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April 01, 2009 03:00 PM UTC

Bennet to Run for Governor, Not Senate, in 2010

  • 52 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Gov. Ritter is set to announce that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 rather than challenge Bennet. “The Governor wanted to appoint himself to the Senate all along, and this gives him the opportunity to fix his mistake,” said spokesman Evan Dreyer.

Senator Michael Bennet stunned politicos across Colorado today by saying that he would run for Governor in 2010 and not seek election to the U.S. Senate. Bennet was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter in January to fill the seat vacated by Ken Salazar, who left to become Secretary of the Interior.

In announcing his decision to run for Governor, Bennet cited his own controversial appointment.

“Anybody who would appoint an unknown Denver Schools Superintendent to be a U.S. Senator is clearly not fit to serve as Governor of this great state,” said Bennet. “I have enjoyed my time in the Senate, but with apologies to Groucho Marx, I cannot be a part of any legislative body that would have me as a member.”

Bennet got a head start on what should be a bruising primary by promising Democrats to do “what Ritter should have done in the first place.”

“If elected Governor, I will immediately appoint Andrew Romanoff to his rightful place in the U.S. Senate,” declared Bennet.

That promise appeared to pay immediate dividends for Bennet when Romanoff announced that he would no longer be considering a potential run for Governor. “I can think of no better person to serve as Colorado’s next Governor than Michael Bennet,” said Romanoff in a prepared statement. “Michael and I have similar views on a multitude of issues, including that neither of us believe he should have been appointed to the U.S. Senate.”

More information on Bennet’s campaign for Governor is available at www.AprilFools.com. This is an open thread.

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52 thoughts on “Bennet to Run for Governor, Not Senate, in 2010”

        1. I’ve had two major April 1 events in my life.  

          The first was in 1973 on the first day of a new job in CO where I worked with the mentally handicapped.  What an eye opener of this other universe.

          The second was the first day as a volunteer at the Denver VA hospital.  Some of it was watching and talking with vets trying to do April Fools jokes, like the dollar bill on the string.  And of course, just the immensity of all these lives, once vigorous and active, now not so much.  

          1. started to unravel it for me, but it was Groucho who left no doubt. Even then, I had completely forgotten that it was April 1, and I had no idea why this nonsense was posted.

            It wasn’t exactly an April Fools Day prank, but one woman I knew about 28 years ago deserves to go down in the record book of brilliant prankters: I worked in a nursing home in which few of the residents were lucid. One woman, Ruth, did not interact with the outside world at all. We just wheeled her out into the hall, where she sat all day gazing into space, not registering anything…, except on one special occasion, and also for one purpose on several occasions. One time, a very hefty nurse (who was there every day) was walking down the hall, and Ruth’s head turned to follow her (something that never happened). All of the sudden, Ruth’s eyes lit up, and she shouted out with great zeal, “Va-va-va-voooom!!!” Her other connection to the world was whenever anyone walked too close to her, she would stick out her foot and trip them (often orderlies with trays full of fragile items).

            She had to be fed liquified food through a turkey-baster. One day, while I was feeding her, she just quiety died. I have no idea if she ever had any awareness of my existance, but I really adored her!

              1. The food stopped going down, and I ran through a series of thoughts before it dawned on me why it wasn’t going down anymore. Then I worried that I had somehow caused it, that I fed her when she wasn’t ready to swallow or something like that. But I doubt that had anything to do with it. She, like most of the residents there, was literally on death’s doorstep (to the extent that death literally has a doorstep). It was hard, though.

        2. I went from stunned to amused to offended that Bennet was apparently making fun of Romanoff losing the Senate appointment all in a couple of seconds. A micro second later you see that Romanoff is in on the joke.  They certainly got the most bang for the buck out of this clever concoction. Glad Romanoff can be a good sport about this.  I still have a little trouble being a good sport about it on his behalf.

          1. This isn’t a joke from Bennet but from ColPols. In that case, I’m offended again and bet Romanoff ISN’T ready to find this funny yet.  Still enjoyed it, though.

              1. For a moment there at the beginning, before I knew it was a farce, I had lost all respect for Bennet. It serves as an object lesson in how easy it is to manipulate even fairly well-informed public opinion, and the power of disinformation!

  5. from ABC News – in a horrible injustice yesterday:

    “Dancing With the Stars” competitors Steve Wozniak and Holly Madison have been given the boot off the ABC show.

    On the flip side, Woz made it as far as the playboy bunny – and did so without cleevage. (The two have something in common – he’s from silicon valley and she has silicon…)

  7. ProgressNow Colorado Welcomes Dick Wadhams

    Taking on yet another important position, Wadhams vows to “help ProgressNow hold conservative hacks like myself accountable”

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Tuesday, April 1st, 2009

    Contact: Michael Huttner, Founder

    DENVER:

    ProgressNow, Colorado’s largest progressive organization, today welcomed Colorado GOP chairman and former Schaffer for Senate campaign manager Dick Wadhams to his new position as Executive Image Consultant and Deputy Barista.

