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Bennet beats high-profile rivals

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 2, 2009 at 10:32 p.m.
Updated January 2, 2009 at 10:32 p.m.

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Several years ago, Denver City Councilman Michael Hancock and Michael Bennet, then Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff, had a heart-to-heart talk.

"I asked, 'What do you want to do in life?'" Hancock recalled Friday.

Bennet answered that he wanted to be in the U.S. Senate.

Gov. Bill Ritter's decision to appoint Bennet to the Senate stunned plenty of Coloradans on Friday, but it turns out that the darkhorse candidate no one expected to get the job had visions of it all along.

Exactly how Ritter decided on Bennet was unclear Friday, but it's clear the Denver Public Schools' superintendent's ambition and connections played a role.

In any case, it was a stunning pick: Bennet beat out the high-profile candidates, including his one-time boss, Hickenlooper, outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and two congressmen.

On this a number of politicos agree: Bennet's viability increased when Presidential-elect Barack Obama considered him to head the Department of Education. Without that, his name might not have been mentioned.

"It probably gave Ritter and his people some comfort in knowing that he was considered highly qualified by the White House," said Jennifer Duffy of The Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C.

Ritter talked to potential candidates and "really clicked" with Bennet, said one Denver resident who asked not be identified but who has talked to people involved in the process.

Denver City Councilman Doug Linkhart said he would have bet 20-1 against Bennet because it looked like it was down to two or three other contenders.

"He was second banana to Hickenlooper," Linkhart said. "You would think (Ritter would) choose the top banana."

Wadhams speculates

Hickenlooper, who did not directly address Ritter's appointment of Bennet on Friday, once considered running against Ritter in 2006 for the Democratic nomination for governor, but then decided against it.

The pair never have been considered close, but never been considered enemies.

Most Democrats declined to go on the record Friday.

Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, acknowledged he was stunned by the decision but was more than happy to speculate.

"I can't help but think that a Governor Ritter didn't want to be overshadowed by a Senator Hickenlooper," Wadhams said. "None of this make sense to me."

He said that Romanoff was also considered a top contender and had gotten endorsements from newspaper and civic groups statewide.

Among Romanoff's supporters was Progressive 15, a coalition of 15 mostly rural counties in northeast Colorado.

The group had written a letter to Ritter on Romanoff's behalf.

"We are disappointed," said Cathy Shull, executive director of Progressive 15.

Bennet is such an unknown in rural Colorado that members initially thought Ritter had appointed one of Republican Sen. Wayne Allard's former staffers, also named Michael Bennett, although it is spelled differently.

'We're in total shock'

Some observers said Romanoff's full-court press might have turned off the governor, although Ritter's office isn't talking.

Democrat Wally Stealey, a legend in Pueblo politics, said he called the governor's office recently and asked who was being considered.

The reply: Romanoff. Hickenlooper. Congressmen John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter. Former Senate candidate Tom Strickland.

"Michael Bennet was never on the list," Stealey said.

He said he fielded calls all day Friday from angry Democrats.

"We're in total shock," Stealey said. "We don't think he can win the next election. We think he is the wealthy man's candidate."

Other Democrats hailed the choice.

C.L. Harmer, a former political spokeswoman, called the pick "brilliant" and said Bennet "harkens back to the intellectual gravitas of Gary Hart," a former Democratic senator first elected in 1974.

Mike Feeley, former Senate minority leader, said Bennet is "one of the most talented and brightest guys I've ever met."

"He's smart enough to figure out how to win a statewide election," Feeley said.

Staff writer Daniel Chacon contributed to this report.

Comments

  • January 3, 2009

    6 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    milehiloco writes:

    MIchael Bennet will prove to be a GREAT US Senator and will represent our state in a manner deserving of all Coloradoans. I look forward to watching him in action and supporting him in 2010. Adelante con Michael Bennet! AJUAA!