Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. passes up reelection bid

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. appeared today amid a crowd of aides, operatives and reporters in the state Capitol building in Denver to announce that he was no longer running for reelection.

He said the surprise decision was purely personal, unrelated to the national troubles of his Democratic Party or the fact that he trails in the polls against his Republican challenger, former Rep. Scott McGinnis.

‘This allows me to focus on the things that should be the most important -- taking care of my family and taking care of the state of Colorado.’

Not running for reelection, he said, would free him up to make politically unpopular decisions on the budget. And he said he believed Democrats had many strong candidates who could replace him.

Bob Loevy, a political science professor at Colorado College, said Democrats have now lost their biggest advantage in the governor’s race -- incumbency. ‘This is a disaster for the Democratic Party,’ he said. ‘Everyone is perceiving a Republican tide building, and Democrats are doing the natural thing and getting out of the way.’

-- Nicholas Riccardi