Colorado's Salazar To Head Interior, Creating Another Vacancy for Democrats

[ccharles000]

Democrats have not had the best of luck with their senatorial vacancies this year. Caroline Kennedy’s potential ascension to New York’s seat is triggering a flurry of controversy in the blogosphere. We don’t need to remind you what’s going on in Illinois. Ted Kaufman, appointed to fill Joe Biden's shoes in Delaware, has been less controversial, although we criticized the pick for being too inside baseball.

And now the Democrats have another vacancy to fill – this time in Colorado, where Senator Ken Salazar, who was up for re-election in 2010, has apparently been selected to become Barack Obama’s Secretary of the Interior.

But this one has the potential to turn out a little bit better for the Democrats. With Colorado having turned bluer, Salazar’s moderation is no longer such a prize to the Dems, especially given that his approval ratings are no better than average. Basically, the Democrats ought to be able to wind up with either (i) someone just as electable as Salazar, but more liberal, or (ii) someone no more liberal than Salazar, but electorally untouchable. And just who might that someone be?

The Denver Post lists seven potential replacements for Governor Bill Ritter to pick from, and it’s a fairly strong group of candidates.

Rep. John Salazar – Brother of Ken Salazar and third-term Congressman. Moderate Democrat who aligns himself with the Blue Dog caucus -- probably more moderate than his brother, and would not be a certain vote for the Democrats, especially on pocketbook issues. Has overperformed in his district, winning re-election easily in an R+4 district, and for obvious reasons should hold most of Ken Salazar's electoral support. Basically, he would represent a sacrifice of ideology for electability.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Extremely popular in Denver. Has an interesting and salable background, with credentials ranging from geology to business development. Generally seems to be liberal, particularly on environmental issues, although he bought himself some credibility with moderates by opposing Denver’s marijuana decriminalization initiative (which passed anyway). Arguably the most upside of anyone on this list; however, there isn’t that much history of mayors of large cities transitioning into the Senate, as the two positions require fairly different skill sets.

Rep. Diana DeGette – Quite progressive Congresswoman who just won re-election to her 7th term. Entrenched/intimidating enough so as to no longer elicit serious Republican challengers in her Denver district. Is she too liberal to win statewide? Hard to say in Colorado, which tends to be more idiosyncratic and libertarianish than classically moderate. One downside is that her fundraising has not been terrific, although that’s not uncommon for someone who isn’t facing a serious challenger.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/12/colorados-salazar-to-head-interior.html

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Good. Because I wasn't going to vote for him a second time.

Maybe we can get a real Democrat in there. Hope we can find somebody really good to replace him.

[Laelth]

2. Yet another DLC Democrat out of the Senate!

Excellent. I hope Obama gives them all jobs in which they can be fired at will if they don't do Obama's bidding. I am deeply impressed.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth