Wadhams drops bid for re-election as Colorado GOP chairman Read more: Wadhams drops bid for re-election as Colorado GOP chairman

By Lynn Bartels
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/08/2011 01:00:00 AM MST

Dick Wadhams on Monday unexpectedly dropped his bid for re-election as chair of the Colorado Republican Party, warning GOP leaders that their chances in 2012 could be "severely undermined" by a strategy aimed solely at uniting conservatives.

Wadhams said he had the votes to land a third term but in the past few days got to thinking, "What happens after I win?"

"I have loved being chairman, but I'm tired of the nuts who have no grasp of what the state party's role is," he said.

Wadhams last year was alternately accused of meddling in the governor's race and failing to get involved to ensure the right Republican would win.

Wadhams' decision stunned the Democrats he has targeted since taking over leadership of the state party in 2007.

"Speechless," tweeted former House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver.

Wadhams said he doesn't know what his next career move is.

His departure leaves state Sen. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch as the front-runner in the March 26 chairmanship race, although Republicans now expect other candidates to jump in. Harvey could not be reached for comment.

Wadhams referred to Harvey in his letter to the state Central Committee announcing he was dropping out of the race but did not mention the lawmaker by name.

"I have tired of those who are obsessed with seeing conspiracies around every corner and who have terribly misguided notions of what the role of the state party is while saying 'uniting conservatives' is all that is needed to win competitive races across the state," Wadhams wrote.

In Harvey's announcement last week, he said he intended "to unite our base and return authentic conservative leadership to the party structure."

Democratic political strategist Laura Chapin said Wad hams fell victim to deep splits within his party that make it tough for a moderate to win a primary. The conservative then has to win the general election in a state where one-third of the electorate is unaffiliated.

Wadhams said as much in his letter, questioning the wisdom of the "authentic conservative leadership" strategy.

"The ability of Colorado Republicans to win and retain the votes of hundreds of thousands of unaffiliated swing voters in 2012 will be severely undermined," he said.

Wadhams on Monday added that Harvey "sees everything through the lens of a safe Republican district in Douglas County, and Colorado is more diverse than that."

It was unaffiliated voters who gave U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet a razor-thin victory over Republican challenger Ken Buck last year in a race the GOP expected to win.

Republicans early expected to win the governor's race, but it turned into a free-for-all in which political neophyte Dan Maes won the primary but received only 11 percent of the vote in the general election.

Maes blamed former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo for his poor showing. Tancredo ran for governor on a third-party ticket to try to stop Democrat John Hickenlooper.

Republicans did knock off the Democratic secretary of state and treasurer and two Democratic members of Congress, as well as pick up the majority in the state House.

Wadhams built his reputation running successful U.S. Senate campaigns in Colorado, Montana and South Dakota. He returned to Colorado in 2007 after George Allen's 2006 Senate campaign in Virginia crashed in the wake of comments by Allen deemed racially insensitive.

In 2008, Wadhams served as campaign manager to Bob Schaffer's Senate campaign while also serving as state party chairman. Under his leadership, the party paid off a debt of more than $700,000.

http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_17323833