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When Gov. Bill Ritter asked Coloradans whom they thought he should appoint to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat, he got more than 3,000 suggestions by e-mail.

But the hands-down favorite of e-mailers — former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff — was passed over by Ritter in favor of of Michael Bennet, the superintendent of Denver Public Schools who was barely a blip on most Democrats' radars.

The governor's office said it received some 3,300 e-mails regarding the selection to fill the seat being vacated by Democrat Ken Salazar, whom President-elect Barack Obama has nominated as his interior secretary.

Some suggested current or former politicians and business people, while others were applications for the job by the senders themselves.