Today’s column about the Democratic primary for governor between Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser isn’t actually about Bennet or Weiser, at least not directly.
It’s about the future.
Which, as we know, is hard to predict, as either Niels Bohr or Yogi Berra once said. I guess it’s easier than I imagined to confuse a Nobel Prize winning physicist with a Hall of Fame catcher.
But, in any case, if Weiser wins the primary and then becomes governor — either Democrat would be a heavy favorite against the Republican candidate in November — Bennet stays in the Senate. And the one big remaining question in the race — who would succeed Bennet? — is answered. There would be no succession.
Since Bennet entered the race, Weiser’s slogan has been, “Weiser for governor; Bennet for senator.” Of course, Weiser has been hard at work ever since telling us about Bennet’s failings as a senator. But he answers the contradiction by saying he thinks Bennet can do better, plus there’s the matter of Bennet’s seniority that he would be leaving on the table.
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In reply, Bennet jokes that his mother is the only person in his family who wants him to stay in the Senate and that she wants him to die on the Senate floor. When Weiser says his mother also wants Bennet to stay in the Senate, Bennet says that makes two people who want him to die on the Senate floor. Research says no senator has ever actually died on the Senate floor, but, in any case, Bennet is only 61, meaning actuarially speaking, he’s got years to go.
Here’s how I see the future if Weiser wins: Bennet would slink back to Washington to complete the last two years of his third term and then decide whether to run again. And Weiser would make life hell for his successor as state attorney general, constantly saying if he still had the job, he would have filed three lawsuits against the Trump administration by 3 p.m.
By the way, has Fightin’ Phil filed a lawsuit against someone to get to the bottom of the reflecting pool scandal, which is a microcosm of the Trump Restoration? Usually Donald Trump blames Biden or especially Obama for his foulups. Surprisingly, Trump seems to agree this time with Bob Dylan, who wrote, of course, that “the pump don’t work ’cause the vandals took the handles.”
If Bennet wins, though, then it’s chaos, but maybe a good kind of chaos.
Bennet told us from the start that he would pick his successor if and when he became governor. This, I believe, was a smart move because it would mean that if Bennet had quit the Senate early, Jared Polis would name a successor — and for all we know, it could be RFK Jr., who was, until sometime in 2024, a lifelong Democrat.
If you caught Jesse Paul’s piece in The Sun Tuesday, you know that Bennet has said he hasn’t really thought about whom he would name — do you have trouble believing that? — and that the only real clue he has given is that his successor would be under the age of 50, which, I believe, was offered up just to taunt us. Or maybe to taunt Polis, who’s barely over 50 and whom Bennet had already disqualified as his choice to succeed him when Polis freed election grifter Tina Peters from prison.
It so happens that three ascendant Colorado Dems — U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen — are all under 50. But as Paul points out, there are 500,000 Coloradans between the ages of 30 — that’s the minimum age to be a senator — and 50. That makes for a lot of choices.
If you haven’t yet voted — meaning you’re either the kind who votes on Election Day because it seems small-d democratic, you’re a procrastinator (I can relate) or you’re a MAGA cultist who believes, without evidence, that mail-in voting leads to fraud — this could determine your choice for governor.
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Let’s run down the possibilities, starting with the question whether it’s more of an embarrassment that Colorado has never had a female senator or governor, has never had a Black senator or governor or has never had an Army Ranger senator or governor?
OK, I threw in the non-Army-Ranger non-scandal just so I could talk about Crow, who is definitely the leader in the on-TV version of the fight against Trump, who, along with Pete Hegseth, tried to get him court-martialed. For treason, no less. As a Democrat, you have to love to have that on your resume.
But the other two deficits are truly scandalous.
Colorado was among the first states to determine that women could vote. And yet it’s one of only four states that has never elected a female governor or senator, joining Idaho, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Virginia just elected a woman as governor last year, Abigail Spanberger, falling out of the hall of shame.
Meanwhile, Colorado is in the majority when it comes to Black senators and governors. Which is not exactly a good thing. As a nation, we’ve managed to elect only three Black governors and nine Black senators as we celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial and the idea that all men (ahem, all people) are created equal — unless, of course, they’re anchor babies.
So, if Bennet wants to make history, in a good way, he’s got Neguse or Pettersen to choose from. If he puts history aside, Crow is also a good choice. Whichever way he goes — even if it’s toward one of the other 499,997 eligibles — the successor would fill the rest of Bennet’s term and then would be eligible to run for a full term in 2028. When it wouldn’t be surprising to see at least two of the three top candidates, all of whom have endorsed Bennet, in the race.
I confess I have no idea who will win the Dem primary. My only guess — actually a sure thing — is that Colorado’s counting, however long it takes, will take far less time than California’s. Meanwhile, there’s been hardly any polling on Colorado’s extensive primary slate. Yes, the betting markets give Bennet a sizable lead over Weiser, for whatever that’s worth. Bennet just loaned his campaign nearly a million bucks, which must mean he’s not quite as confident as the betting-market guys.
Fortunately, we know one important thing about all the Colorado races that doesn’t require prediction — the future, ever so tantalizing, will definitely arrive next Tuesday.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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