This is a senatorial choice between ok and great in Colorado, and John Hickenlooper is not the great choice. Andrew Romanoff is.
Hickenlooper is not a bad man. More important, he’s way better than Cory Gardner, the current Republican Senator of Colorado. And, as former Colorado governor and Denver mayor, he has great name recognition. Polls will, accordingly, show him ahead at this moment. Since I am a pragmatist, if he wins the nomination for US Senator, he’ll have my support.
But Colorado can and should do much better. John Hickenlooper built his presidential campaign around not being a socialist. Not being a socialist is pretty normal among Democrats. But it’s a very odd thing to build one’s campaign around. If, as a presidential candidate, I had a chance to talk to the California Democratic Party, I might talk about healthcare or climate change or immigration or other of many issues of concern to voters. So why choose not-socialism? The simplest answer is that Hickenlooper is stuck in the 1990s, a time when Democrats were trying to prove they weren’t anti-business. Not that they ever were anti-business, you understand. But that’s the lie the Republicans were selling at the time. And, say what you will about Republicans, they are very good at lying.
If not Hickenlooper, who? The reader is free to look up the other candidates. There are already a dozen candidates, and—if this were a normal situation—I’d donate to the option CO-Sen 2020 Democratic Nominee option. That’s a very good way to let the voters of any given state choose who they like, then back them up in the general. But this time, there are a bunch of weak candidates, Hickenlooper, and one great candidate: Andrew Romanoff.
Romanoff combines the key features a statewide Democratic candidate for higher office needs: statewide name recognition, experience in fund-raising, legislative experience, broad experience including outside the country, passion, and a good heart. Romanoff served in the state Lege for four terms and was elevated by his peers in the Legislature to Speaker, serving two terms. He rose that quickly because he has a great education (BA Yale, Masters in Public Policy Kennedy School of Government, JD University of Denver), and yet took the path into public service by doing good. Among his achievements:
These were what Romanoff chose to do, not to earn big money, but to do good things. This sort of experience should give us confidence that he will oppose extremism, be decent to immigrants, and genuinely care about education and healthcare. Here is how he describes his campaign:
A CATASTROPHIC rise in greenhouse gases. An administration consumed by chaos and scandal. An economy that leaves millions of us behind.
We’re running out of time to rescue our planet, repair our democracy, and restore the American Dream. That’s why I’m running for the U.S. Senate.
More than a million Coloradans struggle to afford medical care or a place to live. Carbon pollution kills millions of people around the globe and plunges even more into poverty. Drug addiction and gun violence claim the lives of more than 300 Americans each day.
Meanwhile the president shuts down the government and demonizes anyone who disagrees with him. The free press, an independent judiciary, even the right to vote come under attack.
It’s not just Donald Trump who’s at fault here. It’s the politicians—and the system—that enable these problems to persist.
Polluters gut our environmental laws. Drug companies gouge consumers and stifle competition. The gun lobby crushes any measures that stand in its way.
That’s what happens when the Supreme Court turns corporations into people and money into speech. Special interests bankroll Congress and block reform.
We deserve better.
We do deserve better. We really do. We deserve representatives who care what their constituents experience and how they want their government run, rather than about their careers and grasping the next rung of the ladder. We have to be pragmatic in choosing who to support, but we must not let pragmatism turn into cynical calculations about “electability”. The voters decide who is electable.
Romanoff has already raised $1M dollars for his campaign. This is a good start against Gardner’s $5M.
You can help by clicking here.
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Full disclosure: I am not associated in any way with the campaign, except as a small dollar donor. I just want to save this country and this planet.