{"id":73896,"date":"2019-08-09T19:20:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T01:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-hickenlooper-retreat-to-senate-race-could-be-rough\/"},"modified":"2019-08-10T01:20:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T01:20:40","slug":"a-hickenlooper-retreat-to-senate-race-could-be-rough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-hickenlooper-retreat-to-senate-race-could-be-rough\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hickenlooper retreat to Senate race could be rough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Former
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks during the first of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN on July 30 in the Fox Theatre in Detroit.<\/span>Paul Sancya\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For months, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper has been under pressure from fellow Democrats to abandon his long-shot presidential bid and tackle a task closer to home \u2013 challenging vulnerable Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.<\/p>\n

But as Hickenlooper\u2019s White House aspirations sputter, there are signs that claiming a Senate consolation prize won\u2019t be easy: The Democrats already running are giving no indication they intend to end their campaigns, meaning Hickenlooper could face a difficult primary featuring many of the troublesome currents he has struggled to navigate in the presidential race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis field is not going to stand down for him,\u201d said Mike Stratton, a veteran Democratic consultant in Colorado who said Hickenlooper remained a formidable statewide candidate but that his presidential run exposed vulnerabilities that could spell trouble: \u201cIf you can\u2019t get this to galvanize for you in the presidential, can you get it to galvanize for you in the primary in Colorado?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Cory Gardner<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The state is a must-win if Democrats are to have any hope of the net gain of four seats they would need to retake the Senate majority \u2013 and thus make any Democratic president\u2019s legislative agenda even close to viable.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has kept a close eye on Hickenlooper\u2019s campaign and made clear that he would be welcomed to the Senate fold, according to Democrats familiar with his thinking.<\/p>\n

But while Hickenlooper has spent months traveling in Iowa and other early primary states, several candidates with strong profiles have built credible campaigns to take on Gardner.<\/p>\n

Three candidates \u2013 former state senator Mike Johnston, former State Department official Dan Baer and ex-state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff \u2013 have already raised more than $1 million. Former U.S. attorney John Walsh is not far behind that benchmark. Alice Madden, a well-respected former state House majority leader, recently joined the race, while Secretary of State Jena Griswold has launched an exploratory effort.<\/p>\n

All are younger than the 67-year-old Hickenlooper and are well-positioned to outflank him by reminding Democratic primary voters about the parts of his centrist gubernatorial record that might be especially distasteful to liberals \u2013 including his strong support of the state\u2019s oil and gas industry and his uneven support for gun-control measures.<\/p>\n

While Hickenlooper\u2019s brand of quirky moderation won him two terms as governor, he never had to face a competitive statewide primary, and his performance in the presidential race has only amplified questions about his viability in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day that he continues to run for president, he loses a little bit more luster as a potential Senate candidate,\u201d said Dick Wadhams, a former Colorado Republican Party chairman and observer of state politics.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether Hickenlooper is inclined to either abandon his presidential race or, if he does, switch to a Senate run. He could declare his Senate candidacy as late as March, though Colorado has a rigorous ballot qualification process that would make it difficult to wait more than a few weeks past the start of the new year.<\/p>\n

He appeared to crack the door open to a Senate run in a SiriusXM radio interview Sunday, saying that he would \u201cbe a fool\u201d to continue his presidential campaign if he remains mired under 2 percent support and that he\u2019s \u201cnever ruled out anything\u201d regarding a jump to the Senate race. In an interview earlier this year, he called Schumer \u201cone of the more persuasive people in my acquaintance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokesman Peter Cunningham declined to comment on how Hickenlooper might fare in the Senate race: \u201cAt this moment, there is no decision to enter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should he do so, Hickenlooper would face a millstone of his own making: his own dismal words about serving in the Senate, which are likely to fuel arguments that voters ought to prefer a candidate who is more interested in the job at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not cut out to be a senator,\u201d he told Politico in February. \u201cI\u2019m a doer. That\u2019s what gives me joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As recently as last month, he said of the Senate, \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s my calling,\u201d and he quipped at a June 13 National Press Club event, \u201cIf the Senate is so good, how come all those senators are trying to get out?\u201d<\/p>\n

