Hoo boy. Colorado's just been a GOP killing field this past week. On Thursday, the secretary of state's office announced that the final two Republicans hoping to get on the June primary ballot, rich guy Robert Blaha and former Aurora City Councilor Ryan Frazier, had both failed to make it; a few days earlier, ex-state Rep. Jon Keyser met with the same fate. All candidates were required to submit at least 1,500 signatures from registered Republicans in each of the state's seven congressional districts, but according to election officials, Blaha fell short in three districts and Frazier in four.
However, their problems sound much graver than Keyser's, whose sole issue involved a single petition-gatherer whose address on his affidavits did not match his voter registration record because, he said, he'd moved recently. Blaha and Frazier, says the secretary of state, had their signatures rejected "for a variety of reasons, including the signer was not a Republican, the signer's address did not match voter registration records, duplicate signatures and notary errors." Keyser is challenging his case in court and may well succeed, but Blaha and Frazier's mistakes are a lot harder to overcome.
Blaha and Frazier (this is starting to sound like either the world's worst law firm or the world's worst buddy-cop show) can also both head to court, and they have five days to do so. Frazier sounds like he's ready to, saying he's "fully prepared to win that argument"; Blaha hadn't said anything as of this writing. For the moment, only two Republicans have actually made it on the ballot: former Colorado State University athletic director Jack Graham, whose petitions checked out, and El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, who secured a spot by winning the support of delegates at a recent state convention. Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet has got to be enjoying himself watching this clown-car pileup.