But he's going to need some of Bourne's skills to survive the bad PR currently raining down upon him.
Not only has former Senator Hank Brown withdrawn his previous endorsement (and done so with extreme prejudice) in the wake of questions about that undercover claim, among other things, but now, representatives of the Liberty Movement whose support was largely responsible for Maes's Republican primary win want a sit-down with him to discuss recent developments.
The latter include 9.12 Project Colorado Coalition chair Lu Busse, who recently shared her experiences at this past weekend's Glenn Beck's Restore Honor rally in Washington, D.C.
Corresponding by e-mail, Busse writes, "A group of us need to speak to Dan Maes and hear his side first. It is possible that the current issues are more media hype and spin rather than actual facts as several stories about him have been, so we owe it to Mr. Maes to hear his answers to our members' questions before possibly adding to the spin and speculation."
Thus far, members of organizations like Busse's have largely ignored mainstream media attacks on Maes, with whom they've built a personal relationship thanks to his many appearances at grassroots events over the past eighteen months-plus. Moreover, the Tea Party isn't a monolithic entity -- and Busse isn't the equivalent of Colorado GOP boss Dick Wadhams, who recently declared Democratic guv candidate John Hickenlooper the luckiest guy in the world.
Still, their sense that Maes has some 'splainin' to do suggests that his credibility issues could undermine any real chance at victory in a year when Republicans running for major office seem to have a huge built-in advantage.
