December 31, 2006 06:30 PM UTC

"Teflon" Mayor Hickenlooper Survives Star-Crossed 2006

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• by: Colorado Pols

Denver Post flamethrower Karen Crummy dutifully reports on a new poll this morning indicating rumors of a groundswell of criticism against Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper have been exaggerated.

Denver residents overwhelmingly approve of Mayor John Hickenlooper’s job performance, and most don’t hold him responsible for the snowpacked condition of city streets, a poll conducted for The Denver Post shows.

While 77 percent of those polled said their streets had not been plowed to their satisfaction, only 21 percent blamed the mayor for snowplowing delays.

Denverites also don’t think the mayor is responsible for the botched November midterm election and would replace the Denver Election Commission with a single elected clerk if they were voting today.

“For any political figure to come through six tough weeks and two major events – the election debacle and a significant blizzard – and still have approval numbers starting with a 7 and little blame attributed to him, is, from a political perspective, impressive,” said political consultant Eric Sondermann.

It certainly is — Hickenlooper got hit with serious challenges this year. But in conversations we’ve had this week, we’ve found that the people blaming Hickenlooper are the people generally disposed towards grumbling anyway or don’t really understand how the city works, and most people love the guy despite it all.

If the three-year Hickenlooper “honeymoon” is over, perhaps what we’re seeing here is the make-up sex after his first fight. You can bet that the groomers hoping to see Hickenlooper trade in his existing title for a better one (like “Senator”) are consulting their Kama Sutras on his behalf. Nice and slow, boys, and remember not to bury her face in your armpit. Really, that’s a problem with tall men.

The old saying “whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” is also true in politics. If Hickenlooper presides over successfully reforming Denver’s election system (noting that it’s not so much in his hands these days), and we get back to our usual pattern of not having blizzards once a week, he’ll be fine–with some useful experience to show for his trouble. In fact, his ongoing viability may become as important a story in future years as Bob Beauprez’s disintegration was in 2006.