and turning fellow Republicans against them.

Recall leader Mike McAlpine said Call is “impeding” and “obstructing” the recall, and doing so “to intimidate [Republican] supporters into not supporting a winning issue.”

Sounding hurt, fellow recall organizer Laura Waters said that, thanks to Ryan Call’s comments, “at certain doors and in certain phone calls, we’re even fighting against our own party.”

In numerous morning appearances on KNUS, McAlpine and Waters have avoided attacking fellow Republicans, but on air today, the anger in their voices was deeper and more explosive when they talked about Republicans than it was when they discussed recall target Sen. Evie Hudak.

Listen to McAlpine and Waters on KNUS 11-8-13

Waters got particularly angry when she talked about receiving a fundraising call Monday from the Republican Party telling her that maybe the State GOP would be organizing recall campaigns.

Waters: “[The GOP phone caller] told me that maybe they would be doing some recalls. But what I think is, they were throwing that word [recall] out there. It’s a buzz word that they know will help raise money.”

McAlpine added that he received an email from the Colorado GOP and Ryan Call “saying by insinuation. ‘Pueblo recall was us; Colorado Springs recall was us; grassroots efforts are us.’ It could not be farther from the truth.”

“Here’s the problem we have,” said Waters. “It seems like it’s just us. It’s us. It’s RMGO.”

Yesterday, I pointed out that the Colorado Statesman and The Denver Post published conflicting information about whether paid staff has been hired to gather signatures for the Hudak recall effort, with the Colorado Statesmen’s Peter Marcus reporting McAlpine as saying that  “his group has not paid a petition-gathering firm.” The Denver Post’s Kurtis Lee, citing anonymous sources, reported that Kennedy Enterprises is on the payroll.

Statesman reporter Peter Marcus defended his reporting in an email to me yesterday, writing that he asked McAlpine if “Kennedy or any other paid gatherers were collecting signatures at all, and that’s when [McAlpine] told me about the two paid staffers. But they’re teenagers, if I remember correctly, so nothing significant.”

Marcus wrote:

I also asked what RMGO has done for them, and they said pledged financial support.

[Recall organizers] also said that paid petition gatherers isn’t off the table. But this was a few weeks ago.

I’ve been pretty hands on. I’ve been to the house they’re organizing at, I’ve been on the street corners with them — there has not seemed to be a paid petition effort. I also live in the district, and I haven’t seen anything but what looks like volunteers on the street. But it’s been a couple weeks now since I’ve really paid attention. Maybe they’ve hired someone at this point.

I don’t know where Kurtis got his info, but it didn’t match what I was told at the time I was writing my story. I’m not sure if he’s actually been down on the street like I have, but I just have had no indication that they’re paying for signatures. I saw how they were organizing at the house they’re working out of in Arvada, and these guys were volunteers. Granted, many of them are not from the district, but there’s nothing illegal there. These recalls have become more than just district issues, I think everyone knows that. If the Democrats can raise millions from Bloomberg and D.C., then I don’t see why recall proponents should be criticized for utilizing help outside the district.

I just checked out their disclosures on TRACER, and they’ve raised about $23,000, with only $358 in non-monetary items. There’s nothing in their expenditures that shows paying for petition gathering. I also don’t see any contributions from RMGO, or any organizations like that. Their effort looks a lot like the one down in Pueblo, which was mostly grassroots.

I also don’t see any expenditures in the RMGO PAC to the recall effort.

They could funnel donations through a C4, but if Recall Hudak Too takes the contributions, they would at least have to list the C4 on their disclosures. So, if RMGO makes a contribution for petition gathering, or any other organization, then it would be listed on the disclosure as a non-monetary contribution, as was the case in Colorado Springs for the recall effort there. I Am Created Equal donated for Kennedy and it was listed as a non-monetary contribution of like $64,000, or something like that.

If Marcus is right, and he makes a convincing case here that paid signature gatherers are not a factor now, you begin to understand the desperation in the voices of Hudak-recall organizers on the radio this morning.

Political reporters should have noted that the spokeswoman for two recent recall-election campaigns in Colorado said Sunday that a new recall effort targeting Democratic State Sen. Evie Hudak is an “uphill climb.”

Speaking on KNUS radio’s Backbone Radio Sunday, Kerns said:

“…I think that’s going to be an uphill climb to get [the 20,000 Hudak-recall signatures] qualified but, hey, I will not do what others did to us in the two recalls. I will not be a naysayer. And I do really wish them the best in qualifying that recall.”

Listen to Kerns say Hudak recall effort will be an “uphill climb”

I hate it when someone’s obviously a naysayer, and then they say they’re not a naysayer.

