Democrats everywhere and especially in Colorado can rejoice in the fact that grassroots candidate Andrew Romanoff doubled his lead to fifteen points over incumbent Senator Michael Bennet in the race for the nomination for the United States Senate after "Super Saturday" county assemblies this weekend. Andrew Romanoff drubbed his opponent in Denver, its suburbs and almost every other key county, flipped Boulder and Colorado Springs into the win column, and swept all of the delegates in several rural counties. This will virtually nail down the top spot on the primary ballot to be determined at the state assembly on May 22nd. It tells you Andrew Romanoff is the most electable Democrat in the Senate race hands down.
This trend is great for Democrats everywhere who want the change they worked for in '08 and the chance to vote for the only candidate (in this state at least) who can stand up against the corporations, special interests and lobbyists. Andrew Romanoff has rejected their money. He is the only candidate strong enough to do that. This has proven to be a compelling story.
Andrew Romanoff has been a great public servant as a legislator and a leader of the Colorado Democratic party. He was elected four times to the Colorado House of Reprentatives, led the party to its first democratic majority in in 30 years, and was the youngest Speaker ever elected. In the eight years before Andrew Romanoff was term limited, no one worked harder for Coloradans. He spearheaded the largest investment in school construction ever and in after-school programs and fixed Colorado's fiscal crisis as author and leading proponent of the economic recovery plan Referendum C - getting bipartisan support and a signature from a Republican governor.
So many were his legislative accomplishments, Andrew Romanoff was named a 2008 "Public Official of the Year" by Governing magazine.
Andrew Romanoff's impending win is big news because his opponent is an incumbent, appointed (cough, cough) by our governor last January when Senator Kenneth Salazar was appointed Interior Secretary. When President Obama visited Colorado on behalf of Senator Bennet, apparently to no avail, he may have have been better served familiarizing himself with Andrew Romanoff. Our state party honchos went to embarrassing lengths to show their favoritism to Senator Bennet. They failed to allot Andrew Romanoff speaking time at the state party dinner. Nonetheless, when Secretary Salazar merely mentioned his name, Andrew Romanoff received by far the biggest ovation of any present or former Colorado Democrat, to the possible chagrin of his opponent and the other hacks.
All this has rankled Colorado Democrats who clearly believe that Andrew Romanoff is (a) the most qualified person for this position and can serve our best interests right away without wasting our votes kowtowing to big money that does not share our values and actually couldn't care less about us, and (b) work with a sense of urgency, among other things (i) to get hundreds of thousands of unemployed Coloradans who want to work, back to work, (ii) reign in our destructive financial system, and (iii) protect the environment.
The last time I checked, Senator is a legislative position. With all due respect to Mr. Romanoff’s opponent, the next law he gets passed will be his first ever. Moreover, the next election he wins will be his first as Senator Bennet has never won an elective office.
Andrew Romanoff's opponent has outspent him nearly ten to one and has about four times the war chest. He is one of the largest recipients of corporate and special interest money in the Senate, money that can corrupt someone in his position.
Andrew Romanoff's opponent styles himself a "healthcare hero" because he signed a letter in support of the public-option-through-reconciliation. Turned out the letter was just lip service. He bailed on the public option, leaving us with another bunch of platitudes. Was this because his major donors are big health care corporations? Do ya' think? For all good this stunt did, he may just as well have promised to kill the pine beetles that are destroying our Western forests because of climate change/acid rain produced by burning filthy coal.
But don't hold your breath in hopes that Andrew Romanoff's opponent will lead the battle on the environment. His big donors include JPMorganChase, that just happens to have $5 billion invested in Massey Energy and mountaintop removal mining.
Wonder if Senator Bennet's Wall Street support affects his position on financial reform? No need to. He voted for predatory lenders and against homeowners and their families in foreclosure by voting against an amendment that would permit bankruptcy judges to restructure their mortgages - bankrupties and foreclosures resulting from the largest ever economic meltdown caused by Wall Street's corrupt practices.
Andrew Romanoff is in many ways the antithesis of his opponent.Governing has this:
Romanoff grew up in Columbus, Ohio, the child of a Democratic mother and a Republican father — the true source, he jokes, of his bipartisan leanings. At Yale, where he edited the school newspaper, Romanoff planned on a career in journalism. But a post-graduate year teaching in Costa Rica and Nicaragua proved pivotal. 'I was really shook up by the conditions of the countries I was living in,' Romanoff says. 'I kept meeting kids who were really bright but, because of their situation, wouldn't have the opportunity to improve their lives.' He decided to devote himself to public service, and went to Harvard for a master's degree in public policy. He liked the sound of Colorado, so he moved to Denver, sight unseen.
How cool is that? Political power is a resource to help the powerless in society.
Meanwhile, Andrew Romanoff's opponent was working as a lawyer for oil billionaire, right-wing activist and financier Phillip Anschutz, doing corporate reorganizations - you know, where they combine a bunch of companies and lay off the workers. Not much compassion in that; a life experience befitting a true conservadem. (I, for one, am sick of the canard that corporate experience qualifies a person for public service better than actual public service does.) At the time Andrew Romanoff's opponent was appointed (cough, cough) as Denver school superintendent, he had never spent a single day in a classroom as a teacher or principal. I guess it's not what you know, it's who you know.
Folks, a Democratic president and a large majority just haven’t been enough to get change we worked for. We need to elect the right Democrat. While there is plenty of work to do between now and the primary on August 22nd, and Andrew Romanoff still needs and deserves your help and support (andrewromanoff.com), he has the "Romentum" now to win the nomination, the election and become the next United States Senator from Colorado. Thousands of Colorado Democrats and Andrew Romanoff volunteers are making it happen.
As Arlo Guthrie said in Alice's Restaurant,"Friends, they may think its a movement!"
Thanks for the tips.