Colorado Democrats are having a lousy year — and 2010 may be worse. Yet 2008 was great for the party. They gained a Senate seat, a House seat, and threw a coronation party for President Barack Obama, who is now embarked on the most brilliant reign since Louis XIV, the Sun King.
Yet with the legislature done and an election year eight months off, there’s a sense that Democrats have worn out their welcome with Coloradans, creating an opportunity for Republicans to get back in the ballgame. Malaise hangs over the Capitol. Will Gov. Bill Ritter become a one-termer?
You’ve seen the numbers. Voters disapprove of Ritter’s performance by 49 percent to 41 percent, according to an April poll. Matched against potential GOP challengers, he trails Scott McInnis and barely leads Josh Penry. His appointee in D.C., Sen. Michael Bennet, is disapproved by 41 percent to 34 percent and trails Republican Bob Beauprez. They’re a pathetic pair.
Camelot magic is gone from the Dem ascendancy that began in 2004, when Ken Salazar was elected senator and Andrew Romanoff stormed the statehouse. We’re now slogging through a recession that Ritter recklessly failed to prepare for, his legislative allies are split and ineffectual, while Post columnist Susan Greene commiserates on “what a bummer it can be to be a Democrat in Colorado.”
Despite commanding majorities of 37-28 in the House and 21-14 in the Senate, Democrats this session failed on a number of cherished goals, including a tuition break for illegal immigrants, easing sentences and ending the death penalty, quitting the Electoral College, and nanny-state rules for cellphones and seatbelts.
The majority party found itself well to the left of common-sense opinion on those issues, hence unable to ram through its liberal agenda when vulnerable members balked. Centrists from Colorado Springs, Adams County, and the Western Slope made the difference on last week’s capital punishment vote, for example. Senate minority leader Penry brokered the deal.
Governing is no picnic. Leading the Senate during the last budget crisis, back in 2004, I agonized through some of the same no-win choices President Peter Groff and Speaker Terrance Carroll have faced this year. You manage your diehards as best you can. You resort to ugly fiscal solutions and wince, knowing the out party will slam you for it in the campaign. In power, it’s hard to do otherwise.
This is the beauty of our two-party system. It pushes policy toward the center and curbs the ideologues. As a conservative Republican, I naturally believe our side has better answers. I also concede our sins and imperfections. What’s great is how a feisty opposition from right or left produces wiser lawmaking as well as livelier elections.
“Lively” is the prospect for election 2010. Four Republicans are vying to take on little-known Bennet, along with two each who are targeting Ritter, State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, and Secretary of State Bernie Buescher. With Obama likely to suffer off-year erosion, Democratic members of Congress Betsy Markey, Ed Perlmutter, and John Salazar sit uneasily in districts the GOP used to own.
Democrats also might forfeit legislative control in retribution for mismanaging the budget, gutting taxpayer protections, and saddling families with $1 billion in new taxes and fees during economic hard times. Four activist justices could get voted off the state Supreme Court.
On kitchen-table issues like jobs and roads, the incumbents have little to boast of. Change is now our issue.
Contact John Andrews at (andrewsjk@aol.com).
