From superintendent to senator from Colorado
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. is expected to announce today that he is appointing Michael Bennet, the head of the Denver school district, to fill the state’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.
The state’s Democratic senior senator, Ken Salazar, is leaving to serve as secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration. Speculation has swirled for weeks over whom Ritter, a Democrat, would pick as Salazar’s replacement.
Bennet, a Democrat who was believed to be a candidate for Obama’s education secretary, has never held elected office.
The Rocky Mountain News first reported Friday morning that Bennet, 44, was Ritter’s choice. By the afternoon, several other news outlets had similar stories and political insiders were discussing the appointment as a done deal.
The governor’s office declined to comment, saying it would have no statement until the announcement.
Bennet was viewed as a dark horse candidate in a field of Colorado Democratic luminaries. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, for whom Bennet previously worked as chief of staff, Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette all vied for the post.
Bennet, who has won broad praise for implementing merit pay for Denver teachers and keeping the district’s budget in line, would have to run for election in 2010 to keep the seat. Political analysts said that makes his selection a big risk.
“He has no name identification. He’s not well-known in Denver,” said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver pollster. “The Republicans are now probably pretty ecstatic.”
Bennet’s advocates argued that he has a track record as a nonpartisan pragmatist -- a profile popular with state voters. And they pointed out that he has been a fast study in his wide array of jobs. He was a lawyer in the Clinton administration’s Justice Department before coming to Colorado in 1997 to run billionaire Philip Anschutz’s investment firm.
Pastor Paul Burleson of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance clashed with Bennet over the superintendent’s closure of an inner-city high school several years ago. Any ill will from that battle has faded, Burleson said.
“He kept his promises,” Burleson said. “He’s passionate about what he does. . . . He’ll do his due diligence and do whatever it takes to represent this state.”
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