Another Name for the CO-GOP Senate Primary

Colorado: The Rocky Mountain News has the goods on another possible entry into the CO-GOP Senate primary:

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn, a political rookie who made a surprising showing in a Republican congressional primary last year, said he is being urged to run to replace the retiring Sen. Wayne Allard.

"We’re considering it. We’re talking to a lot of people," Rayburn said in a telephone interview Friday. "If I decide it’s right to get into that fight, I need to get in right away."

Rayburn said one factor he is considering is his admiration for another Republican who is considering the race, former Congressman Bob Schaffer, a Republican.

"If he was to tell me tomorrow (that) he was going to run, that would completely change around my decision process," Rayburn said.

Schaffer has said he is considering the race but that he has no timetable for announcing a decision.

Rayburn "describes himself as a 'social conservative' and 'fiscal conservative,'" which means that there will likely be one conservative, be it Schaffer or Rayburn, pulling McInnis to the right. Hopefully, though, only one or the other will get in so that they don't fracture the super-conservative vote, allowing McInnis to sit tight with the moderate-conservative vote. Colorado Pols thinks that is the case:

Our view: Rayburn isn't announcing his candidacy, he doesn't have a realistic chance statewide and he knows it -- he's paving the way for Bob Schaffer to announce his candidacy, and setting Schaffer up as the credible alterative to McInnis with the conservative rank-and-file. Pretty smart.

Works for me. The CO-GOP Senate primary is shaping up to be my favorite potential-train-wreck race of the whole 2008 cycle.

UPDATE (1:12pm): Quick hits on Major General Bentley Rayburn from his 2006 Congressional race: he had trouble finding financial support from inside Colorado; and his supporters did not heed military rules or religious sensitivity.