    “Dick Wadhams has proven that he has the motivation to take on full-time job after full-time job,” said Michael Huttner, Founder of ProgressNow. “We need a hard nosed, foul-mouthed Republican who needs money and knows how to lose to help us develop our own messaging strategy. Wadhams’ resume was by far the best one we saw on Craigslist last week.”

    Wadhams acknowledged that the many full-time positions he holds might make the coming months a formidable challenge, but expressed confidence that he can handle all of his jobs. “I’ve always worn many hats, usually black, but I work very hard and have managed not to lose a single election since 2008.” Wadhams said he particularly looked forward to making sure the coffee in the ProgressNow offices stays hot and fresh, and to adding “barnyard witticism” to ProgressNow’s press communications.

    “Besides, I’ve got bills to pay,” Wadhams concluded, “and a guy like me needs to build bridges on both sides of the aisle. Who knows what will happen in 2010? I surer than hell don’t.”

    Dick Wadhams became the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party in 2007 after presiding over the unexpected defeat of Sen. George Allen, whose reelection campaign collapsed in scandal over Allen’s use of racist epithets that Wadhams notably refused to acknowledge or apologize for, except in swear-word laden denials to reporters. Wadhams told reporters afterwards that he “really didn’t learn anything from it.” (Politics West, 3/29/08)

    ###

  8. Was going to write a diary but hit my 2/24 limit 🙁  from the Denver Post

    The proposed golden-ticket bid comes in two waves. The first hit Monday, when lawmakers introduced the annual school finance act.

    Contained within the bill are proposals to tie funding for at-risk students to classroom performance, study creating a charter boarding school for disadvantaged students and requiring freshmen fill out a College in Colorado form, to give them an academic and financial road map for reaching college.

    And that’s just for starters. Next up…

    The second wave is expected to hit in the coming weeks, when Romer and Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, introduce a bill creating a Colorado version of Race to the Top. That bill would build a pile of money – contingent upon winning the federal Race to the Top – to give to school districts that hit reform and performance targets.

    Details of the bill are still being worked out, but one idea involves a college-readiness exam for students. Those who pass would be eligible for free or subsidized in-state college tuition.

    Lawmakers have also introduced other bills – including one to track teachers’ performance and another to better gather data on student achievement.

    This is a beautiful example of legislators stepping up to bring about significant major improvements for the state. Education is both key and essential to the future economic success of our children and our state.

    Kudos to Romer, Spence, Groff, and every single legislator who is working on this. You’re making the state a much better place – thank you.

  9. from the Times Herald-Record

    As IBM was firing thousands of American workers last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Big Blue’s application to copyright a computerized system that calculates how to offshore jobs while maximizing government tax breaks.

    Update: IBM withdraws its application, calling it an error.

  11. It seems the appropriate day to throw this back out – the persistent “informed” conspiracy theory among military people I know is that they found WMD’s in the first couple of weeks of the invasion of Iraq -but they were 80’s era Chemical weapons given to Saddam by Daddy Bush, to test on Iran.

    Since this would’ve been a major BAD THING to Dubya, the entire discovery was hushed up by the military press.

    Now, Libertard can take this post, and repost it somewhere else on the internet as the truth…  

  12. This has got to be the cruelest April Fools joke I have ever seen in my life. Good for Eric Holder, for having the balls to pull it.

    http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/20…

    “In connection with the post-trial litigation in United States v. Theodore F. Stevens, the Department of Justice has conducted a review of the case, including an examination of the extent of the disclosures provided to the defendant. After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.”

    2. Apparently the level of prosecutorial misconduct was such that Holder could not see any other alternative.  And just as with the few released from Gitmo who actually CAN be documented as returning to the terrorist fight against us, this happened on the Bush watch.

      This was NOT out of control Dems on a vendetta against Repub Stevens just as it wasn’t wimpy soft on terror Dems responsible for releasing many among the low percentage of prisoners representing REAL threats from Gitmo to please Arab oil state buddies in places like the Saudi kingdom and Yemen.

      Some of the released, of course, may not have represented any threat until they were held and tortured for nothing for the best years of their prime. Probably really pissed them off.  Either way, ALL were released by Bush/Cheney.

        1. we can only hope that won’t be the case. But you never know.  Stevens DOES get pretty angry.  Remember how his head almost exploded when he was asked if he’d drop any of his earmarks?

  14. I ran over to the Post’s website before I finished reading here. Of course I was astounded when there was no mention of such a thing. Well played. Well played indeed.

  18. Energy companies in Colorado decided that they would hire back most of the laid-off drilling workers now that HB1292 is in effect.

    “The threat of losing hundreds of jobs because of the new oil-and-gas rules were nothing more than blackmail to move the governor and legislature to reject the regulations,” said an environmental spokesperson. “But the ruse led by oil-and-gas lobbyists didn’t work, so it’s back to business as usual in the Gas Patch.”

