December 21, 2008 06:32 PM UTC

Denver Post: Hickenlooper For Senate

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post makes the hometown favorite’s case:

Gov. Bill Ritter doesn’t even need one of his legendary blue-ribbon panels to help with this decision. The choice is clear.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper should be Colorado’s next senator.

With Sen. Ken Salazar expected to win confirmation as Interior secretary, Ritter must select someone to fill out the remaining two years of the senator’s term. Several names quickly bubbled to the top, and most are very qualified to be Colorado’s junior senator. (Mark Udall, elected to the U.S. Senate just last month, will be the state’s senior.)

We think only one candidate, Hickenlooper, has everything Ritter is seeking: high statewide name recognition, stratospheric approval ratings, a proven knack for raising money and, most importantly, a definitive track record of success and pragmatic problem-solving.

Hickenlooper’s potential in the U.S. Senate would be limitless.

Ritter, a Democrat, will want to appoint a fellow Democrat who can win statewide in 2010 and retain the seat for his party. Hickenlooper’s popularity is immense along the Front Range, and he’s a well-known figure throughout the state, thanks to his quirky campaign ads. He’s been featured in just one statewide ad buy (for Referendum C), but the Denver TV market, where his mayoral ads air, reaches throughout the state…

There’s plenty to like about the other candidates. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is bright and innovative and works across the aisle. Congressman Ed Perlmutter is cut from Salazar’s moderate cloth. Congresswoman Diana DeGette has proven to be a skilled lawmaker. And while he’s publicly distancing himself from the scramble, Denver Public Schools chief Michael Bennet would make a fine senator.

But, for us, the discussion always comes back to Hickenlooper, a centrist, pro-business mayor who has consistently embraced pragmatic solutions to urban problems over unhelpful ideological crusades.

A few points to consider:

1. The Post wouldn’t have written this glowing endorsement without some confirmation that Hickenlooper is in fact willing to take the job, which in the absence of a clear statement from the Mayor helps settle an important question. There are people who tell us confidently that the Senate seat is Hickenlooper’s if he wants it.

2. Everything about the choice for Ritter depends (in our view, anyway) on the likelihood of the appointee holding the seat in 2010. This is the critical filter that rules out a large number of short-list favorites. The Post asserts that Hickenlooper has the appeal and name recognition to win 2010’s marquee race, given his well-received statewide exposure fronting for 2005’s Referendum C and very high Front Range opinion ratings.

It’s a good recap of Hickenlooper’s pluses. Do you agree? Contributing discussion items that naturally present themselves include Denver’s current $56 million budget shortfall, the value of experience gained as a “strong mayor” of a major city as qualification to be U.S. Senator, lingering tension between Ritter and Hickenlooper over the 2006 race (if any), special-election dominoes set up by this as opposed to other choices, likely GOP counterstrategy against Hickenlooper (undermining the suburbs, running up the scoreboard in rural areas), and the related bottom line: whether or not a liberal Front Range Democrat with no rural cachet can “whistle past Mesa.”

If all of these questions have answers that point to Mayor Hickenlooper as able to pull it off in 2010, then go for it. We’re not quite ready to pronounce Hickenlooper the “easy pick” the Post declares him to be, however, if for no other reason than the wealth of other solid candidates–some of whom might plausibly claim to be a less-nuanced sell.