More than 75 die-hard conservatives braved a blizzard on Wednesday night to hear Colorado Republican Party chair Ryan Call, who is seeking a third term heading the party, and his challenger, former gubernatorial candidate Steve House, discuss their visions for the GOP at a forum in Greenwood Village.

“We all agree that either one we’d be blessed to have to lead us forward in 2016 for a very important presidential election,” said the forum’s organizer, Arapahoe County Commissioner Nancy Doty, who runs the Colorado Conservatives Denver Meetup group and its monthly gatherings at Las Brisas, a Mexican restaurant.

On the heels of stunning wins in last fall’s election — including unseating an incumbent Democratic senator for the first time in 36 years and retaking control of the state Senate for the first time in a decade — Colorado Republicans will meet on March 14 at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock to elect party leadership.

During the hour-long forum, Call and House took turns answering questions from the audience and presented distinctly different approaches to running the party.

Stressing the years he’s spent “relationship-building,” with party leaders and grassroots organizers, elected officials and donors, Call argued that his experience steering the state party makes a big difference when it comes to winning elections in a decidedly swing state.

“I do think that experience, and relevant experience, matters,” Call said. “I think that if you’re going to provide resources and be a resource to those county chairs, having not just a few months serving as a county chairman” – House chaired the Adams County GOP briefly before stepping down to mount last year’s gubernatorial bid — “but actually seeing through an election cycle — multiple election cycles — matters. Being able to answer the questions that come in on the basis of many years of experience, and having the technical background, really is a valuable resource for our candidates, our party committees and others.”

Call maintained that the stakes are too high to switch party leadership in the face of a historic election.

“It’s a very steep learning curve, and, I think that, especially heading into the presidential election, having an experienced, competent person who knows what they’re doing, that’s been through it multiple times before, and has those relationships to be able to lead to success is what our party needs now,” he said. “I believe right now, in the job of the party chairman, you need someone who has that experience.”

Anticipating Call’s argument, House countered that his experience as county chair and as a statewide candidate count for a lot but contended that his business background means even more.

“Over a 33-year career — I actually went back today and calculated this — we sold over a billion dollars worth of equipment to people,” House said. “For me, running a state party vs. running a $300 million organization for GE Healthcare — there’s probably not too much I haven’t seen from an organizational dynamic point of view. There are rules, there are bylaws, there are things to kind of guide you.” He added, “The reality is, that business experience is going to give me a unique opportunity to connect with people across the state that I know, who are in business, who can get on board with what we’re trying to do, with the process.”

Potential donors, House said, “want us to be honest, they want us to be authentic, they want us to be who we are.”

Asked how the two chair candidates can bring together the sometimes warring factions of the Republican Party, both said it was key to foster diversity under the GOP’s big tent.

“The anger we’re seeing from folks on the right,” Call said, “is well justified, because if you look at the direction the country is headed, we all ought to be passionate and angry about that direction. We need to have a sense that we’re fighting back, but we also, I think, need to make sure we recognize that the Republican Party is a big coalition. It’s not just Tea Party Republicans and libertarians and Ron Paul supporters; it’s also social conservatives and it’s traditional conservatives, it’s folks who attend the chamber of commerce meetings, and maybe it’s folks who aren’t aligned with any party, but are concerned about their children’s education, who don’t want their business subject to oppressive regulation.”

It’s the job of a party leader to keep everyone together, he said.

“We have to recognize that this broad, grand coalition of our party also requires within that coalition that we aren’t going to kick people out of it,” Call said. He cited a recent speech by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who said that “successful political movements are about winning converts, not about purging heretics.”

Call noted that he was concerned that “certain elements within our party that simply want to purge those that they perceive to be heretical or aren’t exactly in line with everything they think they should do.” The differences aren’t usually about goals or principles, but about tactics, he said. In recent years, he added, he’s made sure that Republicans from throughout the party’s spectrum are at the table. “You create seats at the table for that great diversity of viewpoint within our conservative spectrum,” he said, representing geographical and ideological diversity.

House agreed that maintaining diversity in the party is critical, pointing to endorsements from former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, who represent distinct sectors of the GOP. (Call counts Coffman’s husband, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, along with his congressional colleagues Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton and U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner among his backers.)

“You do not want to live in an echo chamber,” House said. “I think that (Republicans) want someone who absolutely believes in our platform, who is principled, and who is supported today already by both the grassroots, Tea Party, liberty folks, and the side of the party that’s represented by Cynthia Coffman.” The Tea Party and more traditional Republicans aren’t that far apart, he maintained. “It’s about honoring the fact that they’re passionately invested.”

It’s important, House said, to understand who the real opponents are.

“We have people in the Tea Party that I refer to as snipers, affectionately,” House said with a grin, “because they sit back and shoot any candidate who says the wrong thing, and I know a bunch of them. And I’ve gone to them and said, ‘Can we get you to aim the gun at the Democrats?’ And they’ve said, ‘If you make me trust Republicans, I will shoot at the Democrats.’ It’s not an easy battle, I’m not going to suggest that it is,” he said. But the real battle is outside the tent, not within it, he added.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com