Who is the GOP leader now?

With Bill Owens’ financial surrogate Bruce Benson in line to possibly take the job as CU president, the Inside Edge has been looking over the leadership in the GOP to try to figure out who really runs the party.

If you’re a Democrat you have to be pretty happy with how it lines up.  

Clearly, the days of Owens and Benson are over.

Even assuming that Owens popularity will sit on hold until he decides to run in 2010 for US Senate or some other spot, the formerly conservative Governor has a lot of bridges to mend. Right now, no one listens to him, especially without Benson in tow.

Plus Owens’ string of defeats is impressive:

2004 was a bad year for the GOP under his leadership. He put his money on Pete Coors and lost. He backed Referendum C and won, but it was a victory that for him is indistinguishable from a defeat for how it leaves him in the GOP. This election cycle he put early money on Romney and lost there too.

While some see Dick Wadhams as the party leader, so far the results have been mixed. Wadhams had his hands full retiring old Republican debt, but there are some who think that Wadhams’ best days are past.

“He wasn’t a whole lot of help to Senator Allen,” said one Virginia activist. “He took a guy who had a great chance at being President of the United States and didn’t do much with him. You want to know where the genuine ‘conservative’ presidential candidate is? Ask Wadhams. He left him in Virginia.”

Also lost amongst the mix of party leaders are the minority leaders in both the Colorado House and the Senate.

While House Minority Leader Mike May plots to run for Secretary of State should Mike Coffman vacate that post after a winning congressional bid, some see that as just wishful thinking.

“May supported tax increases in Douglas County,” says one House 44 Republican. “He carried the anti-family mandatory STD vaccination bill and he picked the only pro abortion candidate in the presidential race and served as his Colorado co-chair. Mike’s lucky conservatives are not organizing against him in his own district. As a matter of fact, they might be. I would not be surprised to see a primary there.”

That leaves Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany.

“McElhany is practically invisible as a leader,” says one GOP staffer.

Some are pinning their hopes on US Senate candidate Bob Schaffer.

“Schaffer is really the key to rebuilding the party here,” says our House 44 source. “He’s unquestionably the best leader the GOP has. He hasn’t compromised, he’s a good speaker and he gets it intellectually. He wins, then we work on getting Beauprez back in the game somehow. Then we recruit new candidates like mad.”

With such a simple plan, can you see now why Democrats will be delighted?