The infighting among Republicans regarding Buck versus Norton and McInnis versus Maes, in addition to the scandal around McInnis and the question marks surrounding Maes, must have liberal Democrats positively gleeful.

During all this time when we (including to this point me) are talking about what’s wrong (or, to a lesser degree, right) with this or that Republican, we’re giving a free pass to Bennet and more importantly to Hickenlooper.

Bennet is much more beatable than Hickenlooper right now and either Norton or Buck will stand a decent chance of beating Bennet.  Also, Bennet is one guy out of 100 in the US Senate.  While I understand the  importance of how close the GOP is to retaking a majority in the Senate, I don’t care about that nearly as much as I care about keeping John Hickenlooper from being our next governor.  (It’s all the more true if I believe the GOP will take back the House of Representatives, which I do believe.)

It’s time for us to refocus on why this election for governor is important.  We’ll come back later to implications of that discussion for what the GOP should do next, if anything other than just let the ordinary process play out.

John Hickenlooper is nothing more than our local version of Barack Obama.  He

• Pretends to be a moderate while actually supporting the entire gamut of leftist utopian brain-dead economic illiteracy, including, but not limited to

1. Tax hikes
2. Public funding of the arts
3. Destroying economies to help with the hoax of man-made climate change

• Does his best to make himself a “blank slate” upon which voters can project almost any image
• Is a big fan of Barack Obama’s, not for no reason
• Is subject to almost no media criticism even when he says things which deserve something between question, scorn, and ridicule
• Supports sanctuary city policies

And a lot more…

With redistricting coming up, the process by which political voting districts are redrawn, having the governorship is exceptionally important.  Furthermore, going into the 2012 election, the last thing we want is a governor who will marshal state resources to help Barack Obama get re-elected, since Colorado is likely to be a toss-up state (as sad as that is to say.)

And perhaps as important as redistricting is the distinct possibility that if Matt Arnold and his ClearTheBenchColorado movement is successful, the next governor may appoint up to three new State Supreme Court judges.  The importance of these picks cannot be overstated, thus the importance this election cannot be overstated.

Here’s one example, thanks to WhoSaidYouSaid.com, of Hickenlooper’s daft thinking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKdkI8-1oyw

Did you get that?  Hickenlooper wants to increase payroll taxes and force the money to be spent buying art.  Now that’s a great way to grow productivity and employment.  As WhoSaidYouSaid notes, “Hickenlooper may view his arts plan as an economic stimulus. What we’d never see is the additional office assistant paid $30,000 a year, because employers would instead be figuring out how to pay for Hickenlooper’s arts program – on top of everything else. That would-be office assistant is in the unemployment line.”

In the same interview, Hickenlooper said we need to “wean ourselves off automobiles."  Remember, this is the guy who thinks Van Jones, self-proclaimed black nationalist and anti-capitalist promoter of all things “green” as a path toward “social justice", is a “rock star.”

Hickenlooper’s ideas are as dangerous, as socialist, and as un-vetted by the media as Barack Obama’s were.

But you’d think that Coloradoans, especially Tea Party activists would know enough and be so horrified by the idea of a Hickenlooper governorship that they’d go out of their way to make sure there is a viable at-least-half-decent Republican candidate.  Yet they haven’t done so, in my opinion.

[I had in the original version of this note another litany of my problems with Dan Maes.  However, I’m changing tactics here.  I got a note from a reader saying that he doesn’t support Jane Norton simply because of her connection to John McCain.  My response was that if that were all the information I had, I’d understand. But I have spent time with Norton and she has convinced me otherwise.  I think it’s only fair that I apply that standard to myself and that before I keep piling on Dan Maes I should sit down with him.  Therefore, I have scheduled an interview with Mr. Maes for the middle of next week and will write about it on these pages.]

We need to never forget why this race is so important.  It’s not about a Tea Party candidate getting to run instead of an establishment candidate.  Indeed, the Tea Party stands to deliver a mortal blow to itself in this state if it refuses to get away from a candidate very likely to lose.  Everything the Tea Party members hold dear in terms of big picture goals will be sacrificed on the altar of “at least he’s not already a politician", as if somehow becoming a politician now makes a guy better than having been one before.  The Teap Party is a group (or rather an agglomeration of many groups) with lots of enthusiasm but many members with no actual political experience.  The Tea Party will have to gain experience and wisdom to survive and to be relevant in the future.  One would have hoped, however, that its leaders would have learned the lesson of the 2008 presidential election instead of making us live through it again on a local level.

If Hickenlooper becomes governor, whoever is the Republican candidate in the general election will be blamed, as will the perceived organization behind him.  This means that if it’s Maes, the Tea Party will be blamed for 4 years of Hickenlooper.  If it’s McInnis, the GOP establishment will be.

Since I love the Tea Party and don’t love the GOP establishment, and since I think there’s a higher chance of Scott McInnis getting out than Dan Maes getting out, I’m in the unbelievable position of having to encourage people to vote for Scott McInnis despite thinking that he’s, to put it politely, a flawed candidate.  Either of these two Republicans will likely lose to Hickenlooper.  McInnis’ chances are, as much as I can’t believe I’m saying this, not worse than Maes’ chances.  I’d rather have the loss laid at the feed of the GOP establishment and those who pushed Josh Penry out of the race.  For all these reasons, I may have to actually vote for one of the least inspiring Republican candidates I’ve ever seen, Scott McInnis.  Or maybe I just won’t vote, just so I can live with myself a little easier.  People who vote for Maes, especially if he then goes on to lose the general election, will have a lot to answer for, at least if they cast that vote in the name of “principle” while believing, in their heart of hearts, that their guy can’t win.

In my view, a vote for Maes is a vote for Hickenlooper. As I said, I’m willing to reconsider this after meeting with Maes – and I will absolutely give him a fair shake when we meet, though I won’t be asking softball questions, but that’s my view as of today.

Keep your eyes on the prize and remember that we must do everything we can to elect anyone other than Hickenlooper in November.

If there is any possible way to replace the current candidates or the winner of the primary with a decent and viable candidate, Maes (and McInnis) supporters should remember what the real goal is.

One final note to the guy who said “principle over party".  Of course I agree with that.  But assuming that no third party is viable in a major election and assuming that Democrats are owned by the furthest left, most anti-liberty factions of their party, it does become very important to elect Republicans.  It shouldn’t be just any Republican, just because he’s a Republican.  But at the end of the day, electing members of that political party is our only path toward good, or at least less bad, government.  I do hope that one day there is a viable Libertarian or other freedom-oriented third party, or that pro-liberty forces take over the GOP.