Colorado’s Ken Salazar looks set to be tapped as Secretary of the Interior, making him the fourth Democratic Senator to exit the chamber due to Barack Obama’s presidential victory. (News also spread tonight that Obama has picked Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education, a higher-profile position but a designation with no obvious electoral implications.)
The Salazar pick means that there will be yet another gubernatorial appointment to speculate about - though hopefully no Kennedy to monopolize the attention in this state as well.
The Colorado Governor is Democrat Bill Ritter, so Salazar’s immediate successor will be a Democrat; he or she will face voters for the first time in November 2010 - just like Hillary Clinton’s, Joe Biden’s and perhaps Barack Obama’s.
Salazar was up for re-election in 2010, so this will not add an additional seat for Democrats to defend. Salazar was also not safe to start with; a recent poll showed him leading potential challengers but sporting a mediocre approval rating. His replacement could still create additional complications depending on how strong a contender Ritter appoints - and whether he designates a caretaker or someone who will run for re-election.
Thankfully for Democrats, they have a fairly extensive bench in Colorado while the GOP has a much thinner one. After all, Democrats won three open gubernatorial and senatorial races since 2004, a testament to the strength of their candidate’s and of the state’s drifting blue.
Ritter could choose one of the House members - most notably John Salazar, Ken’s brother. (However, it might be politically difficult for Ritter to appoint Ken’s brother after the Blagojevich scandal raised the scrutiny surrounding gubernatorial appointments. Other House members Ritter might appoint are Diana DeGette or Ed Perlmutter. A Salazar or Perlmutter pick could result in competitive House special elections.)
Salazar could also choose Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a popular politician who is often rumored for statewide runs but never takes the jump. Hickenlooper might have the easiest time winning re-election in 2010. Other potential contenders are state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff and Tom Strickland, who lost highly competitive Senate races in 1996 and 2002.
One thing to keep in mind is that Salazar is one of the Senate’s most conservative Democrats, so his departure might lead to a more liberal Senator. However, Ritter is also a very moderate politician who made sure to praise Salazar’s “centrism” tonight. We should thus not expect Ritter to make a point of appointing a particularly progressive replacement - quite the contrary.
Another curious consequence of the Salazar pick is that Senator-elect Mark Udall will become Colorado’s senior Senator shortly after being sworn in for the first time. (John Kerry has been Massachussetts’s junior Senator since he was first elected in 1984.)
I don’t care for Salazar, so I think it’s a good thing he is leaving the Senate so we can stop worrying about his voting with Republicans, joining the Gang of 14, etc. Also at least Obama is being careful to appoint senators from states with Democratic governors, so he isn’t losing any senator.
Former Gov. Bill Owens will likely look much more closely at running for the Senate with a quasi-open seat as opposed to a real incumbent. Since he was re-elected in 2002 with the largest margin in CO’s history and left office in 2007 with approvals near 60%, he would be a VERY strong candidate. Elway has been floated as a candidate as well, but I doubt he (or anyone else serious about winning) would run against Owens.
This is by far the weakest appointment that Obama has put forth. It sadly shows his lack of commitment to the part of the environment that deals with protection of flora and fauna.
Don’t get me wrong Salazar his a huge improvement on the environmental psychopaths Bush has used. It was just that legislation like the Endangered Species Act are in tatters and a quick search of Salazar’s record does not impress me that he will protect the many endangered species currently needing protection.
Fritz - I can agree with you but Salazar will take his orders from Obama so he will be progressive on the environment. He also has no voters to win over unlike in Colorado which is not a liberal paradise! So I do not have worries on what he will do at the Interior.
At least Clinton, Obama and Biden’s seats are all in safe Democratic states so should not change hands in normal circumstances.
Perhaps the coming vacancy in Colorado will convince Owens that it is time for him to move to the Senate, in which the Demorats will struggle to keep the seat. However, as everyone has said, the Democratic bench is strong while the GOP bench is weak, and Salazar wasn’t that strong of an incumbent to begin with, so starting with a incumbent who is only in for 2 years or even a fully open seat wouldn’t hurt Democratic chances too much. Althrough if the GOP finds a decent challanger then the seat will be more vulerable to loss than Harry Reid, although if the GOP fails or if the appointed Senator is very popular, then Nevada will probably be the hardest seat for Democrats to defend, which is saying alot.
“Salazar will take his orders from Obama so he will be progressive on the environment”
Mike, I sincerely hope you are correct.
I know Obama has an interest in the environment but it seems mostly to center on global warming and other pollution issues. My concerns are with the ESA, wetland restoration and preserving the National Parks. My feeling is that Obama’s idea of a National Park is the Mall in DC.
I hope I am wrong but selecting a rancher for Interior, even one that has some knowledge of nature, is going to problematic for Obama and I expect this will be the first nominee to get push back from the progressives.
I thought that the governor from Montana would make a good Secretary of the Interior. Maybe in four years he’ll obtain this job. He was just re-elected as governor, so I guess he wasn’t a viable candidate.