April 02, 2010 08:55 PM UTC

The Colorado Governor's Race, In a Picture

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• by: Colorado Pols

At the risk of oversimplifying the Colorado Governor’s race in 2010, this, in a nutshell, is why Republicans are in trouble.

This picture is from last night’s Nugget’s game, in which Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper rode a bicycle onto the court to deliver the game ball before tip-off. As we saw this picture, we were reminded of a quote from State Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams in early February:

“If this election has to be about whether voters like John Hickenlooper, we will lose. This guy is dangerous. If we allow him to run as the quirky mayor of Denver, he is dangerous.”

As much as we all like to pretend that elections are about issues, they really aren’t that way anymore (if they ever were). In today’s media climate, elections are popularity contests, first and foremost, and Republicans like Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are just never going to be more likable than Hickenlooper.

There are few politicians in Colorado who could pull of this bicycle basketball maneuver and make it look genuine, rather than the folksy publicity stunt that it is. Think about it — who else could do this and not come across as completely fake? When all is said and done in November, it is this difference that McInnis and Maes just cannot overcome.

As an aside, this is also a strong counter-argument to the old (and we believe, long disproved) adage that a Denver politician would have a hard time winning statewide; you think the Mayor of Longmont would be able to arrange this kind of free press in the Denver market?