November 04, 2010 03:57 AM UTC

Democrats Mourn Loss of Kennedy, Eye Gessler Warily

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• by: Colorado Pols

We can tell you that a lot of Democrats took the ultimately unsuccessful defense of Colorado Treasurer Cary Kennedy quite personally, and felt some emotion when they got this today, well after her fate was known:

I called Walker Stapleton last night and offered him my congratulations.  Walker has my full support, and I ask you to give him your full support as he works for all of the people of this state…

Thank you to each of you for your support over this campaign. I could not have done it without you.

It has been an honor for me to serve over these past four years and I am very proud of the work we have accomplished together.

Treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton has got four years now to shake the stigma applied to him by opponents this election, both from his family ties to George W. Bush and the trouble in his past–the details of which have still not been fully disclosed. He’ll be under the watchful eye of the Governor, of course, so anything too exotic financially Stapleton might propose as Treasurer should receive the appropriate supervision/intervention/head-pat.

Secretary of State-elect Scott Gessler, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.

It’s tough to know what to expect from Gessler, the elections attorney typically called to defend GOP-leaning clients from various charges of election law violations now charged with enforcing Colorado election law. There’s no question that Gessler is smart enough for the job. The question is whether he will turn his office into a branch office of his party. The best example of this in recent memory would be Gigi Dennis, who as a lame-duck appointed Secretary of State unsuccessfully tried to change the rules late in the 2006 elections to favor Republicans. Her actions were pretty much uniformly condemned, but her political career was over anyway and she didn’t care–the temptation to game the election with the power of her office was too great.

Well folks, there’s a fairly good possibility that you ain’t seen nothing yet.