December 29, 2005 09:00 AM UTC

The 2005 Polsie Awards: Winners

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• by: Colorado Pols

Since every other media outlet on the planet is doing their year-in-review, we didn’t want to be left out. We’ll start today with our 2005 Winners, and tomorrow we’ll reveal our 2005 Losers in Colorado politics. On Monday, we’ll give you our picks for the politicos who have the most at stake in 2006.

The 2005 Colorado Polsie Awards

And the Winners are…

U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D)

Salazar started the year as a freshman senator from Colorado, and ended the year as one of the major players in Washington D.C. Thanks in part to well-deflected attacks from Focus on the Family, Salazar stood atop the national stage over the confirmation with Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and continues to be in the thick of things on virtually every major national issue emanating from the Capitol. You could make a case that there is no member of Colorados congressional delegation with more national influence right now than Salazar. Not bad for a junior senator.

Congressman Tom Tancredo (R)

While Tancredo is approaching the line that defines passion and lunacy, and may have crossed it on several occasions (remember Bomb Mecca?), theres no doubt that 2005 was the coming-out party for the Colorado congressman. With recent front-page stories from the likes of The New York Times and an upcoming Presidential bid, Tancredo is getting the spotlight for his drumbeat on immigration reform  even if he isnt doing any of the actual heavy lifting himself.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D)

Theres no argument that Hickenlooper is the most popular politician in Colorado at the moment, and everything he touches these days seems to turn to gold. His commercials during the 2005 elections were well-received, he was named one of the nations best mayors, and even the negative stories that come out of Denver never seem to make a direct hit. If he runs for governor, its his race to lose, because in 2005 Hick cemented his place at the top of the Colorado political ladder.

Gubernatorial Candidate Marc Holtzman (R)

Can Holtzman win the governors race? Thats a 2006 question. For 2005, nobody had a better political year when you consider where Holtzman started. When we first reported that Holtzman was running for governor this time last year, we had to Google him to make sure we were thinking about the same person. One year later, his name ID is high enough and he has raised enough money that he has a legitimate shot at winning the governors race. Since he was a virtual unknown at the end of 2004, wed say that 2005 was a good year for Holtzman.

Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff (D)

No politician had more at stake with Referenda C&D than Romanoff, who had essentially tied his entire political career to TABOR reform. It was an up-and-down year for Mr. Speaker, but overall things ended on a high note. He started 2005 as the golden boy of the Democratic Party after the stunning 2004 election victories that gave Democrats control of the legislature, but by the end of the 2005 session he had angered some constituencies, including organized labor, for not doing enough for traditional Democratic friends. But the Referendum C victory was his crowing achievement that trumps any other troubles, and that makes 2005 a good year for Romanoff  even if he doesnt have anywhere to go from here.

Check back tomorrow as the 2005 Colorado Polsie Awards continue with the Losers of 2005. In the meantime, give us YOUR winners for 2005 in the comments section below.