Josh Penry To Bow Out of Colorado Guv Race

Breaking news and press reports on Monday 11/9/09 indicate that State Senator Josh Penry will announce his withdrawal from the Colorado Governor race in 2010 as a GOP candidate leaving former Congressman Scott McInnis as the front runner to challenge Democrat Bill Ritter.

The Washington Post (political blog by Chris Cillizza) reported on Monday November 9^th that Penry would announce his intentions to withdraw this week:

CO-Gov: Penry to exit race  (from WP blog by Chris Cillizza)

“Colorado state Sen. Josh Penry (R) plans to end his gubernatorial campaign and endorse former Rep. Scott McInnis (R), according to two sources familiar with his thinking.

Penry's decision to opt out of the race is a stunner as many national Republicans had touted him as a potential rising star (and we had featured him in our "Rising" series that looks at up and coming politicians).

Political chatter in the immediate aftermath of Penry's decision suggested he might be considering a run against 3rd district Rep. John Salazar (D) who won the Western Slope seat when McInnis retired in 2004. Salazar's seat is one of 49 held by Democrats that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) carried in 2008. (McCain won it 50 percent to 48 percent for President Barack Obama.) But, Republicans already have a candidate -- state Rep. Scott Tipton -- they are high on in the race.

Sources close to Penry suggested that he was heavily influenced by the victories for Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia last week -- wins due, at least in part, to the lack of competitive primaries on the Republican side.

Penry was worried that a bruising August primary would potentially compromise the eventual nominee's chances of beating Ritter. Combine that with his youth (he is 33) and his role as state Senate Minority Leader and Penry decided that dropping out of the race was the best option for him and the party.”

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/governors/co-gov-penry-to-exit-race.html?wprss=thefix

By Monday evening, GOP Candidate Dan Maes had sent out an e-mail of the Penry exit from the race.    Club 20 www.club20.org had chimed in on e-mail and several other Colorado news outlets carried the impending announcement by Penry.

This will shift the competition for the 3^rd Congressional District race, as newcomer Bob McDonnell (former US Army Ranger) is already challenging Democrat John Salazar, with reports that State Representative Scott Tipton and possible State Senator Josh Penry about to throw their hats into the GOP ring as candidates for the 3^rd CD in Colorado.  Mr. Tipton was elected to the 58^th state representative District (Montrose, Cortez) in 2008, and he was previously the GOP nominee for the 3^rd CD in 2006 (but lost to Salazar).  

The recent mid term elections (November 2009) have emboldened GOP challengers across the Rocky Mountain West, and Colorado is no exception.

© 2009, Jasper Welch, Four Corners Media, www.jasperwelch.org