Colorado entered the national political spotlight Friday as seven Republican presidential contenders visit Denver this weekend for a conservative summit designed to test their appeal to the party faithful.
The Western Conservative Summit, now in its sixth year, is establishing itself as an important stop on the road to the White House in 2016 and reinforces Colorado’s key role as as a swing state and host of a crucial GOP debate in October.
“It’s an opportunity for them to make their case, and it’s an opportunity for them to recruit activists to the campaign,” said Ryan Call, the former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. “This is where it starts.”
The three-day event at the Colorado Convention Center — which is expected to draw 4,000 conservative activists and more than 100 members of the media — also embodies the complicated path to the Republican nomination.
And Colorado is a testing ground for what may work nationwide given the strong split in the party among social conservatives, libertarians and business-minded establishment Republicans.
“It is an interesting microcosm of the challenges that the party faces across the country,” Call said. “And frankly, if the candidate can figure out how to pull the coalition together in Colorado, it signals the strength of the candidate around the country.”
The Western Conservative Summit is traditionally dominated by social conservatives, who often set the terms of the conversation in the early stages of the presidential contest.
In 2012, Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, emerged as the top vote-getter in the Colorado Republican caucuses, and Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, two other activist favorites, won the prior two straw polls at the summit.
This year’s straw poll — which offers an indication of popularity but little more — features 18 possible candidates, including Mitt Romney, who announced he will not seek the nomination.
The summit will draw Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a top tier contender and a Colorado Springs native who lived in the state until age 10; former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; and familiar GOP names such as Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and Rick Perry. But three of the party’s top contenders, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, will not attend.
“Contrary to the fretting of some people that there are too many contenders in the Republican field, I think it signals that after seven years of President Obama, there is vast center-right coalition coming together seeing an opportunity to turn the country in a different direction after 2016,” said John Andrews, a former Republican state senate president and the event’s organizer as the director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.
At this point, most Republican voters in Colorado remain undecided, but a debate is raging about which type of candidate is the best pick.
The question, said Dick Wadhams, a longtime Western political observer and former Colorado GOP chairman, is whether the candidates that galvanize the activists at the summit can find a broader appeal.
“What I sense among Republican activists is such a hunger to win this election,” he said. “And it’s more than just nominating the strongest conservative, the most eloquent speaker on conservative principles. … I think the people who attend the summit are going to be looking to candidates and saying, ‘Can you win a national election against Hillary Clinton?’ “
But a focus on who can win misses the mark, said Jim Pfaff, the Douglas County GOP chairman and a prominent social conservative.
“We played the electability game for the last few presidential cycles in the Republican Party, and we’ve consistently failed,” he said. “We are going to have to shift to who can put out the best Republican vision, and that’s really the debate we are having in this primary.”
So far, most candidates are focused on the early nominating states. Colorado’s caucuses are expected to take place the first Tuesday in March. But a few GOP candidates are establishing roots in the state and tapping donors.
Bush held an energy town hall in Denver in April and held fundraisers and multiple campaign events for Republicans in the past year. Carson, Perry and Huckabee all attended prior Western Conservative Summits and will attend again this year. Cruz attended the event in 2013 but won’t make the trip this year. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is also planning to attend ahead of speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival next week.
Paul is making a campaign trip two days after the summit ends and will hold a fundraiser that signals an early organization. The hosts for the event, which requires a minimum $1,000 donation to attend according to the invitation, include J.J. Hendricks, Jon Hotaling and former state Sen. Scott Renfroe, all names familiar in libertarian and Tea Party circles.
Tom Lucero, a national Republican consultant and former University of Colorado regent, recalled how Herman Cain won the straw poll four years ago at the summit and the dividends it paid.
“He had a team seemingly overnight of grassroots people saying who is this guy and where did he come from,” he said. “So a good performance at the summit can lead to some good momentum in Colorado.
“You would definitely want to take advantage of Colorado in June of 2015,” Lucero added. “Because if you lay that groundwork now and you eventually become the nominee, it’s going to pay huge dividends for you in November 2016.”
John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byjohnfrank
