The laid-off geologist and former brewpub owner walked right up to the brink Monday. After a weekend holed up with his ambivalence, he strolled across the grass at Civic Center and stepped squarely in the space between the City and County Building and the state Capitol, between the present and the future.
The sun was sparkling on the gold dome. The Colorado sky was wearing its come-hither blue. The snowcapped peaks were standing there begging for a campaign photo op.
The time had come.
Even as he leaned toward the microphones, he teetered ever so slightly on the edge. The decision was so difficult, so fresh, he had two speeches with him, just in case.
And then Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper stepped back.
He announced that he would not be a candidate for governor. Not this time.
He already had the best job in the world.
He ran for mayor because he wanted to show people that local government would follow through on its commitments, he said, because he wanted to demonstrate that people could put the good of the city above their personal ambitions.
Now it was time to walk the walk. His gut told him it was the right thing to do.
When he finally realized that, he was exhilarated, he said, energized.
But he didn’t look exhilarated. He looked emotionally spent.
Hickenlooper admitted that he had spent a lot of time imagining what it would have been like to run for governor. He would have engaged in a positive,
issue-oriented campaign, he said. He’d even envisioned campaign ads that would have responded to political attacks without going negative.
“There are a number of ways to fight back without attacking the other person,” he said. He was sure he could do it.
Then, if elected, he would have moved the state beyond partisan bickering, he said. He was really rolling now, clearly dropping hints about what was in that other speech in his pocket.
He would have brought the best people into his administration to solve the problems facing the state – the business people, the nonprofits, Republicans, Democrats, big-city people and rural folks, he said. “If there’s one thing I’m proud of in Denver,” it’s that.
He was confident he would have won, too.
Polls showed him going into a campaign with huge advantages over the other candidates in the race, Democrats Bill Ritter and state Rep. Gary Lindstrom and Republicans Marc Holtzman and U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez.
Some showed him with 25 percentage points over his nearest competitor.
“I’m not sure I believe those polls, to be quite honest,” he said. “It would have been a very tough campaign whoever my opponents were.”
But after nearly 18 years in the restaurant business, Hickenlooper said, he was sure about one thing: “No one would have outworked us.”
It was a nod to those who believed in him and had urged him to run. He was seriously considering it; he wasn’t playing hard to get. That’s why he felt such a sense of loss about forgoing the campaign, he said.
But even as he walked back toward the City and County Building, his imaginary campaign had set a high standard for those who remain in the race.
If the polls are accurate and it’s true that Hickenlooper is the odds-on favorite of Coloradans, it’s because he’s onto something here.
The partisan warfare and the relentless divisiveness have worn thin. The attack ads and the gutter politics have alienated voters. The people of Colorado are fed up with cynicism. They want to believe in somebody.
Here’s hoping the candidates for governor understand that.
Otherwise the biggest story of the election of 2006 already will have been written.
It’s the story of what might have been.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-820-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com
