Despite mounting pressure from the GOP establishment and Tea Party groups to get out of the governor’s race, Republican Dan Maes continued to dig in his heels Thursday, saying he wasn’t going anywhere.

“This is a culture war, a culture war between the people and the machine, and we’re going to find out who controls things,” Maes said. “I am not getting out of the race.”

The calls for Maes to step aside are just the latest – but perhaps most significant – obstacles he has faced in his unlikely ascent from political novice and Tea Party favorite to party nominee.

Embroiled in two months of controversies ranging from paying a record $17,500 fine for campaign-finance violations to alleging that the Denver

bicycle-sharing program could “threaten our personal freedoms” and result in U.S. cities becoming a tool for a United Nations agenda, Maes has shifted the blame for his missteps onto the media, his opponents and the GOP establishment.

Read more: GOP, Tea Party leaders back away from Maes – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15979509#ixzz0yTsc8sJj