Colorado: Joan Fitz-gerald

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.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Monday confirmed that he is interested in Colorado's looming U.S. Senate vacancy.

In a brief interview, Hickenlooper touted his experience as a business owner and his time as mayor as pluses for Gov. Bill Ritter to consider when weighing whom he should appoint to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, who has been nominated for secretary of the Interior Department.

Ritter will appoint the person to serve out the remainder of Salazar's term. An election would be held in 2010.

"I love my job," Hickenlooper said. "I'm in that unique position in that I've got one of the best jobs that a person like me can have.

We're hearing stories about rather intense pressure being exerted on state legislative Democrats in opposition to what looks to us anyway (tell us if we're wrong) like a routine renewable energy bill.

Senate Bill 051, introduced by Sen. Morgan Carroll and Rep. Claire Levy, would facilitate more access to existing renewable energy project financing programs created by Amendment 37, with an eye toward increased access to financing by consumers and small business. The biggest fiscal impact we see from our read is an increased allocation of state money as collateral for project financing--some risk would be inherent to this, of course, but defaults on this kind of project remain low in Colorado compared to other areas of the nation from what we're told.

[img_assist|nid=2119|title=State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=162|height=227]Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff brushed off speculation about him being appointed Colorado Secretary of State should Mike Coffman be elected to Congress as expected.

Speaking with PolitickerCO.com Wednesday, Romanoff said it was a matter to worry about after the general election.