He again suggested in the SiriusXM interview that he was less than enthused about the legislative lifestyle: \u201cWhat excites me is being in those executive positions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Four Democrats, in interviews or statements to The Washington Post, declined to criticize Hickenlooper directly but made implicit cases for their candidacies that highlighted his weaknesses.<\/p>\n

Johnston \u2013 who has raised a staggering $3.4 million this year, outpacing Hickenlooper\u2019s presidential fundraising \u2013 suggested in an interview that voters aren\u2019t interested in voting for a candidate who isn\u2019t fully invested in the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re tired of sending people to D.C. and not seeing any changes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know I am going to give every single ounce of what I have to this and that I am all in for fighting with everything we have to actually make change in the U.S. Senate and to be there for as long as it takes to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romanoff, in a statement, pointed to his strong small-donor fundraising in promoting his candidacy. Hickenlooper has struggled to build support among small-donation givers, and he is well short of the 130,000-donor threshold to qualify for the next round of presidential debates in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur grass-roots campaign has earned support from more Coloradans \u2013 including nearly 300 elected officials \u2013 than any other candidate, and I\u2019d be glad to earn Gov. Hickenlooper\u2019s endorsement as well,\u201d Romanoff said.<\/p>\n

Baer identified in an interview with the crop of \u201cnational security Democrats\u201d with background in foreign affairs, intelligence or the military running their first political race who were able to unseat Republicans in last year\u2019s midterms. He served briefly as director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education in the final months of Hickenlooper\u2019s tenure, has gotten donations from Hickenlooper\u2019s wife and numerous members of his state administration, and was careful to note he meant no criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to replace a career politician like Cory Gardner is with somebody who isn\u2019t one,\u201d Baer said, adding: \u201cThe person who will succeed in beating Cory Gardner is the person who is able to make this election at least in part about the fact that Cory Gardner has sold out again and again for Donald Trump and is able to not let him run away from that record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper has been famously averse to negative campaigning, from his first gubernatorial campaign in which he made it a centerpiece of his appeal to voters, to his presidential run, in which the closest he has gotten to an attack line is declaring that \u201csocialism is not the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh is running on his six years\u2019 experience as Colorado\u2019s top federal prosecutor under President Barack Obama. In that role, he helped manage investigations into mass shootings in an Aurora movie theater and a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic and national probes into Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry that led to multibillion-dollar settlements.<\/p>\n

His approach to questions about Hickenlooper is to simply cast doubt that the former governor will ultimately enter the race: \u201cHe\u2019s said over and over again that the Senate is not the kind of position he wants, and for that reason, I think it\u2019s pretty clear that his mind is focused on other things,\u201d Walsh said, adding: \u201cI\u2019m 100 percent committed to seeking this office, and I\u2019m trying to make sure everybody knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats with experience in Colorado politics, meanwhile, are warning not to take the state for granted. They note that Gardner, 44, is a talented campaigner with an appealing profile who won what many considered to be an impossible race in 2014, beating incumbent Democrat Mark Udall by a razor-thin margin.<\/p>\n

Gardner spokesman Jerrod Dobkin declined to comment on any particular opponent but said the Democratic field \u201cis full of candidates embracing radical positions\u201d on health care, immigration and other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eventual nominee will stand in sharp contrast to Senator Gardner, who . . . has a record of getting things done for Colorado,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, Democrats maintain that Gardner, who has broken with President Trump at times but has been a reliable vote for key administration agenda items, will have a tough path to reelection running alongside Trump in a state the president lost by five percentage points in 2016 \u2013 whether Hickenlooper runs or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wide-open field, but it\u2019s a talented field,\u201d said Craig Hughes, a consultant with ties to Hickenlooper and several of the state\u2019s most prominent Democrats. \u201cThe national dynamics are working against Gardner, and that as much as anything puts him in a very difficult position, whether it\u2019s standing with Trump on immigration or health care or the Trump tax cuts. It makes him incredibly vulnerable to any number of Democratic candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Washington Post\u2019s Holly Bailey and David Weigel contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a must-win if Democrats want to retake the Senate majority<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-73896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73896"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=73896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}