Tancredo Launches Third-Party Run

Tom Tancredo has officially launched a third-party campaign for governor of Colorado. The former congressman has issued an ultimatum to the two Republicans running for the GOP nomination, telling them that if they don’t get out of the race, they’ll face him as a potential spoiler. Tancredo believes both candidates are fatally flawed. Ex-frontrunner Scott McInnis is embroiled in a plagiarism scandal, and Tea Party favorite Dan Maes has been accused of major campaign finance violations, Politico explains.

Tancredo will run with the American Constitutional Party—its previous candidate, Ben Goss, has agreed to step aside. “I think Maes is hapless,” Goss says. In a general election, “he’ll look like a third party candidate.” That might give the more famous Tancredo a chance, but the ACP’s extreme conservative Christian agenda won’t do him any favors, warns the Colorado Independent. The party's official platform states, for example, that AIDS prevention initiatives subsidize “perverted or promiscuous sexual conduct.”