Wearing only a T-shirt and jeans and sunglasses as he rode his Harley Davidson down South Broadway in Littleton yesterday, gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo was struck when a car merging into traffic cut him off. “She just didn’t see me,” the 64-year-old Tancredo tells 7News.

“It sent me flying and the motorcycle flying about 40 or 50 yards along the ground. It is the darnedest thing. I’m conscious. I’m just sliding along the pavement. It seemed like it was forever.”

Tancredo, who was not wearing a helmet (and who has in the past opposed measures to mandate helmets for motorcyclists), simply skidded to a stop and is now fine, except for a few bruises. His watch and glasses were broken, however.

“I am a lucky person. I got up and I thought to myself, ‘I’m in one piece here; I’m vertical, and thank you, Lord,” Tancredo says.

On Friday, the nominee of the American Constitution Party was arguing jobs and the economy with Democrat John Hickenlooper and Republican Dan Maes. There was some contention between Tancredo and Maes on the issue of third-party candidacy.

“It is absolutely true that there is a third-party candidate on this stage,” Tancredo said during a debate sponsored by the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance (via The Greeley Tribune). “It is interesting what that definition might be—third-party candidate,” he went on. “Is it the candidate whose own party asked him to leave the race? Is it the candidate who has been unable to raise any money whatsoever for anything other than gas reimbursement and fines that he has had to pay?”