October 24, 2011 09:15 PM UTC

Hancock to Appear Beside Obama

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• by: Colorado Pols

Michael Hancock will be getting a brief appearance on the national stage this week, courtesy of Barack Obama. From The Denver Business Journal:

President Barack Obama will be in Denver on Tuesday and Wednesday to tout the jobs plan he is trying to push through Congress as well as to raise campaign funds. And his Environmental Protection Agency chief will visit Denver on Monday.

Obama is slated to arrive Tuesday night on Air Force One. He has a fundraising appearance slated that night, The Denver Post’s Allison Sherry reports. Obama will appear at the Pepsi Center with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, according to Hancock’s schedule.

As Denver and the West become increasingly more important to Barack Obama’s re-election efforts, Mayor Hancock may get to share some of the spotlight. We’ve previously written at length about Hancock’s efforts to shop his story to the national media, and appearing alongside the President of the United States goes a long way towards getting recognition for Hancock’s inspiring narrative.

Of course, that’s more a function of 2012’s emphasis on Colorado as a bellwether than anything Hancock’s PR team has done. Either way, though, Hancock has to be thrilled with his timing: he gets to appear alongside the first African-American president as Denver’s widely supported African-American mayor.

This is going to look particularly great for Hancock, especially with other Colorado leaders giving the President a cooler reception. In fact, we think that it’s not too presumptuous to assume that Hancock wants to be Obama’s western spokesman, so to speak. It would certainly be the easiest way to rake in mainstream media appearances.