Some Republican presidential candidates have been taking it on the chin – or chins, in one case – in Colorado this past week.

The political action committee launched last November by former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo aimed at stopping New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential aspirations — aptly named the Stop Chris Christie PAC — all but suspended operations this week, announcing that Christie had effectively stalled his own run and wouldn’t be needing any help.

Long-time Mesa County conservative activist Tom Bjorklund, the PAC’s treasurer, patiently explained in a letter to an FEC bureaucrat that the committee was not “affiliated” with Christie but was, instead, intended to “stop” his candidacy. After providing an excerpt from the Oxford English Dictionary to clarify exactly what the PAC’s creators meant by the word “stop,” Bjorklund wrote that the entire endeavor was “rather moot.”

“Our decision to cease and desist the PAC is not due to your letter, but instead is based on recent polling and the miserable showing of the candidate in question (namely Chris Christie). Our committee believes Mr. Christie has already performed the service of stopping his campaign in spirit, (without our aid) even if not by the letter of the law.” Therefore, Bjorklund concluded, the Stop Chris Christie PAC organizers intend to stop their own PAC before Sept. 25. According to the most recent reports, the PAC had only raised $1,300

Tancredo launched the effort to much fanfare last year, following what he charged — and some campaign law watchdogs confirmed — was an effort by Christie, who headed the Republican Governors Association, to put a thumb on the scale in Colorado’s GOP gubernatorial primary, funneling money through a Republican Attorneys General organization to quash Tancredo’s run for governor and help former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez win the nomination. (Beauprez edged Tancredo in a four-way primary and went on to lose to Gov. John Hickenlooper in November.)

This week’s developments don’t mean Tancredo is satisfied with the presidential field minus Christie, however. In an interview, Tancredo told MSNBC that he is considering setting his sights on another candidate. “If I had my druthers,” he said, “we would turn attention to Jeb Bush.”

Later in the week, House Speaker John Boehner raised some eyebrows at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in Steamboat Springs when the Republican called presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a “jackass,” keeping alive the bitter feud between the more establishment House Republicans and Cruz, the Daily Caller reported on Thursday.

It all went down on Wednesday night at Steamboat’s Ghost Ranch, where about 100 people showed up to support Tipton. (Tipton’s spokesman didn’t return Chatter’s request for comment.) Cruz has won fame among firebrand conservatives as the “real” leader of a group of rowdy House Republicans, often thumbing his nose at GOP congressional leadership, calling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a “liar” in a recent tussle. It seems Boehner is returning the favor.

— info@coloradostatesman.com