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It’s because Joe Miklosi has made so public his intentions to run against Mike Coffman in CD-6, wherever its lines may fall, that we’re not too surprised we’re already receiving press releases like these.

From Democrat Paul Rosenthal’s campaign:

DENVER, August 30, 2011 – Paul Rosenthal, a teacher and local Democratic activist, has announced his candidacy for Colorado House District 9.  The district is held by Rep. Joe Miklosi until January of 2013, but will become open as Miklosi runs for U.S. Congress in District 6.

Rosenthal has earned local endorsements of Rep. Joe Miklosi, Sen. Joyce Foster, Sen. Pat Steadman, Sen. Evie Hudak, Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech, and over 100 Democratic Party activists and neighborhood leaders throughout his district.

“Community leaders and neighbors are supporting me because I have a track record of building coalitions and getting results,” Rosenthal said.  “I’m running because our state is neglecting our education system.  As a teacher, I see it every day.  We’re all facing tough times, but education is the key to our future success.”

Rosenthal is a special education and language arts teacher at a youth correctional facility, and has also taught in Denver Public Schools.  He continued, “I will hold our government accountable and take on the special interests that let the wealthy oil and gas industries receive over $300 million in Colorado tax breaks each year.  It’s not right.  Those tax breaks have to go before we even think about cutting our children’s education.”

Rosenthal has the most to gain, really, from Miklosi’s congressional campaign. In fact, Rosenthal has so aggressively been pursuing a place as Miklosi’s successor in 2012 that we had heard rumblings about his candidacy even before Miklosi had begun to make the rounds about his intentions to take on Coffman. It might seem like bad form, but because Rosenthal has rounded up endorsements from all of the southeast Denver district’s leaders early on, he likely won’t have to go through the headache of dealing with a serious primary challenge.

Miklosi handily won election in 2008 and then again in 2010, both times scoring over 60% of the vote. While Miklosi’s Tech Center area seat may have its fair share of Republican donors, the district has consistently expanded its Democratic base over the last ten years: Democrats now outnumber Republicans by more than 15%.  That Miklosi was an experienced political operator certainly didn’t hurt either; he knew how to run a campaign, and he faced only nominal Republican opposition.

Unfortunately for Rosenthal, while he may have more or less cornered the Democratic nomination, he’s not even necessarily running for Miklosi’s seat. Though the Colorado Reapportionment Commission‘s maps have yet to be finalized, some observers have hinted that Miklosi might be running for Congress because his house seat could become that much more favorable for Republicans. If so, Rosenthal will have his work cut out for him, and all the Democratic endorsements in the world won’t guarantee him an easy election.

With the incumbent candidate busy running for even higher office, Rosenthal won’t get much help from Miklosi, who’ll be inevitably focusing his time and talents on his own campaign. Maybe he can find time to send Andrew Short, Rosenthal’s campaign manager, a few tips, however. Short previously managed Jennifer Coken‘s third-place campaign for HD-4, ultimately losing to now Rep. Dan Pabon. While we’re sure Short has learned a lot from that campaign, the press release he sent us about Rosenthal’s candidacy linked to Coken’s now defunct campaign website. Of course all candidates and their managers are entitled to a few mistakes, but basing an entire campaign off a losing template, so to speak, is not a great way to launch any race.

These early mistakes aside, we’re left wondering if 2012 is the year Rosenthal may finally be elected to something. Those with sufficiently long memories will recall that Rosenthal ran in 2003 for Denver City Council, losing to Peggy Lehmann. In 2008, he ran an intense primary campaign against Miklosi. Rosenthal lost, obviously, but that makes his once-opponent’s endorsement that much more meaningful. If Rosenthal breaks his losing streak by way of HD-9 this year, we think he’ll owe thanks primarily to Congressman Mike Coffman.