In this swing state, Republican candidate Bob Beauprez says he'll stick to the conservative values God, community and patriotism that shaped his political values and indicate the kind of governor he says he would be.
Beauprez says he forged his political mettle in the flames of 9/11, asked God for advice, entered the race for Congress six months later, and stood with his friend President George W. Bush and all things Republican during his four years in Washington.
Those values seemed to hurt him in 2006, when he left Congress and lost the governor's race by 17 points after his GOP primary opponent hung him with the nickname "Both Ways Bob," for his allegedly shifting positions that followed Beauprez through the last election and into this one.
His opponents are trying hard to resurrect 8-year-old talking points to scare off unaffiliated voters, only to see Beauprez effectively tie his race against incumbent John Hickenlooper.
Beauprez doesn't back down from his conservative principles.
This month, at a 9/11 remembrance in Broomfield, Beauprez huddled with his wife, Claudia, under a golf umbrella on a cold, wet morning.
Afterward, walking away, he recalled the attacks 13 years earlier. He was making breakfast when he heard his wife cry out to him as she saw the Twin Towers burning on TV in another room.
"And it all began," he said, referring to the role he has played in state and federal Republican politics and the calling 9/11 gave him to run for public office. "I remember the days after that, literally praying, 'I'm supposed to do something. Show me the way.' "
As he entered his first race for public office half a year later, he told The Denver Post that "I've found my moment in time."
With Colorado adding a new congressional district that year, then-Sen. Wayne Allard called Beauprez and urged him to run. Beauprez explained he didn't live in that district.
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Bob Beauprez says he would adhere to conservative principles