Blake: No, really - Wadhams wants state GOP chairmanship

Published January 13, 2007 at midnight

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Sure, you're thinking what I've been thinking:

Dick Wadhams says he wants to be elected Republican state chairman in March. But that's a two-year term. When he hears the siren song of another Senate race in a year or less, or maybe even a low-rent presidential campaign, he'll bail. He can't help himself.

For the record, I heard him say Friday - and I have it on microchip - that he "absolutely" will serve as chairman until March 2009.

When Republicans ask him about his staying power, and they all do, "I say unequivocally, 'I've thought that through and I'm committed for two years, through the 2008 election cycle.' "

To be sure, all his closest friends think he's nuts. His mentor, former Sen. Bill Armstrong, "was kind enough to say, 'What are you thinking?' "

Colorado state chair is historically a dead-end job in both parties. The only one in recent memory who used it as a steppingstone was Bob Beauprez, who made it to Congress. But he turned out to have no staying power.

"I've seen state chairmen beat up, crucified and blamed for everything under the sun," Wadhams conceded.

So why did he agree when Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany asked him to consider the job? "It looked like a challenge that would be a lot of fun and I'm just dumb enough to think that there's a great opportunity here too."

The man who during the summer and early fall was termed "the next Karl Rove" would rather run a presidential campaign, of course.

But the chance of managing a major candidate disappeared when Sen. George Allen, R-Va., was upset in November. Wadhams had hoped to run his presidential campaign in 2008 after steering him to re-election.

"We could have survived 'macaca' on its own, and we could have survived (the unpopularity of) Iraq/Bush," said Wadhams, "but we couldn't survive a combination of the two."

The GOP state chairman is not paid and the post is traditionally held by independently wealthy businessmen. Wad- hams couldn't afford the job except that he agreed to double duty. He'll also serve as executive director, who is paid.

Wadhams has no rivals at this point. Bob Martinez won't run again and former House Speaker Lola Spradley and former Arapahoe County Chair Bruce Peterson have withdrawn.

The first person Wadhams told about his decision to run for chair was the man he managed to two Senate terms, Wayne Allard. "He made it clear he was excited by it and wanted me to do it," Wadhams said.

Although Allard dropped no hint as to whether he'll seek a third term next year, "he said there's no place I could be of more help to him" than reviving the state party and its focus.

Whether Allard runs or not, his seat and that of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., will be the Democrats' top targets in 2008, Wadhams said.

He likes to take the long view and points out that party control runs in cycles here. From 1972 through 1994, the Democrats won 11 of the 14 elections for governor and senator. Only Sens. Bill Armstrong and Hank Brown broke through for the GOP.

From 1996 through 2002, Republicans won all five gubernatorial and Senate races. Then the past two cycles the Democrats "ran roughshod" over the GOP.

"It's time to get that back," Wadhams said. Colorado "is competitive and it's always changing and always fluctuating between the two parties."

Wadhams has long had a perverse streak. "I can't tell you how many people called me up when I went to work for Allard in 1995 to say, 'You've got to be kidding,' " he recalled. " 'There's no way Allard can hope to come close to (Attorney General) Gale Norton for the nomination, much less win a statewide electon.' "

In 2004, he rejected advice to help Rep. George Nethercutt win a Senate seat in Washington. Instead he went to South Dakota to manage the Senate campaign of John Thune against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Crazy, said Wadhams' friends, who noted that two years earlier Thune "couldn't even beat Tim Johnson." Of course Thune won.

Why would Wadhams want to work for the state party instead of helping out the Trailhead Group, a well-funded Republican campaign organization - or setting up his own "527"? After all, 527s don't fall under the strict contribution limits that hamper parties' work.

"The party still sets the tone of the campaign," he said. "It can still raise enough money to do the things it should, like recruit candidates and communicate the message . . . A lot of the people in 2006 who thought the party structure had become irrelevant don't feel that way now."

The 527 will stick around, "but there's still a critical role for the state party."

On the Democratic side, state Chairwoman Pat Waak is seeking a second two-year term. She would seem to have nowhere to go but down, since the party took the governorship and another congressional district as well as strengthening its majorities in the House and Senate.

But she has another target: Wayne Allard. "I want that Senate seat," she said.

And she'd like to help the Democratic presidential candidate nominated here in Denver next year to carry the state.

Meanwhile, she'll be working to establish a Rocky Mountain regional primary on Feb. 5 next year. That would take legislative approval this session.

She looks forward to working against Wadhams. "My perception is the Republican Party is very splintered and he'll have to spend a lot of time pulling it back together," she said.

blakep@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5119.

Featured

• 2008 Voter’s Guide

  

  Use our Ballot Builder tool to compare your viewpoints to the candidates.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  Sandra Dallas wrote 'Lennie's tavern' for our ongoing fiction series. Check it out!

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on today's events.

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's totally biased pregame rant about the Broncos-Jaguars game.

• Presidential Elections

  

  See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.

• County election profiles

  

  A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production

• Latest from Dove Valley

  

  Click for more broncos videos.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  No. 44 means a lot to Floyd Little