Were there any influential Democrats NOT trying to get Andrew Romanoff a job in 2009?
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter acknowledged this week that he put in a word with the Obama Administration on Romanoff's behalf in early 2009. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper "spoke to 'dozens of people' about getting Romanoff a job prior to his leaving his position of speaker of the House in May 2009 and afterward," The Denver Post reported earlier this month.
Instead, in September, Romanoff targeted the U.S. Senate seat held by Ritter appointee Michael Bennet, causing a split in the party and juicy disclosures ever since about a White House effort at the time to lure Romanoff away from the primary.
It's worth recalling that Hickenlooper's January announcement that he would run for governor (after Ritter declined to run for re-election) came amid chatter that Romanoff might switch races to run for governor himself or even become Hickenlooper's running mate.
When asked if he had talked to Romanoff, here's what Hickenlooper said at his Jan. 12 press conference announcing his bid for governor.
"If I start discussing everything we talked [about], I suspect that the tenor of our conversations would change dramatically," Hickenlooper said. "Let me say that I haven't offered him any jobs or tried to do a deal. He in no way ever tried to dissuade me from doing this."
The next week, Romanoff endorsed Hickenlooper. And Hickenlooper has appeared to stay neutral in the Senate primary, praising both Romanoff and Bennet at a county assembly in April.