Mr. Erickson wrote an entry recently instructing Republicans, conservatives, and tea partiers to rally behind Tom Tancredo for Governor of Colorado. As a Coloradan myself, I think Mr. Erickson is wrong. There are two good reasons not to vote for Tancredo, one practical and one moral. I’ll address the practical first.

Polls show Tancredo within “striking distance” of Hickenlooper (four percentage points last I heard, check it out). The problem with this is that it’s likely a very optimistic poll. There is, quite simply, no way that there are enough conservative voters in this state to elect either Tancredo or Maes while both are on the ballot. I wish it were true, you wish it were true, but it’s not true. Hickenlooper is guaranteed an easy win, and he knows it judging from his really weird ads about how somebody wrecked his hybrid. Voting for Tancredo will see us lose the election and possibly hurt the GOP’s status on the ballot in the next election cycle.

Furthermore, Tancredo is rarely in anything for any reason other than his own ego. He broke his pledge to term limit himself as a Colorado Congressman, as noted here. Of course, he did issue an apology, but that’s just par for the course for politicians. Make a promise, break the promise, and apologize as though your hands were tied. Tancredo doesn’t ddeserve your vote. If he wanted to run as Governor, then he should have run in the primary like McInnis and Maes did. Instead, he jumped into the race in a deliberate effort to split the vote and prove his inane point that Maes isn’t the most charismatic candidate. Now, thanks to him, we’re about to have Governor Hickenlooper.

I urge you not to reward Tom Tancredo’s selfish acts. Vote for Maes. We’ll still lose the race, but at least the GOP won’t be pushed down the ballot, possibly costing us an election in the future.