Colorado Progressive

More support came out today to suggest that Colorado gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis’s apparent popularity just a few months ago was really a statement about Governor Bill Ritter’s unpopularity. Via Colorado Pols, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has dropped Colorado from the list of governorships likely to change parties this year. The Pols post cites four reasons for the shift:

1. “Democrat John Hickenlooper is really popular.”
2. “Republican Scott McInnis lost his best narrative for winning when Gov. Bill Ritter announced he would not run for re-election.”
3. “McInnis can talk about building business and growing jobs, but Hickenlooper has actually done it in the private sector. Repeatedly.”
4. “An incredible 37 Governors are up for re-election in 2010, including 22 that are open seats. Hick is going to raise as much (and likely more) money than McInnis, and given all the points above, it’s hard to see how McInnis is going to convince big national GOP interests that his race is worthy of top-tier consideration.”

Reasons two and four strike me as the most important for the McInnis campaign to reckon. Scott McInnis never really had to introduce himself to the public early in his bid, because the important thing was he wasn’t Bill Ritter.  Now, Team McInnis must recast the narrative–and point three from Colorado Pols nails the challenge there–and get his fundraising machine well oiled and tanked up, potentially without a lot of help from the national Republican party.