March 10, 2004
BOY, THE SPECTATOR BIFFED THAT ONE:
White House urges Beauprez to run for Senate; House GOP says stay put (Peter Savodnik, 3/10/04, The Hill)
Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.) is in the middle of a classic political dilemma: The White House is urging him to run for the seat held by Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) while House Republican leaders are pressing him to hold on to the seat he narrowly won in 2002.Beauprez indicated late Tuesday that Karl Rove, the president’s senior political adviser, had called him Tuesday to persuade him to get into the race. Rove’s call came the same day Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) announced he would not seek the Senate seat. [...]
House Republicans have argued that they spent a lot of money to win the 7th District seat and that it would be hard to hold it if Beauprez steps down. Cantor added that most of the House Republican leadership has visited Beauprez’s district since he took office.
“That’s a legitimate concern,” Beauprez said, referring to Republican fears that the party could lose the seat if he runs for the Senate. The congressman spent more than $1.8 million to eke out a 121-vote victory.
So much for McInnis, for now... Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2004 11:37 PM
I hate to sound like an ignoramous, but unfortunately it's inevitable.
What is so hot about Gov. Owens? Is he conservative? Good looking, young? Good public speaker? Liberal? Pro-life?
And what was that about marital separation?
The reason that I ask is that in this post and the earlier one everyone seems to expect him to be some kingmaker, or Presidential candidate. The only TV I watch is Discovery and History Channel which is why I don't know who your talking about.
Posted by: h-man at March 11, 2004 6:02 AMHman - Owens is considered a top GOP governor (NRO named him the US best governor a year or so ago) due to his conservative policies and successful track record as governor and is being mentioned as a top presidential candidate for 2008 (assuming Cheney remains VP and someone else doesn't get a leg up by being VP). OJ's point is that an expectation of governors is that they help get others of the party elected and help the presidential candidate win the state (remember the talk in 2000 that the GOP governors were going to deliver states for Bush).
As for the CO race, given the margins in the Senate and the House, that it is more important for the GOP to win the Senate seat than the House seat.
Thanks AWW
Posted by: h-man at March 11, 2004 8:19 AMh-man:
There are reportedly already five or six candidates laying the groundwork here for the race in '08--McCain, Romney, Giuliani, Jeb, Owens...
Who knows what kind of candidates most of them will make, but if they're running they need to stroke the base and that means the Senatre seats that are up this time become a proving ground to some degree.
Posted by: oj at March 11, 2004 8:43 AMHmm, maybe the House leadership fed the Spectator its info on this one. Interesting.
Posted by: kevin whited at March 11, 2004 9:03 AMI don't get the headline.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 11, 2004 9:51 AMRe: Owens...
Why is it that these "conservatives" can't stay married. If we are to talk about "values" and the sanctity of marriage, you'd think we might consider keeping vows.
Ryan in IL
Newt (is it the 3rd or 4th time around?)
Now Owens is "seperating".
I find it unseemly.
Posted by: BB at March 11, 2004 10:20 AMAlso, in a "swing state" that then-Treasurer Owens narrowly carried in 1998, he won reelection with over 60%in 2002 against token opposition--kind of like another former governor turned bi timer I can think of.
Posted by: AC at March 11, 2004 11:05 AMWell, kind of hard for Ryan to stay married when his now ex-wife hit the big time. And there was a 7 yr difference IIRC.
Posted by: SAndy P. at March 11, 2004 11:55 AM