"He never believed that was going to happen right up until the polls closed," Strauch says. "He was confident he would be in the double digits, and in fact, he was."
Not that the Maes faithful who gathered at his election-night watch party were able to celebrate his achievement in a baggage-free way.
"There were a lot of emotions in the room," Strauch points out. "A number of people were angry at what they perceived to be media bias, or they were angry at Tom Tancredo for entering the race.
"But as far as the overriding emotion, there was a sense of accomplishment," he continues. "Most of his supporters feel as though, despite the fact that he wasn't elected to be governor, there was still a great deal accomplished as far as proving that it's the people who control the party."
When asked to comment about the contest as a whole, Strauch says, "The election year in general was extraordinary in a number of different ways, but the governor's race even more so" -- an understatement on par with, "The Titanic is kind of a big boat."
As for Maes's future, Strauch points out that "he's said he's going back to the private sector. Beyond that, I couldn't speculate."
Luckily for us, Westword investigative cartoonist Kenny Be can, and did...
More from our Kenny Be/Comics archive: "Dan Maes résumé rewrite highlights campaign experience: Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario."
