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December 02, 2013 03:37 PM UTC

Hickenlooper Offers Glimpse at Re-Election Theme

  • 16 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Did Hick make the economy stronger? Well, he didn’t NOT make it stronger.

Taking a page out of former President Bill Clinton's playbook (or James Carville, if you'd rather), Gov. John Hickenlooper provided a glimpse at what is likely to be a central theme of his re-election campaign in a fundraising email to supporters this afternoon.

Given his rather tepid support of Democratic-backed legislation in recent years, you're not alone if you've been wondering what Hickenlooper would campaign around in 2014. You know he doesn't want to talk about guns or the death penalty, and the recent failure of Amendment 66 makes it difficult for him to talk about education, so…it's the economy (stupid):

I’m glad to be the one to break it to you: We’ve got more economic good news! Unemployment is down and most other economic indicators are up across the board. The national economy is back on track, and Colorado’s economy along with it. Check out Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s recent statement, which hits some of the highlights.

The morning news isn’t always good, and around these parts we certainly know how it feels to wake up to tragedy in the headlines. But more often than not when we pull out the paper first thing its stories like this that get us revved up to keep at it.

We’re hard at work in Colorado, bringing in jobs in wind turbine manufacturing, construction, education, and making sure local governments have the resources to do their jobs. We’re making sure that Colorado is the kind of place people want to raise a family and start a business, and that’s a message that we are proud to spread far and wide.

Things are looking up. Naturally, we have our share of challenges to tackle, but that’s no excuse for believing that things aren’t going to get better.

They can. And they are. And we’re going to keep Colorado headed in the right direction.

You can argue over how much credit Hickenlooper should get for creating jobs in Colorado, but regardless of any particular cause-and-effect relationship, (and similar in some respects to Clinton's presidency) it is inarguable that an economic upswing did happen while Hickenlooper was Governor.

It's also a clever move to point to Scott Gessler's economic report as part of this message — it sends a bipartisan tone, and it also highlights one of Hickenlooper's preferred opponents in a general election.

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16 thoughts on “Hickenlooper Offers Glimpse at Re-Election Theme”

  1. Well, as the Guvs say in the post they link to under "guns," Hickenlooper and the Dems had better learn how to talk about guns. The legislature can't run from it and neither can Hick.

    1. Absolutely they should point out that their gun regulations resulted no guns being unreasonably siezed from responsible gun owners.  Lies repeated become true then the truth repeated should become more true.

      Go get em Dems.

    1. Actually he got quite a few votes from the middle and from old style Main Street type Republicans last time because they saw him as their kind of pro- business guy and because he has always avoided being seen primarily (if much at all) as a partisan Dem.

      Yes, Dems need to learn to explain and defend their modest, moderate gun legislation but for Governor, it's the economy and I'm pro- business will work just fine for Hick. Along with (this from outside groups)… he's also not a nutcase extremist like fill in the blank, whoever wins the R nomination. Another third party wacko to split the GOTP base would be icing on the cake but he can get reelected one on one over any one of the possible Rs with the economy/not nuts message. 

      1. And… he won't have a ton of O&G money working against him. They might actually prefer him to the GOP candidates simply on the IQ factor alone.

        This last stunt, however (releasing the air quality reg proposal without CPA/COGA blessing), has their collective skivvies in a wad. They might abandon him over this, but I don't anticipate that happening.

  3. A growing economy more often than not will benefit the incumbent, especially in these times that's what voters care most about. Hick can sure point out that Colorado's economy is performing much better than the nation overall, but he still has to outline a plan on how to keep it going in a second term. Also needs to be as honest as possible about the gun stuff, energy and people trying to seceed from the state. 

  5. It's also a clever move to point to Scott Gessler's economic report as part of this message — it sends a bipartisan tone, and it also highlights one of Hickenlooper's preferred opponents in a general election.

    I see it diferently. Gessler is one of your potential opponents in the election. It's pretty dumb to tie his name to your good news. Keep in mind, the SoS has a part ot play in business as well, and he could just as easily point to himself now and say that he had a part in it all, and it wasn't just the Governor. 

  6. The 2014 problem with Hickenlooper will be one that the down-ballot Democratic candidates for statewide office will have to bear — this guy ain't got enough coattails to cover Miley Cyrus's hinder . . . 

  7. You know he doesn't want to talk about guns or the death penalty, and the recent failure of Amendment 66 makes it difficult for him to talk about education, so…it's the economy (stupid):

    Does Hick really think he's Bill Clinton?  Hick is in major trouble if he's pulling this old trick outta the drawer.  After all these recalls, he doesn't have a prayer.  Getting in bed with East Coast Bloomberg sealed his fate.  Coloradans value independence and freedom, not big New York dollars.

    1. You might have a point if not for the GOTP blessing us with another clown car full of possible opponents.  Hick, not by a landslide but by a fairly respectable margin. 

    2. All those recalls? You mean the two that actually happend, the one that failed initially and then only restarted when the they had the press watching…oh and the other one that failed so miserably they haven't bothered to try again? 

      But you go ahead and keep whoring that "Bloomberg" talking point, and just keep forgetting that except for guns and soda, the man is everything you want in a conservative.

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