After Gov. Bill Owens finished his eighth and final State of the State speech Thursday, House Majority Leader Alice Madden looked across the House floor and pointed out the person she wants to succeed him.
“That’s our next governor over there,” she said. “That tall, skinny guy. I’m his No. 1 cheerleader. He’d be amazing.”
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, one of the best-known politicians in the state, has a lot of No. 1 fans in the Democratic Party this election year. Many have urged him to enter the race to replace the Republican Owens, who cannot run in November because of term limits.
The mayor, however, once again on Thursday declined to discuss his future plans.
“Today’s Gov. Owens’ day,” he told reporters in the lobby outside the chamber.
The reporters pressed him to say what he meant by that, but he would not.
“I think you got your answer,” said Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, who had overheard the exchange. “I think if it was an emphatic ‘No,’ you would have heard that.”
Owens still has about a year left as governor, but many at the Capitol on Thursday said they wondered who they’d be listening to next year.
Breckenridge Rep. Gary Lindstrom, one of two Democrats so far in the race, was at his desk for the speech. He said he was unimpressed.
Some have asked Madden to run, she said. But the Boulder Democrat says she won’t unless Hickenlooper decides to forgo the race.
None of the other gubernatorial candidates came to the Capitol for the State of the State address.
“Where was Ritter?” Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, asked as he left the House floor Thursday. “I think he’s got a great chance, but he should have been here. He’s probably out there talking to voters, who matter, not us.”
That is how Bill Ritter, the Democratic former Denver district attorney, spent the day Thursday, spokesman Evan Dreyer said. He was across town, on the phone, raising money.
“We felt it was more important for him to concentrate and spend his time doing that today than it was going over to listen to Owens,” Dreyer said.
U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, one of two Republican candidates, visited the Capitol on Wednesday but had congressional business in Boulder on Thursday, according to a spokesman.
The other Republican, former Owens Cabinet member Marc Holtzman, turned down an invitation onto the House floor from Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, said his campaign manager, Dick Leggitt. Instead, he met with Republican and gun-rights groups in Colorado Springs, Leggitt said.
“Our plan is to reach out to all those people that are not part of the establishment,” Leggitt said.
Staff writer Karen Crummy contributed to this report.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
