September 18, 2009 03:00 AM UTC

Obama Endorses Bennet

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• by: Colorado Pols

Talk about the mother of all endorsements. As The Denver Post reports:

President Barack Obama endorsed U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet today, throwing the force of the White House into a Democratic primary battle that officially is just over a day old.

“Families in Colorado and across America need (Bennet) in the United States Senate to help us revitalize our economy, improve our public schools and pass health-insurance reform,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

“Michael has had my full support from day one, and I look forward to working with him in the Senate for years to come.”

The direct endorsement of a president still enormously popular among progressive voters is perhaps the biggest hammer that national Democrats can bring to Bennet’s primary battle against former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, and they wasted no time in wielding it.

Some Democratic operatives in the state were unsure how strongly Obama would weigh in, if at all, given Romanoff’s popularity among the party’s rank and file. Romanoff began a three-city kickoff tour just yesterday.

But faced with a race that has the potential to trip up the party’s efforts to consolidate its gains in the Rocky Mountain West, national Democrats have quickly rallied behind Bennet, who was appointed to the seat vacated by Ken Salazar less than nine months ago.