Even as workers in Denver squinted Wednesday at ballots from this year’s election, some folks around town were already stoked about next year’s races.
“I’m a political junkie,” said Maureen Ediger of the University of Colorado at Denver’s School of Public Affairs, in opening an evening forum on the 2008 election. “I hope that all of you are as excited as I am about the upcoming elections.”
About 40 people attended the forum, in which state Republican boss Dick Wadhams and 2008 Democratic National Convention host committee leader Mike Dino traded analyses and gentle jabs.
Wadhams saw the convergence of Democrats as beneficial to local Republicans. He said the Democrats might push an agenda more liberal than most Coloradans are comfortable with, turning voters rightward.
He said if Sen. Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, all the better, because of the skepticism Coloradans have expressed about her in past polls.
“I think it’s an advantage for us in Colorado to have Hillary Clinton nominated in downtown Denver,” Wadhams said.
But Dino countered that the convention is naturally good for Colorado Democrats and added, jovially, that states that have played host to the last three national Democratic or Republican conventions have gone Democratic in the subsequent presidential votes.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
