Tancredo ruled legal candidate

A Hail Mary pass fell to the ground unclaimed by any eligible receiver today when Denver District Judge William Hood ruled that Tom Tancredo is in fact eligible under state law to run for governor on the American Constitution Party ticket.

The lawsuit filed just days ago sought to have Tancredo disqualified on the grounds that he had not been a member of the party long enough to qualify to be a candidate.

The suit was filed by Joseph Harrington of Highlands Ranch and Marian Olson of Golden. Both are registered Republicans and both have contributed to the campaign of Republican nominee Dan Maes.

The judge ruled in part that party bylaws trump state law in terms of determining a candidate’s eligibility. He also noted that the rules would have been different had former Republican Tancredo been originally nominated by the American Constitution Party, but he was not. The party had a candidate who withdrew from the race to make room for Tancredo.

His withdrawal established a vacancy which the party could then fill. The rules for filling vacancies are less stringent than the rules for nominating a candidate in the first place.

“Huge victory today,” Tancredo said in a release. “I will be on the ballot in November.

“The high-paid Republican lawyers managed to present a case that was weaker than their candidate,” added Tancredo. “Their attempt to impede my candidacy has now failed in the courts as well as on the campaign trail. Now our focus must turn to the liberal mayor of the sanctuary city of Denver.”

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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