While American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo stayed in character by telling the Pueblo Chieftain that cracking down on illegal immigration in Colorado would help reduce the state’s budget deficit, Republican Dan Maes dubbed Tancredo an “illegal immigrant” (via the Denver Daily News). “We’ve got an illegal immigrant in the system right now and it’s a minor party candidate who didn’t go through the system and he went in the side door at the last minute and he’s trying to take a job away from someone who earned it,” said Maes on the Caplis and Silverman Show earlier this week. The Atlantic chimed in on the matter, calling it fodder for those who love “outrageous buffoonery” in politics.

Meanwhile, questions about Maes’ character continue to surface, the latest from The Colorado Independent, which checked on Maes’ claim that he repaid a questionable $300 contribution back to longtime GOP activist Freda Poundstone. Poundstone says she never received a check: “If he says he paid me back it is totally a lie, but we know he’s a liar.”

The news waters have remained relatively calm for Democrat John Hickenlooper, but unaffiliated candidate Jason Clark, who found his running mate on Craigslist, is probably going to have to take out another ad. Victoria Adams, who was running for lieutenant governor, has left the Clark bandwagon, claiming he hates women and mistreats his staff, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.