Tancredo: Maes is "completely wrong"

Tom Tancredo didn't seriously think he would win when he ran for president two years ago. He only had one mission in mind and that was to force his GOP opponents to take a stance on illegal immigration.

But his run for governor of Colorado is different.

“The difference is when I was running for president, I really thought we had candidates who were competent,” Tancredo said in an interview Friday. “That's not the case in this race. The Republican party fielded a candidate for this office that is completely wrong.”

In the beginning, Tancredo had a horse in the race, Josh Penry — “a young dynamic, I thought up-and-coming star in the Republican party,” he said — but his horse dropped out. When the GOP was left with just Maes and former Western Slope congressman Scott McInnis, who became immersed in a plagiarism scandal, Tancredo said he grew concerned for his party and started thinking about running.

“At the time Scott McInnis was a much better pick and in fact today he is,” Tancredo said. “I recognize all of Scott's problem but I'm telling you, in comparison to what we've got … When they were the last two standing and we became aware of the problems Scott had, and I was certainly aware of the problems Maes had, I said just make a public statement that on Aug. 10 if you're not ahead of Mayor Hickenlooper (the Democratic gubernatorial candidate), you will resign and we'll put someone in who will win. They chose not to, so when it came time I thought to myself there is no way I can possibly sit here and watch this shipwreck occur.”    - More -