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Beauprez: John Hickenlooper would have been unbeatable in 2010
In case you missed it, former Congressman Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., recently sat down with The Colorado Statesman for a wide-ranging interview that is definitely work reading in its entirety. What stood out at us, though, was his admission that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper would have been an unbeatable Senate candidate had Gov. Bill Ritter selected him to succeed Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., instead of Michael Bennet.
From the interview: “I don’t know, but I’m guessing John Hickenlooper has name ID that rivals the governor’s, maybe exceeds the governor’s. I’m guessing that John Hickenlooper has 4-to-1 favorable/unfavorables statewide. There isn’t enough money in the world to peel that down to 1-to-1 — to where you could maybe beat him.
“John Hickenlooper could claim — he won’t do it because he’s got enough humility to not do it — but he could claim that the DNC was successful in large part because of his efforts to raise the money. He not only has a Rolodex with names in it, they are successful names.
“John could raise more money and be more easily elected. His appointment would have taken that seat almost completely off the table. I don’t know what John could have done to make it truly competitive.”
Beauprez goes on to say that Bennet being Bennet alone will make Colorado’s 2010 U.S. Senate race “competitive.”
In case you’re apt to chalk up Beauprez’s comments to pure post-facto partisanship, both the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and the inside-baseball political news site Five Thirty Eight appear to agree with Beauprez’s assessment in their latest Senate race ratings.
*Hickenlooper, Beauprez photos from the Associated Press.
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