September 04, 2009 06:00 PM UTC

Romanoff v. Bennet: grudge match after all?

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• by: JeffcoBlue

( – promoted by ThillyWabbit)

There are probably half a dozen people writing this diary right now, so hopefully I’ll click “publish” first.

Regarding the motivations behind Andrew Romanoff’s decision to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet in a Democratic primary. I personally have a lot of respect for Romanoff as well as Bennet – my original Senate preference was Romanoff, but I don’t think Bennet has gotten a fair shake on the job he’s doing, especially in the last week or so. I don’t believe that Bennet’s endorsement of the ‘public option’ many weeks ago was in response to a primary threat, but I do understand the feelings of others, including the authors of this blog, who think Bennet has had a lot of other opportunities to impress that he didn’t take advantage of.

On the other hand, Romanoff is a very smart and contemplative person who I hold in the highest regard. I believe the state of Colorado needs Romanoff in a key policy role. That could have been Secretary of State, or Senator, or another statewide position. I don’t have any delusions about Romanoff being ‘more progressive’ than Bennet, though. Romanoff is a DLC moderate on a lot of issues like crime, and I for one do not agree that the anti-immigrant special session he helped strategize a few years ago was a good thing politically. I do think that Senate candidate Romanoff wants to position himself to Bennet’s left and take advantage of any uncertainty, but that’s not the same thing as a progressive history.

But my biggest question about Romanoff finally got some play in the Denver Post today: the question of why? Why primary Bennet, and why did he wait so long?

Soured deal with Gov. Ritter forces Romanoff’s hand

http://www.denverpost.com/news…

Andrew Romanoff set his sights on a race for the U.S. Senate only after the breakdown of several months of backroom negotiations with Gov. Bill Ritter to find an alternative political opportunity for the popular former state House speaker.

Described to The Denver Post by several Democratic sources, the potential deal centered on appointing Romanoff lieutenant governor when Barbara O’Brien – who was considering other options – stepped aside.

Romanoff allies said Ritter finally told the veteran state legislator in a meeting between the two men in late June that he would not get the job. That set off a chain of events that led Romanoff to consider a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and open a potentially damaging divide among state Democrats.

Those discussions, which included three face-to-face meetings between Ritter and Romanoff over more than six months, partly explain the timing of Romanoff’s consideration of a primary bid – months after allies advised him to and long past the deadline most political strategists considered wise.

I want to know what you think about this story. This does not look to me like a committed progressive who wants to offer Democrats a better alternative. This story makes Romanoff sound like a schemer whose negotiations broke down, and the decision to run against Bennet – which would hurt Ritter too if successful – was his retaliation. If that’s true, and you accept that Romanoff really isn’t much different from Bennet on the issues, then the question of why this is justified becomes much harder to answer.

PS. Please don’t misconstrue this diary as an endorsement one way or another. I’m just asking questions. I think they’re good questions. Above all, I want a Democrat in this Senate seat in 2011.