Tight polls imperil Hickenloopers “No Mud” strategy

Democrat John Hickenlooper has repeatedly vowed to run no negative ads in his campaign for Colorado governor, but that was before Tom Tancredo pulled within 4 percentage points.

Now campaign watchers are waiting to see how much longer the Hickenlooper campaign can continue to ignore Mr. Tancredo's insurgent American Constitution Party candidacy. A Rasmussen Reports poll released Friday showed the Denver mayor ahead of Mr. Tancredo by a margin of 42 percent to 38 percent, his smallest lead to date.

For Tancredo supporters, it's not a question of whether the mud will fly, but when. At a campaign rally Saturday, a jubilant Tancredo crowd jammed into the Stampede bar and dance club here past a handwritten sign at the door asking for donations to counter "the negative ads we know are coming!"

"It'll probably come with a vengeance, but what I've learned about this business is that you want to be the candidate with the momentum at the end," said former Rep. Bob Beauprez, one of many Colorado Republicans who turned out to fire up the gathering.     – More -