John Hickenlooper might be winning the polls in the governor’s race, but if any candidate can claim momentum, it’s Tom Tancredo, who is running under the banner of the American Constitution Party. Tancredo has closed August’s 10-point deficit with Republican Dan Maes and is leading him for the first time, 25 percent to 21 percent, notes Politico.

While that’s still miniscule compared to Democrat Hickenlooper’s 46 percent, the news has to be especially welcome on the same day that former Republican Congressman Tancredo beat a legal challenge by Maes supporters to have his name dumped from the ballot.

Among other tactics, plaintiffs argued ACP rules mandate that a person must be a member of the political party’s ticket they’re campaigning on for at least six months before running. But Tancredo’s attorney says minor parties are allowed to set their own standards for nominating candidates, an argument that won over Judge William Hood, who said the court “should not decide a constitutional issue unless the necessity for such decision is clear and inescapable” (via CW2).

The matter has left the Tancredo campaign a bit ticked off. Campaign operations manager Cliff Dodge tells Westword that while he “can’t speak to anybody else’s motives,” it seems “there were a lot of people interested in keeping Tom off the ballot.”