Because Colorado clings to a caucus-and-convention system for nominating major party candidates, state politics has evolved into an intricate left-right two-step. The dance for 2006 is already well underway.
Tuesday’s party at Strings restaurant celebrating the victory of the Denver justice center proposal showcased the early favorites for the Democratic nomination for governor. Former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter was working the crowd, as was entrepreneur/kingmaker Rutt Bridges. Of course, for those Democrats who follow Groucho Marx’s standard of never wanting to join a club whose standards are so low as to accept the likes of them, the big star was Mayor John Hickenlooper himself.
With the latest and toughest challenge on his agenda ending in another win, Hickenlooper towers over the Colorado political picture. Pollster Floyd Ciruli reports 61 percent of Front Range voters have a favorable opinion of Hickzonner, while only 6 percent have an unfavorable one. That astonishing 10.1-to-1 favorable to unfavorable ratio is by far the highest in Colorado, even besting Ken Salazar (7.9-1). Gov. Bill Owens’ score is 2.5-1.
The only rain on Hickenlooper’s bandwagon comes from Hickzonner himself – he still shows no signs of wanting to leave the rewarding job in city hall he won in 2003. He doesn’t rule out a gubernatorial run eventually, so it’s worth noting that Denver’s term limits are 12 years while the state caps service at eight years. That means Hickenlooper could be re-elected as mayor in 2007 and 2011 and still run for an open governor’s seat in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ritter brings a long record of public service to the race, but his politically moderate views (he’s quietly pro-life) don’t endear him to the liberal activists who dominate Democratic caucuses and the subsequent state nominating conventions. That’s the same crowd that just dumped a phenomenally successful state chairman, Chris Gates, in favor of liberal activist Pat Waak.
Bridges is harder to catalog politically because he’s never held public office. But he joined Tim Gill, Pat Stryker and Jared Polis in pouring millions into the 2004 independent campaign that helped Democrats win control of both houses of the state legislature for the first time since 1960. Bridges has enough cash left to buy his way onto the Democratic primary ballot by hiring firms to circulate nominating petitions if he chooses to go that route. But he might be wiser to go through the convention process, where liberal activists would probably prefer him to Ritter. In a general election, however, Ritter’s moderate views would be more likely to appeal to Colorado’s centrist voters, as Sen. Ken Salazar’s victory proved.
For Colorado Democrats, the victory dance starts with a lunge to the left, followed by a lurch to the right aimed at returning the campaign to center. Republicans must follow the opposite course, wheeling hard to starboard to court right-wing activists, then tacking to port in the general election to woo moderate swing voters.
This year, former state Senate President John Andrews and other zealots are making the course even more tortuous for the GOP. Andrews is organizing a drum-banging, moon-howling, anti-gummint crusade aimed at defeating the fiscal rescue package crafted by Republican Owens and a bipartisan team comprising more than two-thirds of the legislature.
Andrews is demanding that Republican gubernatorial hopefuls sign in blood to oppose Referenda C and D. So far, Marc Holtzman and Sen. Tom Wiens have joined the anti-gummint camp, and Bob Beauprez seems likely to follow suit. Former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis is still mulling it over.
Unfortunately for Republicans, fighting Owens on this issue also means alienating the business community, which normally leans heavily to the GOP. Business leaders count on the C and D twins to revive the state’s higher education system and upgrade our transportation network, which they see as vital to reviving the state’s still-delicate economy.
If an anti-Owens Republican wins the GOP nomination in 2006, the business community would probably back a Democrat for governor. Hmm. Do you suppose Bridges is secretly funding Andrews’ antics?
Bob Ewegen is deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post. He has covered state and local government since 1963.
