Colorado's Democratic Governor Bows Out to 'Take Care of My Family'

DENVER -- "I've decided not to run for re-election for the sake of my family." It's a phrase spoken so often it's cliché, generally met with scoffs, rolled eyeballs, and hoots of laughter.

But Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's case may be the exception. For him, it may be true.

Wednesday morning, the first-term Democratic governor announced that his family is precisely the reason he won't seek re-election this fall. And he received wild and sustained applause in the marble halls of Colorado's gold-domed Capitol, where he delivered the news during a press conference attended by staff and supporters shortly after 11 a.m. Mountain Time.

"Over the past years, but particularly over this last year, I have attempted to balance many roles in my life. I have been governor, I have been a candidate for re-election, and I have also been a husband and a father," said Ritter, 53.

"It is my family who has sacrificed most -- my wife, Jeannie, my kids, three of whom are here today. I have not found the proper balance where my family is concerned, and I have not made them the priority they should be. So today, I'm announcing that I am ending one of my roles. I am no longer a candidate for re-election this November."

The news, leaked Tuesday, came as a shock to most political hands in Colorado. For the past two years, Democrats have reigned in this traditionally red state, basking in the national spotlight during the history-making 2008 National Democratic Convention, which Denver hosted.

Ritter has been a tireless promoter of his administration's new energy economy, trying, and largely succeeding, in making Colorado a leader in alternative energy technology.

Since his election in 2007, Ritter has made more than 250 tips outside the metro area to bang the drum for green energy jobs and manufacturing, said Todd Hartman, spokesman for the Governor's Energy Office. "His people ran him hard," said Hartman.
But Ritter has been hamstrung by a shrinking state budget and weak employment numbers. Polls show him trailing 7 to 9 percentage points behind Republican challenger Scott McInnis, a former congressman representing the southern and western regions of Colorado.

And Democrats here, as in the rest of the nation, are girding for a bloody battle in the 2010 mid-term elections.

Some say Ritter, a pro-life Catholic who grew up on a small dairy farm and once served a religious mission in Zambia for three years, has lost some of the fire in his belly.

Others, like Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams, say Ritter is running from the fight because Democrats have lost their mojo.
"Colorado is a far cry from that heady night at Invesco Field in August 2008 (when Barack Obama addressed a crowd of millions in the stands and on national TV) from what it is today," Wadams told The Denver Post. "Just a little over a year later you've got a Democratic incumbent governor cutting and running from office. You've got an incumbent Democratic senator (Michael Bennett) who is being challenged by another Democrat," former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Democrats respond they have a deep bench in Colorado. Names mentioned as front-running possibilities to replace Ritter include popular Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
Eleven months, they say, is plenty of time to turn McInnis' leading poll numbers around.
Several Democrats who spoke with Politics Daily following Ritter's press conference said there was no doubt in their minds Ritter's decision to withdraw from the race was motivated primarily by concern for his family.
"His love for his family is not a show. It's the real deal in his case, " said Hartman, the energy office spokesman. "There's always a knock on politicians when they site 'family' as the reason their stepping down, but with Ritter, I take him at his word.
"I have gotten to know his family, and I don't blame him. But it does make me sad."
Former State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, who is helping Romanoff in his bid for U.S. Senate, had a similar reaction. "Yes, I buy his reason (for withdrawing). A lot of times it's phony, but I don't think so with Ritter."
U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, said he was as surprised as anyone by the announcement. He described Ritter's short speech as "eloquent and articulate."
"He made the right decision," Udall said as he paused briefly and reflected. "You knew that when you took a look at the faces of his wife and kids."