Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has pulled his name from the ballot to be Colorado’s at-large superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Hickenlooper faced former Denver Mayor and Clinton administration Cabinet member Federico Peña — who supports Barack Obama — for a contest that was to be decided Saturday at the Colorado Democratic Party’s state convention in Colorado Springs.
“The mayor was very gracious and he called me today and said he obviously has the opportunity and a set of credentials to be at the convention,” Peña said. “He said, ‘You should be the delegate and we’ll all be there together.’ ”
Hickenlooper has pledged to remain neutral in the Democratic presidential primary race while he works to help raise $55 million in privately donated cash and services for the August convention in Denver.
He said that the more he considered his pledged neutrality, the less sense it made for him to compete for the slot.
“I’ve got floor credentials,” Hickenlooper said. “I’m the mayor of the big city. He’s (Peña) made his contributions to the Democratic Party, he should have a right to be on that floor. I have tremendous respect for him.”
Peña is a national campaign co-chairman for Obama, and the Obama camp has been quietly stumping for him.
Colorado will send 70 delegates to the national convention, 15 of whom are superdelegates.
Almost 67 percent of Coloradans at Democratic caucuses in February picked Obama.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