That’s the worse kind of naysayer, but probably the kind journalists should pay attention to, especially given Kerns’ credibility of having been on the front lines, from start to finish, of both successful recall campaigns in Colorado.

Kerns also said:

Kerns: The district of Evie Hudak is much more metropolitan, in the Denver metropolitan area, as opposed to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. So you’re going to have much more of that metropolitan Democrat Denver involvement…. A couple of other things I think they will find challenging in the Hudak recall is not only is that district more metropolitan Denver, but those 20,000 signatures are due Dec. 3, and we are quickly approaching Nov. 1.

Talk-Radio Host Matt Dunn: That’s a lot.

Kerns: So they have 30 more days to get those.

Partial transcript of appearance by Jennifer Kerns on KNUS Oct. 27

Kerns: I think this one is going to be a little bit of a tougher climb than the first two recalls were. For example, more signatures will be required just to place this on the ballot.

Dunn: A lot more.

Kerns: A lot more, about 20,000 signatures required, just to qualify this for the ballot. That’s not even including then the campaign that has to be run against her. So that, I think, is the first challenge. The district of Evie Hudak is much more metropolitan, in the Denver metropolitan area, as opposed to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. So you’re going to have much more of that metropolitan Democrat Denver involvement…. A couple of other things I think they will find challenging in the Hudak recall is not only is that district more metropolitan Denver, but those 20,000 signatures are due Dec. 3, and we are quickly approaching Nov. 1.

Dunn: That’s a lot.

Kerns: So they have 30 more days to get those. Now I know they’re working hard. they’re out there. They’re on street corners. They’re in shopping centers. They’ve got the support of groups like the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. But I think that’s going to be an uphill climb to get that qualified but, hey, I will not do what others did to us in the two recalls. I will not be a naysayer. And I do really wish them the best in qualifying that recall.\

Listen to Kerns say Hudak recall effort will be an “uphill climb”

In college, I led a petition drive to put an question on the student-council election ballot asking students if they wanted the university to stock suicide pills for optional use by students in the event of nuclear war.

The media had to take this seriously, because kids were actually voting on it, and it had its own internal logic, given the Cold War nuclear craziness around us at the time. But what college would stock suicide pills? Obviously, our core goal, even if we were also serious, was to promote our anti-nuclear agenda.

Same with the secession “movement.” At it’s heart, given the impossible odds of it happening, it’s, duh, a media stunt, offering right-wing conservatives the chance to bash moderate Democratic legislation.

But, it’s true that 11 counties will be voting to secede from Colorado, and so you can’t blame reporters for feeling as though they have to take the stunt sort of seriously, without overdoing it like The Denver Post has done.

But taking it seriously means finding out if serious conservatives actually support it. This week, the New York Times covered the secessionists, quoting county-level GOP organizers and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper as saying he takes it seriously. But, really, what else can the Democratic governor say?

More interesting is what serious Republicans like Rep. Cory Gardner would do on election day. As a resident of secessionist-hotbed Yuma County, he’ll be voting on it next month. And if you take secession seriously, Gardner would eventually be voting on it in Congress, too, if it’s gong to pass. Plus Gardner has long-standing ties to secession-organizer Sean Conway.

Will Gardner vote yes? (So far he’s been vague.) What about the GOP gubernatorial candidates? Where do they stand?

When something smells like a crazy media stunt, and reporters still have to take it seriously, they should at least give readers enough opinions on the matter so they can try to understand what’s really going on. In this case, getting the specific positions of Republicans, whose audiences goes beyond the way-right crowd in the secessionist counties, is key to offering a fair and accurate picture.

Yesterday, Fox 31 Denver reported that GOP Chairman Ryan Call doesn’t support the latest recall effort against Democratic Senator Evie Hudak, saying the recall could “undermine” Republican efforts to win elections next year.

But Fox 31 didn’t report who is backing the Hudak recall effort. That would be Dudley Brown, Director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, according to the RMGO website as well as Laura Waters and Mike McAlpine, who are apparently leading the petition-gathering effort.

On Peter Boyles’ KNUS morning show today, Waters and McAlpine thanked Brown for his in-kind support. They also said they did not vote for Ryan Call when he ran for GOP State Chair:

Laura Waters: I want to say a big shout out to Dudley Brown and the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.

Boyles: Oh, he’s our guy. We love Dudley.

Waters: Those guys have come alongside us. They are helping us by mobilizing their members and getting the message out that we need volunteers. And we could not be more thankful to Dudley and his group…

Mike McAlpine: I gotta echo what Laura says. Nobody is as tall as man who stands on principle, and that’s Dudley Brown. He is a rock star….