    Over 7,000 drilling requests have been entered with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission since January, breaking all previous records.

    After years of record earnings in the hundreds of billions of dollars, energy workers at Exxon, Halliburton, and other energy-related companies have also pressured oil executives to reconsider the layoffs in Colorado.

    “Those oil companies have enough money in the bank to keep afloat for decades even if they didn’t produce another drop of oil or gas,” said one rigger from Grand Junction. “I think the layoffs were planned just to embarrass the governor.”

    Industry leaders in Western Colorado deny that they have been playing politics with people’s livelihoods. “The new oil and gas rules are going to cost us money because now we will have to do more land reclamation and stop polluting water and air,” noted an industry spokesman. “That took money away from our profits and so we had to lay off a few workers and contractors to pad our bottom line and protect executive bonuses.”

    Local Western Slope Democratic politicians believe the energy companies will bring thousands of more workers to Colorado by the summer of 2010.

    “The oil and gas companies will want to make sure their workers are eligible to vote in the 2010 elections in oil and gas counties across the state,” stated a Democratic Party official. “That strategy worked in 2008, where energy workers changed the outcomes in commissioner and state legislative races — especially on the Western slope, so we expect to see the same political ploys next year.”

  22. And good riddance.  

    California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) on Tuesday told Capitol Hill reporters that she is skeptical of the Employee Free Choice Act, possibly dealing another deadly blow to the legislation.

    Feinstein’s skepticism, coming a week after Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced his opposition, means Democratic leaders might find themselves in an even deeper hole as they search for 60 votes to move the so-called “card-check” bill.

  23. from the Denver Post

    A Senate committee this morning approved a bill that would grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, an action that Republicans said was only possible through a sneaky maneuver by Democrats.

    …

    The bill’s prospects had looked grim heading into the Friday meeting. Though Democrats hold a 6-4 majority on the committee, Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, had said she would be a no vote, likely making for a 5-5 tie, meaning the bill would have died.

    But supporters of the bill caught a lucky break. Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, last week said he would be out of town until Thursday…

    Ok, sounds like they just took advantage of Harvey being busy – fair enough. Except to complete the above sentence

    Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, last week said he would be out of town until Thursday helping his wife prepare to bring her father, who has Alzheimer’s disease, to a facility in Colorado.

    When he’s out for a reason like that, and he scheduled it to not miss votes, and they then move the vote – that doesn’t feel right.

    1. The Dems will begin to overreach – even over a bill as dumb as this one.  

      Nationally you’ll see them do it with reconciliation on a bill that ends up not being terribly important in the scheme of things, and the pendulum will begin to swing the other way.

      It’s politics.  It’s natural.  Anyone who actually believed Obama would do anything truly in a new fresh way had to have been kidding themselves, myself at the top of that list.

      I’m really disappointed.  It’s a circus act in Washington at the moment, not the well-oiled machine the campaign was.

      Seriously – it’s almost easier to count the number of prospective appointees that aren’t in tax trouble.

      1. Seriously – it’s almost easier to count the number of prospective appointees that aren’t in tax trouble.

        I think we’ve had a long run of those in charge cutting corners figuring rules were only for the little people. And we see it in the fact that they all played games on their taxes. FWIW – I think it would be equally bad on the Republican side.

        I do think Obama is trying to do better. He can’t change what’s in the pool of available talent.

        1. Sneaking it in while a committee member is attending to an ill father-in-law was just classy, Abel.

          Put your names on it, Dems.  Please.

          1. it was underhanded, and Romer’s cavalier dismissal of the outrage (that it should never have been assigned to Appropriations in the first place) is offensive.

  24. SGI files for bankruptcy – AGAIN!

    “Silicon Graphics Inc., which is in bankruptcy protection, has agreed to sell its business to Rackable Systems Inc. for $25 million, unless it receives a higher bid from elsewhere. Rackable makes servers and data-center storage products and would take on certain liabilities and debts associated with SGI, the WSJ reported on Wednesday. The offering represents a 15 percent premium on SGI shares as of their closing on Tuesday.

    SGI has said in the court papers that it has struggled with legacy issues from the first restructuring since it has last exited bankruptcy protection in October of 2006. Other names problems included increased competition and delays in the introduction of new technology.

    SGI’s Chapter 11 petition listed $390.5 million in assets and $526.5 million in debts, sums that include 14 of its subsidiaries. As of March 1st, SGI employed 1,200 workers.

    The company is best known for its extremely high-performance visual rendering workstations and servers in the 1990s, but it struggled to compete in recent years as commodity hardware eventually claimed much of the same performance at lower prices. SGI eventually began selling customized systems based on AMD and Intel processors but never recovered its earlier position.”

    (WSJ link is closed to  non-subscribers – link to press release – http://www.rackable.com/news/p… )

    The first 3D system I ever worked on was Wavefront PowerAnimator on an Indy. SGI had the coolest-looking systems in the world, and still do. I think that’s why I have two O2’s in the basement…

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