AURORA | Jason Clark, an Aurora resident and West Point graduate who works as an independent investment advisor, says he’s running for governor in November again. This time he’s running as a Republican.
In 2010, Clark ran as an unaffiliated candidate against incumbent John Hickenlooper, and received less than 1 percent of the vote in that race. He attracted media attention during his campaign for stints like spoofing Hickenlooper’s shower commercial with one where he stripped down to his boxers.
Clark says his strategy this year will be different.
“The first step in this process is to win the Republican primary. That is 100 percent of my focus. I’m not going to petition to do the ballot at this point,” he said.
He also says his background in finance gives him unique knowledge as a contender. On his campaign website he touts lower taxes rather than no taxes, and other Reagan-era, limited-government principles.
Clark says he’s part of a generation of Republicans who want to change the way people view the party. He points to Colorado using more energy-efficient technology, even though he says he doesn’t believe in global warming.
“Hydroelectricity gives you zero carbon emissions, and it works almost as good as coal, or other forms of energy. As we have the mountain range, and 70 percent of the people live along the Front Range, if you built a dam, you could use hydroelectricity to power the entire Front Range,” he said.
Clark has steep competition for a spot on the state’s Republican ticket. Among the five candidates he faces are Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler and former Congressman Tom Tancredo.
“Integrity is important to me,” Clark said. “Tancredo and Gessler, I don’t think either of them have the character, trustworthiness, or integrity to lead.”
Floyd Ciruli, a pollster and political analyst based in Denver, said Colorado tends to get more outsider candidates for elections because it’s relatively easy to get on the ballot compared to other states.
“There are a lot of voters in this state that are not particularly wedded to the two political parties. They’ll vote for fringe candidates,” he said.
“We have very easy access to the ballot here. Lots of states charge more or make you turn in lots of signatures. If you have a little bit of commitment, you can do it here.”
According to Ciruli, fringe candidates rarely win a gubernatorial race, no matter how
colorful.
“In Colorado, between 5 and 8 percent of the votes goes to marginal candidates,” he said.
Hickenlooper has lead over
challengers
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper holds a comfortable lead over his potential Republican challengers, and 52 percent of Colorado voters approve of his job performance, according to a poll released last week.
The Quinnipiac University Poll found that voters were split 45 percent to 45 percent on whether the governor deserves re-election but preferred him by margins of six points or higher against the Republicans vying for the chance to face him in
November.
“It’s a fairly comfortable lead,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. “The governor’s pretty popular.”
Voters gave Hickenlooper high marks on leadership and his handling of the economy. They disagreed with his stance on guns and the death penalty. Hickenlooper suspended the death sentence of Nathan Dunlap who was due to be executed last year.