Boyles: By the way, who voted for Ryan Call to become the head of the GOP?

McAlpine: I’m looking around the room, no one is raising their hand, Peter.

Boyles: And what about you [to Waters]? Nobody’s hand is up.

McAlpine: [laughing]

Boyles: How did this guy get this gig?

Listen here: Waters and McAlpine on KNUS 710 AM Peter Boyles Oct 08 2013

 

Reporters covering a press conference last Monday featuring GOP activists from Pueblo should have mentioned, at least as an aside, that the activists said GOP Chair Ryan Call’s own law firm was hired to do the GOP’s legal-defense work related to the Pueblo recall election.

Speaking to reporters, Pueblo Freedom and Rights founder Victor Head, and Tim Knight of Pueblo’s Basic Freedom Defense Fund, said they weren’t sure if the Colorado State GOP was paying their legal-defense bills for the recall campaign, but they told reporters that Call’s firm was doing legal-defense work for the GOP’s Pueblo recall campaign.

Reporter: Was some of that legal-defense money earmarked from Ryan Call’s own law firm?

Knight (@1430): Yes. As a matter of fact, that bill we’re discussing, if he did pay us, he’s paying his own law firm and he gets his own billable hours.

Watch the press conference here:

Last week I reported the media omission that Sarah Arnold, former El Paso Republican Party Secretary, accused state GOP Chair Ryan Call of using his own law firm for all the legal business of the State Republican Party.

Unfortunately, Call didn’t return my request for a comment, but the fact is that Call’s firm, Hale Westfall, was doing a lot of the Republican Party’s legal work before Call was elected chair.

Now that Call is in charge of the State Party, the continued use of Call’s law firm could present internal ethics issues for the Republican Party, just as corporate officers can run into ethics problems for directing corporate work to their personal business enterprises. But there’s no public ethics issue involved in the State GOP’s ongoing business relationship with Hale Westfall.

Here’s a partial transcript of last Monday’s press conference featuring comments by Head and Knight:

Reporter @12:50: How much did the [State GOP] actually give you all, in terms of the legal fees, for the District Court case?

Knight: That question remains to be seen. There was a bill that someone else had offered to pay. We’re not sure of this. We’ve been asking for weeks. It appears that the State GOP may have paid that bill in an attempt to buy into the recall, saying, ‘We did help. We paid your legal bill.’ But they know, and we know, that someone else had agreed to pay that legal bill.

Reporter: How much was it?

Knight: Just short of $40,000. That was not the whole legal bill but part of it.

Reporter: How much is unsettled right now?

Head: I reached out to the law firm this morning to ask what the standing of our bill was, and they can’t tell us.

Knight: They had to get permission from people to tell us.

Head: So we’re almost in the dark. There are lots of entities that have stepped forward know to help us to buy their way into our success. And it’s welcomed, I guess. Our bills will get paid. But that is not what was promised. That is not what happened when we were about to close. When we were short. We have a legal challenge, and we don’t have the money to pay it. The recalls are going to go down, unless someone comes forward and helps. A bunch of promises happened. Nothing came through. We did it with 10, 20 callers at a time.

Knight: Selling personal stuff to pay for it.

Head: So as of this moment, as of this morning, I have no idea. Our law firm will not give as an account of who was paid what.

Reporter: Was some of that legal-defense money earmarked from Ryan Call’s own law firm?

Knight (@1430): Yes. As a matter of fact, that bill we’re discussing, if he did pay us, he’s paying his own law firm and he gets his own billable hours.

Correction: Also, an earlier version of this blog post stated that Debbie “Feeley” is on the list of people who are most detrimental to the Republican Party of Colorado. It is actually Debbie Healy, according to Sarah Arnold, who also told me she was not present at the GOP executive meeting last Friday, where the list was allegedly discussed but spoke directly to people who were there. Still waiting to hear from Ryan Call.

———————–

Serious accusations have been condensing in the air at KLZ radio this week and dropping on the head of Colorado Republican Party Chair Ryan Call.

On Monday, for example on KLZ’s Grassroots Radio Colorado, former El Paso Republican Party Secretary Sarah Arnold said: “Ryan Call’s law firm is the only law firm that’s allowed to be used by the Republican State Party,  while he’s drawing a salary from that law firm and while he’s still making a huge salary off of the backs of grassroots people who continue to contribute to the party.”

