December 05, 2008 09:52 PM UTC

GOP Relishes CD-3 Possibility

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• by: Colorado Pols

One thing you can count on: if John Salazar is picked by the incoming Obama administration as USDA Secretary, the ensuing special election for his CD-3 seat will be a major battle that Republicans around the nation will try like hell to win. As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Sen. State Josh Penry is flattered that folks are talking about him as a possible contender if there’s a opening in the 3rd Congressional District this spring. But he’s not going to spend much time talking about it.

“I think it’s unwise to engage in parlor games until we know what happens,” said Penry, R- Grand Junction.

If Barack Obama taps Democratic U.S. Rep. John Salazar to be his agriculture secretary, a fierce battle to succeed him is in store.

“I think John Salazar would make an outstanding secretary and I urge President-elect Obama to pick him,” GOP chairman Dick Wadhams said with a laugh. Republicans believe they can take back the 3rd District, which Salazar, a San Luis Valley potato farmer, won in 2004.

But Democrats say the results of the November election bode well for them. Democratic U.S. Sen.-elect Mark Udall beat Republican Bob Schaffer by about 12,000 votes in the district, and the Democratic state board of education candidate lost by about 3,000 votes.

The Democrat needs a strong showing in Pueblo to offset the Republican strongholds of Mesa, Delta, Montezuma and Montrose counties, said Denis Berckefeldt the Democratic nominee in 2002.

That’s one reason Democrats have asked Pueblo County District Attorney Bill Thiebaut to seek the nomination.

With all due respect to Bill Thiebaut, he’s not the guy to run for this seat–although we concede the underlying point about considering him, often overlooked, which is that Pueblo is at least as important to winning CD-3 as Grand Junction and the deep-red but underpopulated Western Slope.

Here are some potential Democrats for CD-3 that we think would hold up well against Josh Penry or another similarly strong GOP contender: Bernie Buescher (easy top choice), Sal Pace, Kathleen Curry, Gail Schwartz, perhaps even Jim Isgar (mostly because we don’t see enough of the guy).

But above all, we advise caution when getting all speculative about Salazar’s “replacement.” There are a number of high-profile names on the various “short lists” we’ve seen for Ag Secretary, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the combination of a wealth of strong candidates for the position and the need to hold Rep. Salazar’s congressional seat add up to him being passed over.