Former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter became the first Democrat to jump into the 2006 race for governor today, saying he has the background and the ideas to succeed.
Ritter filed campaign papers with the secretary of state but said his formal announcement would come later.
“My sense is that it’s going to take creative and innovative things to get where we should be. I know Coloradans respond to ideas,” he said.
Ritter, 48, served three terms as Denver’s top prosecutor. He could not run again last year because of term limits.
He said his campaign will focus on Colorado’s future.
State GOP spokeswoman Rachel Sunbarger predicted abortion will be a major issue for Ritter, a self-described “pro-life Democrat” and a Catholic who served as a missionary at a nutrition center in Zambia in 1987.
“His own stated views on abortion are not in line with the extremists in his own party,” Sunbarger said. “I’d be surprised if he wins the nomination.”
Ritter said he is not making an issue of abortion.
“It’s the law. Abortion is legal. It’s not the thing I’m running on,” he said.
Ritter said would not actively seek legislation limiting abortion but refused to say whether he would sign such a bill if it got to his desk.
Ritter said he has the backing of a number of Democrats who support abortion rights and that as district attorney he enforced laws protecting women entering and leaving abortion clinics.
“(Pro-choice Democrats) see this as one issue of many, and they’re supporting me,” he said.
The governor’s race is expected to be wide open next year because term limits prevent Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, from running.
Other Democrats have been mentioned as potential candidates, including entrepreneur Rutt Bridges and former Lt. Gail Schoettler, but Ritter is the first to take the formal step of filing with the secretary of state.
State Democratic Chairwoman Pat Waak said none of the potential candidates is widely known, and she is urging them to decide soon so they can begin traveling the state to build name recognition.
Waak said Democrats will try to build on last year when they captured a U.S. Senate seat, a House seat and control of both houses of the Legislature.
“We’re on the fast track with strategy planning, district by district,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez and University of Denver President Marc Holtzman have indicated they will run for the GOP nomination, but neither has made a formal announcement.
Ritter, a lifelong Coloradan, graduated from Colorado State and the University of Colorado Law School. He is married and has four children.
