The Denver Post is reporting that about 20 current and former Republican elected officials in Colorado — along with Congressman Steve King of Iowa — have come out and endorsed Tom Tancredo over GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes. Maes won the primary after former Republican frontrunner Scott McInnis got caught up in a plagiarism scandal. Tancredo responded by bolting the party and running as the American Constitution Party candidate.

Recent polls show that Tancredo and Maes are splitting the GOP vote, essentially handing Hickenlooper a victory. Tancredo is hoping that enough Republicans will decide to throw their support behind him to make the race competitive.

“These endorsements tell every Republican that it’s OK to vote for Tom Tancredo, even if I’m in another party, because I would be a Republican governor,” he said.

Haley Barbour has already hinted that the Republican Governors Association is giving up on this race. “We have spent money in Colorado. Past tense,” the RGA chair told National Journal. Ford O’Connell and Steve Pearson recently wrote about the Maes-Tancredo split on the main site.