Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper wore his lucky blue suit Wednesday to endorse Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter.
That suit gets pulled out of the closet for special events: announcing his own run for mayor, endorsing U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, jumping out of an airplane to support Referendum C.
“This suit has not seen defeat yet,” Hickenlooper said after the announcement Wednesday morning at Ritter campaign headquarters a few blocks away from city hall.
Hickenlooper, who boasts a 79 percent favorable rating in Denver and 59 percent statewide, according to a September 2005 poll by Public ap Strategies, has had a golden touch in elections.
In addition to Salazar’s Senate campaign in 2004, Hickenlooper has endorsed successful bond issues for a new county jail and a regional light-rail expansion.
After flirting last winter with a possible run of his own for the state’s highest political office, Hickenlooper has stayed on the sidelines while Ritter and Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez slug it out.
Hickenlooper said he wanted to evaluate how the candidates ran their campaigns.
“Gov. Roy Romer told me campaigns become a prism by which you can see how people are going to be able to lead,” Hickenlooper said. “I think over the last half dozen months, Bill Ritter has grown like few candidates have.”
Ritter hugged the mayor, thanked him and said he would “borrow some pages out of his playbook.” Ritter specifically praised the mayor for working with business and political leaders.
Hickenlooper said he tried to contact Beauprez before making the endorsement but was unsuccessful. He said Beauprez as a congressman has been an advocate for some issues important to Denver.
“You’re not going to ever hear me say bad things about Bob Beauprez,” Hickenlooper said.
“Bob Beauprez has nothing but respect for the mayor and, as governor, he looks forward to working with the mayor,” said John Marshall, Beauprez’s spokesman. “Maybe the mayor felt like Mr. Ritter was more qualified to jump out of airplanes.”
Even as he refused to criticize Beauprez, Hickenlooper lambasted the “negative advertising” that has tarred the governor’s race, blaming independent “527” groups for the bulk of the attack ads.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-594-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
