…to jump into the 2018 guv’s race. The third-term Democratic lawmaker from Thornton served in the Marines; is well-enough liked by the National Rifle Association despite the “D” after his name, and is generally regarded as one of the more moderate Democrats in the General Assembly.

Twitter gave it away, and we must say the way it went down was a bit anti-climactic.

It began as one of those online mystery ad campaigns intended to create buzz. There wasn’t much to it: A slogan, “Run Steve Run” (no comma after Steve) as well as references to, “Colorado governor 2018,” “veteran,” “Fourth Generation Coloradan” and “Served in the U.S. Marine Corps.” We first noticed the pitch in an ad via ColoradoStatesman.com. There’s also a website:

…and a Twitter account with just one follower:

It was a bit intriguing. You had to wonder whether it all would lead to some sort of grand unveiling.

It turned out to culminate in a whimper. After a handful of clues to Steve’s identity, this tweet appeared a few days ago:

Hey, we were ready for more! Mystery solved, but would it really have hurt to string us along a while longer? It was just starting to get fun.

We have a request in to Lebsock for a comment as to what he thought of the micro-campaign run on his behalf – and, presumably, run without his involvement. We’ll update you if / when he circles back with us.