When Joan Fitz-Gerald announced that she will not run for governor in 2006, she left a well-organized group of powerful political activists deeply disappointed.
Sure, the same grizzled old buzzards in the Colorado Democratic Party who underestimated Gail Schoettler in 1998 had spent weeks dissing Fitz-Gerald’s chances. Still, the state Senate president was fielding endless calls from savvy, well-heeled Democrats, checkbooks at the ready, saying, “Run, Joan, run.”
It was not to be. Running for governor would be “a tremendous honor,” Fitz-Gerald said Wednesday, but she felt compelled to finish her term in the Senate.
For the pro-choice community, which by most polls represents more than 60 percent of Colorado voters, Fitz-Gerald’s announcement was a blow.
Activist Heather Lurie, who was on her way to Boston for a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton and four other women running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, was blunt. “People were waiting and hoping it was going to be Joan,” she said. “Now we have to get back to work and find ourselves a pro-choice candidate. It’s critical.”
The candidates in the race so far, Republicans Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman and Democrat Bill Ritter, all have said if elected, they would support measures to restrict access to abortion.
Businessman Rollie Heath, who ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Bill Owens in 2002, said last week he is mulling another run, and other Democrats have shrewdly left their options open.
State Sen. Ken Gordon said he is aware of the intense effort to recruit a pro-choice Democrat to the race.
“I haven’t been involved in any discussions personally, but I know there are people who are pro-choice who aren’t very enthusiastic about Bill,” he said. “I’ve intentionally stayed out of this discussion because I’ve been working on (Referendums) C and D.”
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said he, too, has been asked whether he will run as he has campaigned for C and D.
“I haven’t ruled it out in my own mind,” he said, “but I haven’t taken any steps in that direction.”
Ritter’s supporters, meanwhile, are quietly meeting with pro-choice Dems in an attempt to win their support for what they say is his principled, nuanced stand on the issue.
“There’s a world of difference between Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez,” said Ritter campaign spokesman Evan Dreyer. “It’s not fair to lump him with the other candidates on this or any other issue.”
Dreyer said Ritter does not support an outright ban on abortion. “He would consider a ban that protects exceptions for incidents of rape, incest or to protect the health of the mother.”
That’s not a compromise most pro-choice voters are willing to accept.
“This is an issue that is fundamental to women’s social and economic security,” Lurie said. “When you vote on choice, you’re voting on access to health care; you’re voting on economic security; you’re voting on the right to privacy; you’re voting on human rights.”
If a candidate believes women can’t be trusted to make ethical decisions on their own medical care, it speaks volumes about his commitment to equality, she said. “If they don’t take me seriously on this issue, I wonder: Am I going to be taken seriously in the boardroom, in the courtroom?”
Fitz-Gerald is working hard to convince other pro-choice candidates to get in the race.
“I can’t say they’re close to entering, but I can say I’m having conversations with people who should consider it.”
That does not mean she won’t support Ritter if he becomes the party’s nominee.
“I’ve had multiple conversations with Bill Ritter, trying to find out exactly where he is on this issue, and while I don’t believe he’s as far right as Beauprez, he’s not within my comfort zone yet. I don’t know that he’ll ever be.”
Lurie agreed. When asked if pro-choice leaders are likely to support Ritter eventually, she demurred.
“It’s early,” Lurie said. “We will wait.”
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
