Conservative's conservative bowing out of state Senate race

State Sen. Dave Schultheis, the Colorado Springs Republican generally regarded as the most conservative member of the legislature, announced Tuesday that he won’t run for re-election in 2010.

Schultheis, 69, said he would finish his term but wanted to spend more time with his family. He denied that he felt any pressure from other Republicans who regard him as a liability for the party.

“It’s a hard day for me, very difficult,” he said, but added that when people approached him to ask when he was going to formally announce that he was seeking re-election, it was “getting increasingly awkward for me to try to dodge questions and still be truthful.”

Schultheis’ Senate District 9 includes northern Colorado Springs and Black Forest. He was elected in 2006 after serving three terms in the state House of Representatives.

Schultheis faced a primary challenge from Tom McDowell, who argued that those like Schultheis who hold hard-line views on social issues like abortion and gay marriage — and who try to use those views as a litmus test for Republican candidates — were costing the GOP a chance to regain a legislative majority.

“I don’t, and never have, questioned Schultheis’ sincerity,” McDowell said Tuesday. “I think that makes for an honorable politician.”

But if McDowell was conciliatory, Schultheis was not.

“He’s not a serious contender in any way,” Schultheis said. “His ideas are way outside the boundaries of what the conservatives want.”

Schultheis was a perennial sponsor of legislation to outlaw abortion and crack down on illegal immigration. In an e-mailed statement, he showed no signs of retreating from his positions.

“During my years in the Legislature, I have purposely never sought a leadership position, as I believed my role was to stand firmly against every temptation to moderate my conservative views for greater acceptance by the caucus,” he wrote. “As a result, I felt free and unencumbered, to hold high the banner of each and every conservative principle that Republicans say they believe in, and to do so without compromise.”

Schultheis made headlines in February when, explaining his vote against a bill requiring pregnant women to be tested for HIV, he said AIDS babies will teach society about the risks of promiscuous sex. Schultheis was accused of not caring about the health of the unborn.

At the state and national levels, the Republican Party has pushed in 2009 to reassert itself as the party of smaller government, emphasizing fiscal issues and downplaying social ones. But Schultheis said no one pressured him to quit.

He said “I have my hopes” but was not ready to announce his preference for a successor.

State Rep. Kent Lambert is a Schultheis protege who took over Schultheis’ old House seat and shares the senator’s ideology. He did not rule out running for his mentor’s seat.

“I’m going to think about it for a couple of days,” said Lambert, who was appointed this year to the powerful Joint Budget Committee. “I’ll make some kind of announcement sometime this week, maybe.”

McDowell said a campaign against Lambert would be much the same as one against Schultheis. “I have to change my signs a little bit,” McDowell said. “As far as I can tell, he and Schultheis think exactly alike.”

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