From the Rocky Mountain News:
Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet is expected to be named Saturday as the future U.S. Senate replacement for Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar, according to two Democratic sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Denver Post also confirms it:
After an array of candidates put their names forward for selection, the choice came down to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper or Bennet, Hickenlooper’s former chief of staff. After spending a long holiday weekend in the mountains last week, Ritter began to focus on Bennet. The two men then discussed the choice on New Year’s Day and the pick was solidified, according to sources close to the process.
I would have liked Hickenlooper a great deal for this gig, but Bennet may turn out to be a fine choice, as well — I’m too unfamiliar with his record and ideology to tell at this point.
Update: For more on Bennet, check out this New Yorker profile from 2007.
Later Update: ColoradoPols has an excellent round-up of local reactions to the surprise pick.
This is a surprise. I guess I’ll have to take a look at Bennet’s record as Denver Supe. Hopefully, he’ll end up being a pleasant surprise. 😉
Could this be a placeholder situation?
With the appointment of a former chief of staff, a rather obscure person, would Bill Owens or another high profile GOPer reconsider their decision to not run?
But would anyone agree with me that our side has fucked up these appointments? Illinois is an unrequited disaster. New York is a pain in the ass. Deleware had controversy over who gets to appoint. And I worry about Colorado now.
For the love of God, Barack, NO MORE SENATORS!
Based on what I’d read, I wanted Romanoff.
I did not want Hickenlooper. I hate it when politicans gripe about how awful jobs in politics are. (The last two people we’ve heard doing that were Sali and Mahoney). The quote put up here for Hickenlooper was along the lines of “so the question is, if I’ve decided to give 10 or 15 years of my life to public service, is this the best way for me to serve?” Not only is the self-importance of that sentence crushing, but the 10 to 15 years should have been a disqualifier. Hickenlooper has already been mayor for almost six years. That means the two years left of Salazar’s term plus the six years of his full term gets him to 14 years. I wouldn’t want a senator who would be a very real retirement risk after only one full term.
Meanwhile, Bennet was editor of Yale Law Review, was Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, and apparently is a brilliant guy who’s succeeded at everything he’s ever done. In this situation I’d rather appoint the young workhorse who wants it than the old showhorse who barely does.
He’s young, smart and not surnamed Salazar. If he has a good two years, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to hold on.
If he’s a disaster, he might not run in 2010 and would certainly be primariable.
because if he is it is contrived for Ritter to run in 2010, which would be on the sleaze end of the spectrum.
A 44 year old Senator from Colorado who wanted to be a Senator though would be awesome. he could be there for decades, or could finally be a blue westerner on the national stage, which is something we could really use.
I don’t get it. Ritter just made defending the seat more difficult.
Is he a naturalized citizen? He was born in India, and I’m not sure about all the other facts. Can somebody clear this up?
Either Ritter knows more about Bennet’s political skills then we do or this is a placeholder. Ritter may be playing it safe by nominating an uncontroversial politico instead of getting hammered by GOP in 2010 for “nominating a (well-known) Denver liberal” or “putting party politics ahead of Colorado”. Forget even the GOP, Ritter may just be avoiding in-fighting between the CO Dems (think Cuomo v. Paterson in NY or the massive Dem clusterf**k in IL).
If Bennet is a placeholder, its almost a sure bet Hickenlooper is running in 2010. I suspect Bennet is quite loyal to Hickenlooper and this might be precisely why he was chosen.
I not exactly sure of the ramifications of political appointments. It seems like a very dangerous requirement of being governor and one that offends the sensibilities of most Americans. Ritter’s a smart guy and can hopefully avoid the sh*tstorms that other governors (NY, IL) are incurring as a result of Obama’s election.