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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

As you wake up this morning, you need to know who Ken Buck is

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  April 14th, 2010 at 05:00 AM  | 

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As you are waking up this morning and browsing for news, you need to know who Ken Buck is. Get him on your radar. Write down his name. Make sure you know it. You are going to be hearing a lot about him.

Ken Buck is my preferred candidate for the United States Senate in Colorado. And he just set off a chain reaction of bad news for establishment Republicans. Moreover, as the sun rises in Colorado today, Ken Buck is picking up Senator Jim DeMint’s endorsement.

But the chain reaction is the important part of this.

In Colorado, candidates go to the Republican State Assembly, which is like their state convention. A candidate has to get 30% of the delegates at the state assembly to support them, or they cannot get on the ballot. In the alternative, candidates can opt-out of spending time with the delegates and choose to spend big money collecting signatures across the state.

Jane Norton is the Washington crowd’s pick for the GOP. The NRSC is helping her. She’s got John McCain fawning all over her. She had been, after all, Colorado’s Lieutenant Governor, a role in which she did her best to sabotage Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the grounds that undermining TABOR was the only way to save TABOR, the same logic George W. Bush used to undermine the free market in order to save it.

There is another guy in the race too who isn’t getting much traction, but has money.

Anyway, Norton and the third guy have declared they are bypassing the Republicans and their silly little state assembly. They are going to go out and collect signatures. Why?

Because Ken Buck has slowly, steadily, and quietly locked in the grassroots support of Colorado Republicans. Norton, the former Lieutenant Governor of Colorado is downright afraid she wouldn’t get 30% of the grassroots to support her. So instead she will go out and pay people to get her signatures.

In other words, the grassroots in the Republican Party want Ken Buck. The establishment is going to bypass them and buy their way onto the ballot.

Oh, and did I mention Ken Buck is getting Jim DeMint’s endorsement today? We can take back the country. We can do it with people like Ken Buck.

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  • letswinsomeelections

    The question needs to be asked if RS is being paid to promote Ken Buck and other candidates. Buck has raised almost no money, but has received a ton of outside special interest advertising spending being reportedly paid for by one guy – yep one guy who gets massive federal government earmarks.

    Is RS receiving money from this same guy?

    Is RS selling out to a guy who gets massive federal governmetn earmarks and who is turning around and using this money to attack candidates who are for earmark reform like this Norton?

    Please answer. Also answer as to Buck’s source of funds and these earmarks.

  • NeoKong

    “Jane Norton is the Washington crowd?s pick for the GOP. The NRSC is helping her. She?s got John McCain fawning all over her.”

    Crikey !!!!
    That’s the kiss of death.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    I can definitively say this is a misrepresentation of the GOP Senate race here. There are in fact some concerns with all of the Republican candidates. My concern with Norton initially was national GOP interference in this race, but they backed off.

    As far as the process to get onto the ballot, just because someone chooses to petition onto the ballot does not mean they aren’t interested in meeting with the local grassroots people here. I can say for a fact that Norton is and has meet with many grassroots groups across the State. She’s been out of politics since the end of Bill Owens’ first term, so she did not have the statewide contacts necessary to ensure getting enough delegates. Her time off from politics since this is certainly a concern, but it’s understandable why she’s going the route she is.

    Jane Norton’s support of Referendum C (TABOR refund halt) is definitely troublesome, but also understandable. The Lt. Gov in Colorado is a running mate with the Gov., similar to Pres. & VP. It should be no surprise that a Lt. Gov. supported a bill being promoted by a very popular Gov. at the time. If you want to find blame for Ref. C., blame Bill Owens.

    I haven’t made up my mind yet in this race. Ken Buck needs to answer to Colorado voters about his involvement with Taxpayers for Liberty. Jane Norton needs to convince us about her conservative bonafides. Her close family relationship with McCain certainly doesn’t help that, but I’m not completely convinced that it means she’s a squish like him. Tom Wiens is late to the game, but is spending a lot of his own money. It’s quite possible that he’ll play spoiler against Buck.

  • Aaron Gardner

    Since you asked us I figured I would ask you. I notice that you have been pumping her up since December here on RS.

    So who is paying you?*

    * What’s that you say? … Where’s my evidence? … Oh, I’m sorry, I thought we were just throwing out baseless accusations.

