For the moment, it looks as if the two political parties will take wildly different paths toward nominating their candidate for Colorado governor.
Republicans look forward to an all-out brawl between Rep. Bob Beauprez, the front- runner, and Marc Holtzman, the usurper. Democrats have coalesced around former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, who turned out to be a stalking horse for himself.
When Democrats meet this weekend to chart goals and strategies for the 2006 election, party leaders will try to figure out how to introduce Ritter to the state beyond Denver. Party leaders warmed up for the task on Wednesday, espousing unity on the west steps of the state Capitol.
The decision by Rep. Gary Lindstrom of Breckenridge to drop out of the race left Ritter the last man standing after other potential candidates chose not to run. It wasn’t what many Democrats envisioned even a month ago, given Ritter’s anti-abortion stand. But c’est la vie. This is politics, and pro-choice Democrats have chosen to move on. Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald’s endorsement stopped much of the grumbling.
Now state Democrats can focus on keeping their majority in the legislature. They’re in the best position since 1958, when Steve McNichols was governor, to pull off the hat trick of winning both houses and the governorship. Two years ago, they gained control of both houses of the legislature for the first time since 1960.
Today, Democrats officially launch the 2006 elections with a series of events in downtown Denver including a formal sendoff for state and local candidates. As of this week, Democrats have signed up candidates in all statewide races: State Sen. Ken Gordon launched his candidacy for secretary of state; business lawyer Fern O’Brien will run for attorney general; and Cary Kennedy kicked off her campaign for state treasurer earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are distracted by the resignation-under-fire of GOP House leader Joe Stengel, and the pre-primary showdown between Beauprez and Holtzman. While they must court the conservative GOP vote, Ritter has the opportunity to stay a middle course and appeal to independent voters who could decide the outcome of November races.
As of last year, there were about 1 million registered Republicans, 870,170 registered Democrats and 955,000 unaffiliated voters. Given that all three gubernatorial candidates oppose abortion, we expect to see a fierce battle on social and economic issues. Ritter will work to build on his support for last year’s bipartisan Referendum C fiscal reform, which enabled the state to avoid painful budget cuts. Beauprez and Holtzman opposed Referendum C in a nod to the right flank of the GOP and may have to stay right through the August primary.
Political science Professor John Straayer said the No. 1 goal of both parties in November will be to “court independent voters and hold their own base.” That’s some trick.