Arnold, who’s currently writing an election-strategy book called In the Trenches, also said she spoke with fellow Republicans  who were present at an executive committee meeting of the state GOP last Friday where Call “put out” a list of the “six most detrimental people to the Republican Party in Colorado.”

Arnold said Call’s list, which she called a “Nixonian hit list,”  included Arnold, KLZ radio hosts Ken Clark and Jason Worley, Clear the Bench’s Matt Arnold, Rich Bratten of Principles ofLiberty, Laura Bratten, and Debbie Healy. Arnold said people have asked if it’s possible to petition onto Call’s list. She added that it’s Call who’s the “number one” threat to the Republican Party in Colorado.

Call did not return my request for a comment on these accusations, but, KLZ guest host David K. Williams pointed out that Call was just re-elected, so he must have serious support within the State GOP.

Before Arnold was on Grassroots Radio Colorado, Victor Head, who’s the 28-year-old Pueblo plumber who founded Pueblo Freedom and Rights, and Tim Knight, Founder of Pueblo’s Basic Freedom Defense Fund, also aired complaints on KLZ about the Colorado Republican Party.

Call responded to some of these complaints in a Denver Post article Sunday and elsewhere, including in more detailed Colorado Statesman article today, but, to give you a full sense of the tone of the discussion, here’s a partial transcript of what the two GOP activists had to say on the radio.

KNIGHT:  When we had gotten through the signature phase and we were dead broke, we went in search of allies, and we asked to have a sit down with the state party chair.  And we asked for a little assistance on the legal. And, um, kind of, they never really got back to us.  A couple guys were selling things and – actually, a lot of guys were selling things, and we asked the good people of Colorado and elsewhere to help us get through that.  And, um, you know, we also found out through various means that the Republican party was trying to shut down the recalls, by calling various power players in the county GOPs and saying, “Look, you got to put a halt to this –slow this down.”  So, Victor and I both kind of ran into a brick wall there, when we thought we’d have some allies, and they didn’t come through.  As a matter of fact, they made it even harder for us.  So, yeah, it was a —  we wanted to make the– to get the record pretty straight today.  Victor probably has more to add to that.

GUEST CO-HOST DAVID K. WILLIAMS:  Yeah.  Victor, what was the rationale behind the state party not more actively assisting you?

HEAD:  You know, I’m not really sure what their thought was, other than that they didn’t approve of it, initially.  And so they were just upset that basically we sprung this as ad as ‘we, the people’ without asking for their blessing first…we were down to about where the recalls were about ready to shut down, because we were out of money and needed some help.  And then to go to them and get snubbed, it wasn’t a good thing to work through. It was pretty hard.  And then, to further it, now that we are successful, they then start sending out emails and raising money off of our work, saying, “Look at everything we did!  Give us money.”  And meanwhile, we still had outstanding legal bills and things.  And we’re like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Not only did you not support us, you worked against us!  And now you’re making money off of our backs?”

…WILLIAMS:  Victor, let me follow up on a question, there, for you.  In The Denver Post, Ryan Call […] said that – or according to the paper, said that once the recalls were certified, the GOP donated about $40,000 – the maximum it could contribute to recruit and help senators-elect Bernie Herpin and George Rivera of Pueblo.  What is he referring to there, and is that true?

HEAD:  Right.  They absolutely did. What they did is they donated money to the candidates themselves.  And in that, they didn’t  even donate actual money, that I’m aware of.  They donated ‘in-kind’ donations to the maximum amount, being phone banks, flyers, door hangers, that sort of thing.  And that’s great, but that didn’t help the recall effort.  As you guys were saying at the beginning of the show, the candidates are kind of a secondary to the recall and everything. 

WILLIAMS:  Right.

HEAD:  It’s – you know, that’s expected.  Once the recall is there, they have to field a candidate.  That’s expected.  The point here was that we looked for some help, you know, as we were getting the signatures certified, we needed legal help.  And they didn’t think we had a chance.  You know, as a matter of fact, Ryan Call came down on election night, down to Pueblo to tell George Rivera how to graciously concede.  He wanted to help him on his concession speech.  Because he said, “You guys don’t have a chance down here.  We need to graciously concede, make sure there’s no sour grapes, and just move on!” 

WILLIAMS:  And he won by like 12 percentage points, didn’t he?

HEAD:  Yeah, then we blow it out by twelve percent!  And then, he tries to come down and give a big speech at our victory party!  And we shut him out!  We said, “NO!  Get the hell out of here!  Are you kidding me?  You were just here four hours ago telling us how we were going to lose!  You’re not going to take credit for this!”  So, it’s – you know, like you were saying, it’s probably politics as usual in the party.  But at this point, we have momentum.  We have some grassroots energy, and we’re going to demand some reform in this party and some reform in the leadership, or the party is going to die, I’m pretty sure.   I mean, they’re going to be wholly ineffective in 2014 and it’s just going to, you know —  it’s not going to help anybody.

