Leaders of 21 groups sent him an open letter urging him to stay out of the contest and work with the Republican Party to defeat Mr. Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver and one of the state's best-known Democrats.
Colorado has emerged as one of the nation's premier purple states. It voted for Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, but backed Democrat Barack Obama four years later. Facing what was expected to be a tough re-election fight, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. announced in January he would not run for a second term.
Mr. Tancredo had other strikes against him. After serving five terms in Congress and running for president, he was considered a career politician and therefore unacceptable to many tea-party activists. His credentials as a conservative also were called into question over his vote in favor of funding the Wall Street bailout and the auto-industry bailout a year later, both of which were anathema to the movement.
At the same time, however, Mr. Maes has been sinking fast in the polls after his surprise win over scandal-plagued former Rep. Scott McInnis in the August Republican primary. Since then, the relatively inexperienced nominee has been losing credibility with Republican voters over revelations of his own campaign ethics woes and accusations of resume-padding.
"They were angry, but when they found out their guy wasn't who he said he was, they've been coming over," said Mrs. Buchanan.
Meanwhile, a wave of prominent Colorado Republicans had announced they would cross party lines and vote for Mr. Tancredo. Mr. Tancredo's dramatic rise in the polls - he gained about five points per week in September - convinced many grass-roots voters to back the horse with the best chance of winning.
So far, the Hickenlooper campaign hasn't paid much attention to Mr. Tancredo's insurgent candidacy, but as the third-party candidate inches closer, that may change.
"There's not been any negative advertising against [Tancredo]," said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli. "It'll have to come from independents - Hickenlooper can't have his hands on it. But if he gets close enough, the Democratic opposition and independent-expenditure committees will have to jump in."
A Rasmussen Reports poll released Oct. 4 showed Mr. Hickenlooper still leading with 43 percent of the vote, but Mr. Tancredo was a clear second with 35 percent of the vote, his best showing of the campaign. Mr. Maes trails with 16 percent.
"It's happened in stages," Mrs. Busse said. "Now the latest wave is people who think [Mr. Tancredo] can beat Hickenlooper. The one thing we all agree on is that we don't want Hickenlooper to be governor of Colorado."
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