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Huge news in the Centennial State today. The Denver Post is running a story
Denver mayor hasn't ruled out run for governor:
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Friday told his Cabinet officers that he has not ruled out running for governor, but said that so far he has not found a compelling reason to enter the race.
The mayor told his top appointees that perhaps he should listen to the political activists and supporters who are pressuring him to run, said people who attended the meeting....
In recent weeks, privately commissioned polls found Hickenlooper was popular with voters statewide.
All in all, I see this as great news for Democrats in Colorado and nationwide, enhancing our chances of turning yet another Governor's mansion blue...
There are currently two other Dems who have thrown their hat in the ring: Bill Ritter--former Denver DA and Gary Lindstrom--a current State House Rep from the High Country.
Bill Ritter has been an announced candidate for months, and has a good record of service and back-story that would normally have made him a shoe in for the nod. The problem has been Ritter's stance on abortion. Ritter is Catholic, and says personally he doesn't approve of abortions. However, he's getting in serious trouble with the core Dem voters because of past comments saying if Governor he'd sign legislation limiting access to abortion (if I recall, it was about the state's on-going battle to get Emergency Contraception in to all hospitals).
This divide has come to define Ritter, and created a huge longing in the base for an "anti-Ritter". Methinks Gary Lindstrom, hardly a heavy weight in state politics, threw his hat in to try and capitalize on the pro-choice vacuum. Colorado, keep in mind, polls consistently pro-choice, with some 60% of Coloradans supporting a women's right to privacy. Dems feel there's no need to pander to the pro-lifers.
And with John Hickenlooper running, Dems could have that leader who is pro-choice, who is a state "heavyweight", and is quite possibly the most popular politician in the state.
Hickenlooper is golden. Everything he has supported as passed. He won the mayors office (in his first political action) by 20 some points. He got a jail bond passed earlier this year. Most consider his commercial in support of Referendum C, where Hickenlooper skydives out of an airplane to explain the state's budget crisis, was the final push which led to its passage last November. Yes, the Mayor of Denver jumped out of an airplane in a campaign commerical. You might not know what Ref C is (thank god you don't!), but just watchin Hick do his things, you want to support him.
A little more (from Wikipedia):
Before becoming mayor in June 2003 he was a geologist turned entrepreneur: in addition to being very successful with real-estate, he is also the owner of several popular restaurants, including Denver's first brewpub, the Wynkoop Brewing Company. He is generally considered one of the main people responsible for the success of the LoDo urban renewal period during the early 1990s
Hick is not a "career" politician, but a "businessman turned politician" in the mold of Brian Schweitzer, the current Democratic Governor of Montana. This would be a great stepping stone for Hick to elevate to the national stage. Hick's young, at 53. If he wins in '06, and serves 8 years, he'd be done starting January 1, 2015, as perhaps a popular Democrat from a "purple state", ready to start his 2016 Presidential Campaign.
But focus on '06, pacified! This is also huge because the two GOoP candidates, Marc Holtzman and Bob Beauprez are nowhere near in the same league as Hick. And the GOoPs are too busy attacking each other (even tracing each other's IP address to find out who these "anonymous" bloggers are).
Hick could win more easily then perhaps any other Dem in the state (outside Ken Salazar). This would free up huge party resources to focus on those other state positions (AG, SoS, Treasuser) as well as hold on to both state houses--which the Dems took control of for the first time in forty years, back in Nov. 2004.
I still heart Andrew Romanoff the most, though.
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