The Sun and John Frank Report on Crisis in Hickenlooper’s Senate Campaign

“Hickenlooper has put this [race] in play but it shouldn’t be in play.”

That was my quote The Sun’s John Frank picked up at a DU panel discussion on the election, Wednesday, June 17. He also quoted panelist Sheila MacDonald.

“Hickenlooper has put this (race) in play but it shouldn’t be in play,” Floyd Ciruli, director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denver, said during an online political forum Wednesday.

“I would agree, Hickenlooper turned this into a race with self-inflicted wounds,” added Democratic consultant Sheila MacDonald, who also spoke at the event.

The June 18 article described a “cascade of blunders” by Hickenlooper in the Democratic primary. Andrew Romanoff had just released an internal poll of him showing the race within 12 points – 51 percent for Hickenlooper to 39 percent for Romanoff. Although closer than polls from 2019, not as bad is some expected after two weeks of front page missteps and debate underperformances.

Hickenlooper’s allies finally sensed the crisis and have since stepped up with endorsements, including Elizabeth Warren, and massive traditional and digital advertising.

Romanoff has lost his previous races in by 8 (2010 Democratic primary) and 9 (2014 congressional race) points, which if Hickenlooper stabilizes his campaign, this race likely ends up. The unknown factor is the large unaffiliated vote of younger, new Colorado voters.