Colorado Sun: How the Coronavirus Snuffed the Primary for U.S. Senate and Cemented Hickenlooper as the Frontrunner

John Frank, one of Colorado’s best political reporters, now working for the Colorado Sun, an online newspaper created as the Denver Post contracted, does a long analysis on the impact of the coronavirus on the Democratic primary (4-13-20). He observes that April was the month Colorado Democrats would have met in a statewide conference and most likely put Andrew Romanoff on the top of the ballot for the party’s nomination for senate. Of course, it’s online and anti-climactic. There’s no victory lap for Romanoff.

Frank cites The Buzz post of March 7 (Democratic Primary: Is it Over?) that the pandemic has mostly marginalized primary news and isolated political participation. It has also shifted the topic from the party’s liberal-centrist clash to crisis management and the economy benefitting John Hickenlooper, the former governor.

“Any remaining events before the June primary will likely be virtual and mostly devoid of a real clash,” said Floyd Ciruli, the director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion at the University of Denver. “Rivals are now denied a live audience and the dynamics needed to show grassroots support.”

Dick Wadhams, the Republican strategist, comments on continued Hickenlooper political luck. He has written extensively that Hickenlooper is a flawed, listless candidate, but that his Democratic rivals had not really been able to engage him and are now “out of the game.”

Cory Garner, the incumbent senator, has an especially colorful statement about the Republican primary, which probably captures the problem: “Nobody gives a shit about the campaign – they are worried about themselves, their businesses, their families, how they are going to put food on the table.”

Read:
Denver Post: Coronavirus and Colorado Primary
Colorado Politics: Pollster Ciruli asks if the Democratic primary is a done deal