UPDATED 5:36 p.m | Includes comment from GOP state chairman Dick Wadhams.

Former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo demanded today that the two GOP gubernatorial candidates drop out of the race.

If they don’t, he said he will run for governor as an American Constitution Candidate, a move likely to split the Republican Party in November’s general election.

“There’s nothing left to split. The reality is that with the two candidates we have, we will lose the general election,” Tancredo said in an interview.

Tancredo called upon Scott McInnis and Dan Maes to commit to leaving the race Aug. 11, just hours following the results of the primary. That way a Republican vacancy committee could appoint a replacement. Tancredo said he doesn’t care if the substitute is not himself.

He gave both candidates until noon on Monday to release public statements agreeing to his terms.

“If they don’t, I’m going to run as hard as a I can and I won’t get out,” he said.   Read more....