Denver media should pay more attention to the real possibility that yesterday’s recall-election victories by Colorado Republicans will, ironically, cause the indefinite demise of Colorado Republicans, rather than ushering in the GOP resurgence that talk-radio hosts are hyping.

That’s what the most rational people on both sides of the aisle would conclude after hearing gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo say the following on KNUS Peter Boyles show this morning:

Tancredo: Remember the Republican Party? Remember Ryan Call, saying at the beginning he was against all this? It goes to show you how incredibly out-of-touch this party establishment is.

Boyles: Oh, I agree.

Tancredo: I don’t know, Peter, whether any of us who are running as Republicans can overcome that. But, as you said more than once, my biggest problem is the Republican Party…. These folks who believe they know how to both achieve power and retain power, in the face so many losses, it is incredible to me that they are given any credibility whatsoever…

Boyles: ..I guess [the Republican power elite] is up there in Vail right now, maybe looking for another Coors brother.

Does anyone think Colorado’s GOP establishment will nod in agreement at Tancredo’s bravado, and align itself with the right wing of the party? No way.

Meanwhile, if you hear Tancredo’s voice, as you listen to him talking here, you know he’s emboldened, and you have to believe his Tea Party followers, are ready to fight along with him.

And you’d predict that the so-called country-club Republicans will fight back against Tancredo with all their money and influence, leading to an inflammation of the self-destructive behavior that’s plagued Republicans in our state.

Maybe the right side of the GOP will find the strength and intelligence to win going forward where it has lost before.

But, regardless, you gotta be scared if you’re State GOP Chair Ryan Call right now. Because you know it’s credible to say that this recall election might be the final brush stroke that paints Colorado blue. There’s one big, ugly GOP family fight on the horizon that’s waiting to be chronicled by Colorado reporters.

Just as Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo started pleading with Colorado Republicans to stop beating up each other, GOP strategist Dick Wadhams took to the radio waves to slam down Tancredo as unelectable.

On KNUS’ Backbone Radio show Sunday, Wadhams amplified on an a Sept. 1 Denver Post op-ed, where he made veiled references to GOP candidates who’ve lost previously and who, if nominated, would extend the Republican “losing streak” in Colorado.

Guest host Randy Corporon deserves credit for getting to the heart of the matter, when he asked Wadhams:

Corporon: “The two candidates who popped to mind for me who’ve lost state-wide office in recent history are Tom Tancredo and Senate candidate Ken Buck. Did you have them in mind?”

Wadhams: “Indeed I did. I cannot see how a candidate who has clearly had a history of rhetoric that has alienated Hispanic voters can get elected state-wide in Colorado. I don’t see it.”

[BigMedia intervention: One wonders if Corporon thought about asking Wadhams for the name of any GOP candidate, including Rep. Mike Coffman, who does not have a “history of rhetoric that has alienated Hispanic voters,” but let’s continue with the interview.]

Wadhams: In terms of Ken Buck, who I think would have been a marvelous U.S. Senator, and Ken, actually, was going into October with a lead. But he said some things that gave Michael Bennet the ability to come from behind and win that… And those issues don’t go away.

[BigMedia intervention: But Buck blamed his loss on Democrats, not on himself.]

Wadhams later in the interview: “I do not think that even if it had been a head-to-head with Hickenlooper and Tancredo, that Tancredo would have won in 2010. Hickenlooper never had to run a negative ad… He’s never been tested state-wide in a campaign like this. I don’t think he would hold up under scrutiny.”

Dick Wadhams on KNUS Backbone Radio 09-01-13

I respect the conservative talk-show hosts, like Corporon, who’ve been dedicating serious time to figuring out how to reform the Republican Party. Contrasting Wadhams’ attacks with Tancredo’s peace-offering is definitely part of this debate.

And again, Corporon took on the issue directly, asking Wadhams whether Tancredo’s “peace plan” is something he’d reject. Wadhams said “issues matter in campaigns” and ignoring them during the primary will just make Republicans go down in flames in the general election.

It’s a “bunch of bunk” that primaries hurt GOP candidates, Wadhams said, adding the bruising primaries benefit good candidates.

I started thinking about the U.S. missiles that are poised to bomb Syria. Peace is difficult to pull off, but at least they’re debating the topic, as it relates to the Colorado Republican Party, on conservative talk radio.