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Monday October 25, 2010


Pro-Life Independent Tom Tancredo Surges to Virtual Tie in Colorado Gov. Race

By Peter J. Smith

DENVER, Colorado, October 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The race for Colorado’s governorship now shows a virtual tie between former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a pro-life 3rd party candidate, and pro-abortion Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

Tancredo, a staunch pro-life, pro-family advocate known for his anti-illegal-immigration views, has surged into a dead heat with Hickenlooper, now that GOP candidate Dan Maes campaign has collapsed amid allegations of campaign finance abuse and flip-flopping on the issues.

Running on the American Constitution Party (ACP) ticket, Tancredo now picks up 43 percent of the vote, according to a poll of 1067 likely voters by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies. Hickenlooper (D) leads by one point at 44 percent, while Maes trails in third at a meager 9 percent. The poll has a +/- 3 percent margin of error.

Magellan reveals that Tancredo is snapping up the support of most registered Republicans and has an edge over Hickenlooper when it comes to Independent voters. Seventy-eight percent of GOP voters have lined up behind Tancredo, abandoning Maes (15 percent), and 46 percent of Independents support Tancredo over Hickenlooper (38 percent).

Based on current trends, Magellan said a Tancredo surge would “not be surprising” on election day, especially if Maes support drops to 5 percent, and Independents continue to line up behind the ACP candidate.

A Public Policy Polling poll showed Hickenlooper over Tancredo by three points, within the poll’s +/- 3.4 percent margin of error, making the race a toss-up. However, the PPP findings also confirm Tancredo locking up the GOP vote (73 percent), and that he has a 46-44 edge with independents over Hickenlooper.

Hickenlooper was reported by the Denver Post to be an “abortion rights” supporter. The Denver mayor is endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado’s political action committee (PAC).

Tancredo entered the race after Maes captured the GOP primary nomination, saying that the scandal-plagued Maes was unable to beat the pro-abortion Democrat from Denver and should have given up the race so the GOP state committee could select a better candidate.

Tancredo’s bid was met initially with much ridicule from political pundits, and was expected to play a GOP spoiler, handing the governor’s race to Hickenlooper. Now the pundits are singing a different tune as Tancredo, not Maes, is in a position to seize the governorship on November 2.

During his ten years in Congress, Tancredo earned solid 100 percent ratings from the National Right to Life Committee, and zero percent ratings from the abortion advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Both Tancredo and Maes have expressed support for Amendment 62, a Colorado ballot measure that would define personhood in state law to apply to human beings from the beginning of biological development. This would ban abortion and most forms of artificial birth control.

Maes also espouses pro-life positions on abortion, but angered some Colorado pro-life advocates for his selection of former state representative Tambor Williams as running mate, and hedging on major pro-life issues. Williams stated in August that she was “probably pro-life,” but then went on to say, “ I think there are times when pro-life has to give way to the best of choices”

For his part, Maes made a misstep by stating that while he is pro-life, the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is law of the land and he “would not try to undo that.” Later he said that while he endorsed Amendment 62, he believed it only had symbolic effect. Both positions caused Colorado Right to Life to revoke their endorsement and apologize to their constituents, even after Maes said he misspoke.

The last gubernatorial debate is this Friday, October 29, at 9 p.m. MST, on KCNC-TV (local channel 12).

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