.The last installment of "50 Best" was so super-seriously significant in its profile of the 40th President of the United States that the series deserved a much-needed week vacation. Akin to Jay Leno having to follow Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," Colorado gets the unenviable task of having to follow the most populous (and arguably the most significant for the GOP) state of California in our series. Even more difficult is that one could make the case for a half-dozen Republicans from the Rocky Mountain State to be named as the best the GOP has fielded over the last 50 years. Add to it that there really has been no nationally prominent Republican leader out of Colorado in the last half century. But since someone has to win, the choice is...
.William Armstrong
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William Lester Armstrong was born in Fremont, Nebraska in 1937 and attended Tulane University and the U of Minnesota. He served in the National Guard from 1957-63. Before getting into politics he was both president of a Colorado radio station and worked as a banker. He represented in the Colorado legislature from 1963-72, serving as the state's senate majority leader for the last four years. In 1972, he was elected to Congress from the state's 5th District. He was reelected twice more before being nominated in 1978 to take on incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Floyd "Don't Call Me Eddie" Haskell. Writing about Haskell's death in 1998, The New York Times remarked that "he was defeated for re-election in 1978 by William L. Armstrong, a conservative who ran an aggressive, well-financed campaign against Mr. Haskell, who disdained showmanship and had angered special-interest groups. " Armstrong was victorious by the 2nd-largest margin over a sitting senator during the 1978 general election cycle, winning by more than 18%. He was reelected easily in 1984, using a nice tailwind offered by the national and state landslide victory of Ronald Reagan over Walter Mondale. In the Senate, Armstrong was Republican Policy Committee Chairman from 1985-90. Armstrong did not run for a third Senate term, retiring after 1990. He was succeeded by Republican Hank Brown in 1991. Today he serves as president of Colorado Christian University, having done so since 2006. .
It is for his undefeated state electoral record in his climb up the Colorado hierarchy, his keeping Congressional and Senate seats in Republican hands, and his defeat of an incumbent senator by an enormous margin that earns William J Armstrong Colorado's honor of the "50 Best" crown.
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Honorable Mention: Former U.S. Rep and Senator Hank Brown; Former Governor Bill Owens
.Next Installment: Connecticut
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- 50 Best
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