We’ve made no secret that we’re hoping that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper jumps into the gubernatorial race. In a statement to the media today, Hickenlooper is considering it, but he’s giving Interior Secretary and ex-Sen. Ken Salazar the first right of refusal:
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said this afternoon he would make a relatively quick decision about whether to run for Colorado governor but said that he would consider entering the race only if Ken Salazar didn’t. […]
“Ken Salazar is Ken Salazar. Should Ken Salazar decide to run I’d probably be his first volunteer,” the popular Denver mayor said at a downtown press conference, surrounded by his family.
Hickenlooper praised Ritter for his “courage” in announcing earlier in the day that he wanted to devote more time and energy to his family and would abort his run for a second term, declaring that “this is Bill Ritter’s day.”
Will Salazar actually go for it? Well, there are enough rumblings to suggest that it’s a distinct possibility. Salazar’s brother, 3rd CD Rep. John Salazar, is on the record with words of encouragement for such a switch, and, for what it’s worth, ColoradoPols is hearing that an “official decision is all but done”. Salazar is staying mum on the question for now, but the Denver Post reports that he’ll have the White House’s permission to run if he so chooses.
Meanwhile, 7th CD Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who sounds pretty jacked now that Ritter is off the ballot, is not ruling out the possibility of a gubernatorial bid himself:
“This is a nightmare for the Republican party. This decision is a game changer, and I believe Colorado Democrats have a deep bench of potential candidates who can win this race. I am confident we will have a candidate who will present real solutions for Colorado instead of the Republicans who want to focus on the status quo by just saying no. We will retain this seat and continue to move our state forward and ensure Colorado remains one of the best states to live in.
“I am honored to have my name mentioned as a potential candidate. I love this state and I want to continue to serve my community and state and make it a great place to live for everybody. It’s a premature decision to make at this time, but one I will carefully consider.”
Hickenlooper is by far my first choice here, but Salazar appears to be salivating over the opportunity. We’ll just have to stay tuned.
In the event that Perlmutter throws his hat in the ring, what sort of a Dem bench do we have in his district?
that DINO Ritter vetoed? Due to redistricting, I would have even supported Ritter, but I don’t think we need any more anti-choice anti-labor nominees from Colorado.
Go Salazar!
I hope it’s Raul Grivalja. He was the front runner for a while back in 2008.
My only concern with him is it may not be a good time to come out of the Obama administration and run for office. Hickenlooper would be great and Perlmutter would be a good candidate, so really I would be happy with any of the three. At this point I just want the most electable (I do not see a big difference between the three governing wise). I would like to hear what people in Colorado think.
Why is it OK for someone to serve ONE year as a cabinet official and then run for governor? Do your damned job, Salazar.
by encouragimng the deadwood to move on, we get this assbackwards stuff about Salazar… where he essentially trades a critical Senate seat for far less valuable Governor seat. The dumbness of that is staggering… and in doing so it freezes out maybe our best bench guy west of the Mississippi.
Now if Hickenlooper ran for the Senate and Salazar for Governor… THAT I could get behind.
On the other hand, if Salazar can regret a bad move, maybe we can get Sebelius and Napolitano back into the Senate races they should have been in for a year. If only life was so good.
Kerry got 47% in Colorado during 2004 which was a great year for the GOP. Meaning Bennet probably has a floor of around 48% on election night. Michael Bennet being somewhat of centrist vs. Jane Norton attending tea parties and 9/12 events being a little too conservative probably means that Bennet will narrowly carry independents. My guess is that Bennet pulls this out by 3 or 4 points. In addition, the only pollster that has polled Norton vs. Bennet is Rasmussen
Is that he is on the unpopular governor in Colorado in years. Roy Romer, a democrat, was governor for 12 years, (even survived 1994) and then Bill Owens was extremely popular. Had a better democrat than Bill Ritter been nominated this seat probably would have been in the safe column. Colorado unlike other states (such as New Jersey) doesn’t automatically give high disaprovals to their politicians and blame them and whine and bitch every time something is wrong with the economy.
before Salazar does anything. If Hickenlooper clearly has a better shot at winning, he should be deferred to, not the other way around.
Not that I want him as a gubernatorial candidate, but I’d quite like to see him slaughtered in the primary, and replaced by somebody who’d actually seriously test, season and nail down Bennet in the senatorial primary.
Let’s see, Obama created an open seat by appointing Salazar interior secretary. Ritter appointed a weak replacement in Bennet. Ritter then decides not to run. Salazar barely a year into his cabinet now decides he want to run for elective office, this time for governor. After severely weakening the Dems chances of holding the senate seat by taking the cabinent post in the first. Now Ed Perlmutter is thinking of creating another vulnerable house seat by taking on Salazar in the primary. Have I got all that right? The Democrats in Colorado and D.C. couldn’t have screwed things up any worse had they actually set out to screw things up.
http://www.rasmussenreports.co…
According to Cillizza.
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