Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is not running for governor in 2006, he said in unequivocal terms Thursday, trying to quash one of the summer’s most enduring political rumors.
One scenario could see him enter the fray, he joked: “If lightning were to strike every other candidate.”
Reporters and politicos have been calling to ask if he is running or if he would, but he has replied with a consistent “No,” he said.
“The truth is, I love being mayor,” he said. “For who I am, it’s a great job.”
If he were running, he would be doing what he did in the run- up to his mayoral race – researching the issues, talking to office holders in other states and quietly lining up support, he said.
“I haven’t done any of that,” he said. “I’m not going around talking to governors. I’m not trying to prepare myself for either the campaign or the office, in any way.”
This will be received by some fans of the first-term mayor as both good and bad news, Denver City Council President Rosemary Rodriguez said.
“As a Democrat, I think the mayor should run for governor,” she said. “As a City Council member, I want him to stay. I’m a split personality.”
Right now, only Bill Ritter, the former district attorney for Denver, is publicly seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Another Democrat, Rutt Bridges, dropped out of the race this month, saying he did not have the “skills or the stomach to be an effective politician.”
Though Republicans have seen a poll showing Hickenlooper to be the state’s best-liked public figure, they did not fear a Hickenlooper run, said Sean Duffy, a political consultant and former adviser to Republican Gov. Bill Owens. Owens cannot seek a third term.
“Denver TV dominates a lot of the state,” Duffy said. “People know who he is. He has a great image. But if you start to open him up on some of the (issues), his numbers would soften up in southern Colorado and on parts of the Western Slope.”
Still, Hickenlooper posed more of a threat to Republicans – U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez and former University of Denver president Marc Holtzman currently are heading for a Republican primary next August – than some other potential Democratic candidates, he said.
“Is he more formidable than some of the other names being bandied about? Sure,” Duffy said.
Other Democrats rumored to be in contention are House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar.
Salazar has downplayed the chances of his running.
“He does not foresee a situation in which he would run for governor at this time,” Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said Thursday.
Fitz-Gerald and Romanoff have not ruled out their potential candidacies.
Some Democrats, displeased with Ritter’s anti-abortion stance and his investigations of police shootings in Denver, still are hoping someone else will enter the race. State Democratic Party chairwoman Pat Waak said she wouldn’t be surprised if one or more candidates join the field this fall.
“If there’s any debate that’s going on, it is ‘Who’s the best candidate?”‘ she said. “There are people who are aligning themselves behind people who haven’t necessarily declared yet, there are people aligning themselves with Bill, and there are people standing back and watching what’s happening.”
Hickenlooper said it should have been clear long ago that he was not interested in running.
“If you look at it, there are individuals on the finance committees of all three candidates who are longtime supporters of mine – friends of mine – who asked, ‘Are you going to run?’ I said, ‘You should go support somebody else.”‘
Still, some Democrats have grown pretty fond of the idea of a Gov. Hickenlooper. It remains to be seen whether the notion will go away easily.
However flattering it is, Hickenlooper staffers have been surprised to see that kind of speculation mount over the summer, spokeswoman Lindy Eichenbaum Lent said.
“His message has been consistent,” she said. “Maybe people are starting to listen.”
Staff writer Chris Frates contributed to this report.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
