December 17, 2005 09:00 AM UTC

Hickenlooper Story No Idle Talk

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post reports today on what has been a not-entirely-secret rumor in the last week or two: that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is indeed considering a run for governor.

We’ve heard this talk for about two weeks now, but we have avoided posting on it because Hick for governor rumors are a little like herpes; you never know when an outbreak is going to happen and there’s nothing you can do to stop them from popping up. There’s no use discussing the rumors until there’s more fire to go along with the smoke. Well…

The Post article is different, and  it cannot be dismissed as idle talk for four reasons:

1. Hick didn’t make this announcement to his cabinet absentmindedly. This was done with the idea that the press would pick up on it. He hasn’t done this before — or if he has, nobody has talked about it — so why all of a sudden bring it up now? His staff has always been fairly tight-lipped, which means this is being floated for a reason.

2. Hick’s communications director, Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, has never publicly been this forthright before about a possible run for governor. She has always said something to the effect of “The Mayor has no intention to run for governor.” But what does she tell the Post on Friday?

“A number of people from both sides of the political aisle continue to encourage the mayor to consider running. He has learned nothing so far to convince him to run, as he absolutely loves being mayor of Denver.”

Granted, that’s a far cry from a definitive statement, but the tone is clearly changing.

3. The Post reported that privately commissioned polls have shown Hick to be popular statewide. Polls are expensive, and you don’t pay for them unless you think there is a use for them. In this case, if Hick was definitely not running, there’s no reason to spend the money on a poll. You don’t use a poll like that to convince someone to run; you use it to reassure them.

4. The Post reported that Hick was scheduled to meet with a top Democratic fundraiser today. Unless the discussion is about Hick raising money for someone, or something else — which is an odd meeting to have on a Saturday a week before Christmas — there’s little question that Hick is talking about raising money for himself today.

There’s absolutely no question, love him or hate him, that Hickenlooper is the clear frontrunner if he does decide to run for governor. We’re a long way from November ’06, but it would be his race to lose. So now…is it his race to run?