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He appeared in goofy commercials, as he always does, this time smiling with actors in large, puffy letter costumes.

He marched down the 16th Street Mall, shaking hands of voters.

Behind the scenes, he worked to bring potential opponents on board.

And in the end, it appeared Denver voters rewarded Mayor John Hickenlooper in Tuesday’s election with another success in a string of tax and bond initiatives since he took office in 2003.

“He was critical and indispensable,” said Eric Sondermann, a political consultant who worked on the $550 million infrastructure bond campaign and a tax increase. “When it came time to sell it, he was the leading spokesperson without a close second.”

Other Denver mayors have persuaded voters to pass controversial issues, but Hickenlooper has had an especially high level of success, said Sondermann and other observers.

“I don’t know of another mayor who has gone to the ballot as much as he has with tax increases, and you think sometime he’s got to fail, but he hasn’t yet,” said Republican Party consultant Katy Atkinson.

Many mayors have persuaded voters to pass bond initiatives to make repairs and build new playgrounds, but Hickenlooper went further, apparently convincing the voters to also tax themselves to raise $27.5 million a year for ongoing maintenance needs.

Early Wednesday, all nine portions of the bond infrastructure and tax increase package were leading, with only the measure expanding cultural facilities close. The cultural facility expansion was leading 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent.

David Kenney, a political consultant close to the mayor, said Hickenlooper succeeds because he does a lot of work before putting an issue before the voters.

“He crafts smart proposals that are good for the city,” Kenney said.

Since taking office, Hickenlooper has succeeded in persuading voters to pass the $5 billion FasTracks light-rail system, a $378 million justice center and a tax increase to raise $12 million per year to pay for childhood education.

Now, he can add to that another tax increase that will raise $27.5 million annually, as well as another $550 million bond package for improving playgrounds, streets, cultural amenities, libraries, and cultural, safety and health facilities.

Some credit Hickenlooper’s ability to appear genuine – he’s just a regular guy asking for common-sense government.

“He’s what every politician strives for – being an incredible politician without anyone realizing it,” Atkinson said.

Cole Finegan, Hickenlooper’s former chief of staff, said much of the action at City Hall over the next year will deal with implementing the initiatives approved by the voters.

Tuesday night, Hickenlooper said a citizens task force had worked to find the critical needs of the city – and such a collaborative process was what the voters rewarded.

“There is a level of credibility you achieve by having people from all walks of life, from all over the city, analyze something for a number of years and develop a list of priorities,” Hickenlooper said. “That’s what voters respond to, not my boyish ways.”

Still, by his own account, Hickelooper hadn’t slept more than six hours a night for the past two months.

Bond-campaign officials said he made at least 80 public appearances.

Early on, before the campaign kicked into high gear, City Auditor Dennis Gallagher cautioned voters that state taxes already were going up – the result of Gov. Bill Ritter’s property tax “freeze” approved by the legislature this year.

Hickenlooper later met with Gallagher, who also was briefed by the mayor’s staff.

In the end, Gallagher, who is popular with fiscally conservative senior citizens, appeared in commercials with Hickenlooper in support of the bonds.

“When you have John Hickenlooper and a well-organized, well-funded campaign against no organized opposition, I’d bet on Hickenlooper every time,” said Denver Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, who had opposed the portions of the package that would generate $27.5 million in annual tax revenue and expand cultural facilities.

Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com

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Voted in, at Hickenlooper’s urging

FALL 2003

Personnel reform: Voters changed charter that set pay rates for mayoral appointees, limited raises for City Council and moved process of setting employee raises to the council.

DPS bond initiative and mill levy: Voters funded a $310 million public-schools bond and $20 million-a-year mill-levy override.

FALL 2004

FasTracks: Voters gave metro Denver roughly $5 billion for a regional transportation plan.

SCFD reauthorization: Voters renewed a 1-cent tax for every $10 in purchases to distribute to more than 300 institutions in the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District.

SPRING 2005

Justice center: Voters passed a $378 million bond to build a downtown justice center.

Glendale fire merger: Voters changed Denver’s charter to allow hiring of Glendale’s firefighters and extending fire protection a half square mile into Glendale.

FALL 2005

Lodgers tax: Voters added 1 percentage point to the city’s tax on hotel rooms, which gave $4 million more to the convention and visitors bureau’s $8.6 million annual promotion budget.

TABOR: Voters allowed the city to keep and spend the revenue it collects over the cap imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights for the next 10 years.

ProComp: Voters enacted a $25 million annual increase in property taxes for teacher pay-for-performance.

Referendum C: Voters let the state keep and spend money that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under TABOR.

FALL 2006

Preschool tax: Voters passed a sales-and-use tax increase of 12 cents on every $100 purchase to raise $12 million annually for preschool education.

FALL 2007

Infrastructure bonds and tax increase: Voters passed a $550 million bond and $27.5 million tax increase package.

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