DENVER - Bob Beauprez is maintaining a significant lead over Tom Tancredo, Scott Gessler and Mike Kopp with roughly half of the votes counted in Colorado's gubernatorial primary.
With 244,000 votes counted as of 7:30 p.m., Beauprez has taken 31 percent of the vote.
Tancredo is sitting at 26 percent, followed by Gessler at 24 percent and Kopp at 19 percent.
If the lead holds, it'll be a big victory for Colorado's GOP establishment, which will have dodged the bullet of being stuck with Tancredo as the party's nominee to take on Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in November.
If Beauprez claims victory tonight, it's largely because of money - he loaned his campaign more than he raised - and because his biggest opponent, Tancredo, couldn't be bothered to mount much of a campaign, refusing to debate and spending little on paid media.
Beauprez, who entered the race late, spent the most money on paid advertising - TV spots from his campaign and an outside group backing him blanketed the airwaves in the primary's final week.
Tancredo, on the other hand, raised the most money but spent almost none of it on TV ads, relying on a large ad buy by Democrats, who ran a pair of ads aimed at pushing conservative primary voters away from Beauprez and toward Tancredo, who many believe can't win a statewide race.
The former congressmen thought being Tom Tancredo might be enough to win a four-way race; his tactical move pushing his supporters to help Mike Kopp make the primary ballot at the state convention in April was a masterstroke - and it almost worked out.
Entities 0 Name: Tancredo Count: 5 1 Name: Beauprez Count: 4 2 Name: Colorado Count: 2 3 Name: Tom Tancredo Count: 2 4 Name: Mike Kopp Count: 2 5 Name: Bob Beauprez Count: 1 6 Name: GOP Count: 1 7 Name: Scott Gessler Count: 1 8 Name: Kopp Count: 1 9 Name: Gessler Count: 1 10 Name: John Hickenlooper Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1l9ghty Title: Crossroads Upends New York 21st District Primary Description: In New York's sprawling 21st District, a recent influx of more than $1 million from outside groups has catapulted a 29-year-old first-time candidate ahead of the two-time nominee in the Republican primary for this coveted seat.