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    And I don’t get told who our advertisers are so I don’t have to worry about dinging them.

  • Locked and Loaded

    ?If the state assembly is not good enough to go through, then they will have no role at the state assembly,? state GOP chair Dick Wadham told POLITICO, referring to any candidate who chooses not to participate. ?They won?t be allowed to speak, they won?t be allowed to put up signs, they won?t be allowed to pass out literature.?

  • coloradoredgirl

    this weekend as a delegate at the Douglas County GOP Assembly. In a room of over 500 delegates, there was not much reaction to Jane Norton when she spoke. Tom Wiens was not at the assembly, but as mentioned in Erick’s article, he will be petitioning. Norton did not announce her intent to petition on Saturday, but I did receive her email yesterday stating her intent. Another candidate who spoke was Cleve Tidwell, but the majority of the delegates were not as familiar with him as they were with Norton and Buck. The room of delegates was enthusiastic when Ken spoke – Former Rep Tom Tancredo and Rep Mike Coffman were also enthusiastic when speaking about Buck as a Senate candidate. Colorado needs someone like Buck in office.

  • colawman

    I find it disturbing that the only people calling for Ken Buck to answer for connections to some 527 are a few bloggers for Peoples Press Collective, bloggers that are supposed to be advocates for conservative candidates. It has the appearance of bias in favor of Norton. This mentality of “eat their own” is going to damage public opinion of the obvious frontrunner (Buck) in our quest to take a senate seat. One of those bloggers actually sought an open records request on the DA’s budget.

    Norton spent $243000 on TV ads touting the importance of the precinct caucuses! The straw poll conducted at the precinct caucuses was a rude awakening for her campaign when Buck actually won the poll of 25000 registered republicans.

    Forums attended by both candidates further underscored Buck’s growing popularity and Norton’s inability to gain any traction. Wiens saw the writing on the wall and chose to forego the assembly process. For Norton’s campaign to suggest her withdrawing is anything other than a recognition of the growing liklihood of losing to Buck at the state convention is disingenous.

    Norton’s campaign spent 7 times the amount of money Buck’s campaign spent and received no advantae, yet all the talk was how Buck’s 4Q earnings were his death knell. I believe it is more important to look at the return on the investment as opposed to the investment. I also believe a candidate who is able to accomplish what Buck has done with minimal funds shows how being fiscally conservative and hard working can marginalize the difference.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    I don’t know where you got that idea. From the PPC Manifesto:

    We serve no political party. We serve no candidate. We are owned by no ideology. We simply believe that every one of us has the right to make up our own minds.

    Read the whole thing. It’ll help you understand what’s there.

    Disclaimer: I’m a member blogger at the People’s Press Collective.

  • noczars

    I don’t care who is paying for Mr. Buck’s advertizing. I DO care who Jim DeMint endorses. I have watched interviews of all the candidates he has endorsed and read their backgrounds. That is why I have donated (with my own money) to DeVore; Bachmann; Williams (Tx); Scott Brown; Poizner; Rubio and others.

    I am more worried about CA’s Governor’s race because we have the most leftest of leftest in Congress, Senators and Sanchez as one of our reps. The problem is RNC is pushing Meg Whitman who is worse than a RINO.

  • letswinsomeelections

    No an answer from RS on support for a candidate who is being almost completely funded by one company which receives massive federal government earmarks, called “pay to play.” A huge liability for this candidate and the entire national Republican party and conservative movement in the general election.

  • http://slcliberty.blogivists.com randy streu

    It’s not their job to answer for the Candidate. Ask him yourself.

  • sommop

    Good to know

  • colawman

    Norton is largely funded by her brother-in-law, Charlie Black. I hear people carping Buck cannot raise money, and I hear people complaining he is not playing fair because he is rec’g money from 527′s. If he was raising money from John Q. Citizen people would be griping. All I know is he is currently the front runner and is beginning to put distance between himself and the other candidates. It is not because of money. It is because he had a message that resonates with people. He is attending meet and greets and forums and consistently the crowd is obviously partisan for Buck. Momentum is important in politics and Buck has it. Norton has had the money and the RNC backing and has lost ground with each passing month. This reminds me of Crist in Florida.