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March 04, 2019 08:44 AM UTC

Hickenlooper Enters Race for President

  • 35 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

All signs were pointing to this week as the moment when former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper would formally enter the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Today is the day, as CNN reports:

He made the announcement in a video titled “Standing Tall,” which tracks Hickenlooper’s life from laid-off geologist, to owner of a brew pub, to mayor of Denver and to governor, and touts the Democrat’s experience in a variety of fields as a key reason he should be the person to take on President Donald Trump in 2020. Hickenlooper casts the President as a “bully” in the more than two-minute video.

“I’m running for president because we’re facing a crisis that threatens everything we stand for,” Hickenlooper says in the video as images of Trump play. “As a skinny kid with coke bottle glasses and a funny last name, I’ve stood up to my fair share of bullies.”

He adds: “I’m running for president because we need dreamers in Washington but we also need to get things done. I’ve proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.”

Hickenlooper is the 14th candidate to formally announce a bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2020. Here’s the kickoff Hickenvideo:

Comments

35 thoughts on “Hickenlooper Enters Race for President

  1. While I'd rather have him banish Gardner from our political realm, it's good to see a centrist Democrat in the race. The goal is beating Trump. I hope Democrats can avoid purity and litmus tests that would do nothing but tear the party up and keep the orange turd in place.

    Go Hick!

        1. By free stuff, you are referring to Medicare and Social Security, right? Or do you mean "some" free stuff is okay, and other free stuff isn't. Because you won't explain what you mean, you are just hiding behind a strawman argument.

          Saint Ronald Reagan:

          "criticized Social Security for supplanting private savings and warned that subsidized medicine would curtail Americans' freedom" and that "pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him.:

           

          1. You got it. Some free stuff is okay but other free stuff is not.

            Free stuff for people who cannot provide for themselves through no fault of their own – the young, the elderly (who have provided during their working years), the disabled – good free stuff. In fact, they should probably get more.

            Able-bodied people who chose not to work – no free stuff.

            Clear enough?

      1. I don't agree with Gertie on Hick's awesomeness as a candidate, but Gertie's no troll. Be cautious in throwing that label around.

        You lose credibility when you insult the person,rather than challenging the argument.

  2. As a slightly more erudite response to this, consider fivethirtyeight's estimate of his appeal versus other announced/likely Democratic contendors':

     

    To quote from the Hickenlooper article:

    But even Hickenlooper himself admits that his moderate image is likely to be a problem in a Democratic presidential primary. The party’s influential left wing will probably view him with suspicion over his opposition to anti-fracking effortssympathies with the oil and gas industry (which once employed him) and wishy-washy comments over one of his signature progressive achievements, a gun-control package passed in the wake of the Aurora theater shooting. (Hickenlooper’s reported flirtation with running for president on a “unity ticket” with Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich probably won’t help, either.)

    1. With 16 or more running and the Democratic Party fetish for mathematically precise proportional allocation of delegates, I’m not sure Hick will do any worse than Booker or Warren who are in the mid to upper single digits. If Biden or Bernie stumble, someone else moves up.

      1. Hickenlooper would not be helped by Bernie stumbling. Bernie stumbling would only help Warren and Brown.

        He would be helped by Biden fading, but then he'd need Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Sherrod Brown to all stumble as well. And even they all have problems I am not sure he'd be able to win on his pure moderate appeal. Kamala Harris has about as much appeal to Party Loyalists and also appeals to other parts of the Democratic coalition.

        In short Hickenlooper is like a cousin to the old king, 6th or 7th in line to the throne with a lot of healthy people in front of him.

        1. You are right. I stand corrected. Biden and Hick do compete in the same division; Bernie and Warren in the other one. 

          Biden jay very well say something impolitic – although the dustup over Mike Pence and the speed with which he did his mea culpa indicates that he has at least learned the art of quick apologies.

           

  3. Is it possible to announce your candidacy for the office of Vice President? I don't think that there is, but this is about as close as you can get. He is not going to get the nomination, but if he proves himself competent, and increases his profile as a viable VP candidate.  

      1. California is early in the game, Sudy.  But he needs one of the three tickets out of Iowa to compete.  He just might get one if the crazy left splinters.

        1. Hope springs eternal….

          Bill DeBlasio is looking at entering the race. He and Warren peel votes off of the Old Bolshevik Sanders.

          The problem is that Biden loses votes to Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown and Jay Inslee so it may not be a net gain for the moderates.

    1. Good point: Predictably (to the point of cliche), one usually sees some sort of family represented in political ad commercials. (And while I'm not personally interested in hearing someone explain why they're not there in this instance, go ahead and spell it out if you feel like it.)

      My take: I know he's at Red Rocks, but did he have to wear a red jacket? (It kind of reminds me of Hillary's arrow logo pointing to the right.)

       

    1. Yeah, that’s what the country needs, a President willing to go to Mitch!!!??!!

      Fuxsakes!

      I mean, really, what else is there to say to this, but Fuxsakes????! . . . 

      Less than 24 hours after his announcement, and Hillykooper’s already ceded the gawddam Senate to the GOPers!!?

      Fuxsakes!

    1. Saw him on Maddow's show this evening. He's running on climate change and Washington State's response to it under his governorship. Kinda made him sound like a one-trick pony. 

      1. One trick ponies have been successful in getting elected. Remember the moron who keep talking about building his wall? Not saying it is good or smart, just sometimes can be effective.

  4. I agree with gertie97, I really wish Hick would run for the Senate and if he did he'd have my vote. As things are I have no idea who I'll vote for yet but I know it won't be for the traitor Trump. I like Hickenlooper and I normally gravitate to a more moderate candidate but after the direction Trump and the Senate have taken us for the past 2 years I think we need someone to steer us left just to bring us back toward the center. Hickenlooper may be hard pressed to even carry Colorado in the primary. 

  5. Has perlmutter taken himself out of the senate race? I know he got his ass burned in the 2018 governor’s race but there do not appear to be any Democratic millionaires threatening to self fund a race against Gardner.

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