His voice hoarse and at times cracking, Gov. Bill Ritter nonetheless lent it to national Democrats pushing the messages on renewable energy and investing in new technologies that have boosted the party in Colorado.
“Are you ready to turn the page on a failed Bush-McCain energy policy that opposes investments in renewable energy?” Ritter asked as he addressed a half-empty Invesco Field at Mile High early on the final day of the Democratic National Convention.
Sitting on the floor of the stadium, state Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said she could tell Ritter was hurting.
“Poor guy. He had a great message. His enthusiasm for the event came through anyway,” she said.
Ritter’s voice was weak from overuse, said spokesman Evan Dreyer, noting that he spoke at “dozens and dozens of events and did even more interviews” this week.
Ritter, who has talked of his “Colorado Promise” since his gubernatorial campaign, broadened that theme for a national audience.
The West isn’t just about wide-open spaces, he said. “It’s about possibilities and hope for the future. There’s a little bit of that Western spirit, of the ‘Colorado Promise,’ in all of us. Really, it’s the ‘American Promise,’ the vision of a country where ‘what can be’ becomes ‘what is.’ ”
He echoed the party’s refrain that electing Sen. John McCain is akin to four more years of a Bush administration and acknowledged that the region could be ground zero this fall.
“The road to the White House cuts straight through the heart of the American West,” Ritter said.
Staff writer Bruce Finley contributed to this report.
