Crazy news from the Rocky Mountain state. From the Denver Post:
Gov. Bill Ritter is planning an 11 a.m. press conference Wednesday at which he is expected to announce that he will withdraw from the race for governor, numerous sources close to Ritter confirmed tonight.
The governor's office made calls to the Colorado Senate president and Speaker of the House to ask about their availability to attend the press conference.
At the same time, Washington, D.C. blogs were reporting that Ritter would drop out of the race for governor
While this is just another "open" seat for Dems to defend, this is probably good news
Ritter never really had to prove his campaigning ability. In 2006 when he was elected, he was NOT primaried by any other Democrat even though the seat was open and two other Democrats had much better poll numbers (Romanoff and Hickenlooper).
His GOP opponent in '06 was Bob Beauprez, who most of those who follow Colorado politics would agree ran the worst statewide campaign of the '00s... or longer.
'06 was also a huge turn-out election for Dems.
As governor, he really hasn't done dramatic things.
Colorado's laws make balancing a budget ridiculous, and to cover shortfalls many new user fees have been put in place. Combine this with the general fact that the economy is in the crapper, and Ritter is far from a gregrious and charismatic speaker and leader, one can almost spin this as the worst possible things for the GOP.
With Ritter running, they knew the drill. With a new Democrat, they won't be able to make all the same arguments stick.
So now with the contentious Senate primary going on between Ritter-appointment Bennett and Andrew Romanoff--will Romanoff go for the Gov? Will Hick step up finally?
Morgan Carrol anyone?
Who knows?