The Denver Post today reports on Page 2B (not online as far as I can tell) that Senator Ken Salazar says he won’t rule out a run for Governor in 2006. Does he think he can win because he has become so “bipartisan” lately? Let’s take a look at his Senate voting record so far.

In his first 81 votes, he split 64 times with conservative Republican and fellow Coloradan Sen. Wayne Allard on reliably partisan votes such as abortion protests and oil drilling in Alaska. They’ve voted together 17 times. Of those, eight were feel-good measures that passed overwhelmingly. But some of the other nine were significant breaks with fellow Democrats.

Voting to confirm Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice struck Salazar’s liberal critics as an endorsement of torture and the Iraq war. And those same folks wonder how a Democrat who talks about growing up poor could vote with credit-card companies to make it harder for people to use bankruptcy to get out of debt.

Some Democrats think the Senator has already forgotten who sent him to Washington:

He’s forgotten who he stands for. It didn’t take him long to forget that. It was the first plane to Washington,” said Rudy Garcia, a Gilpin County business consultant who voted for Salazar in last year’s general election after originally supporting the more liberal Mike Miles in the Democratic primary.

Some even say Salazar might – or should – follow his party- switching predecessor Ben Nighthorse Campbell and become a Republican. “You’re a Republican, my friend, you might as well admit it,” Garcia said of Salazar.

Is he serious about running for Governor? I don’t think so. Colorado Pols doesn’t have him on its hotline. Perhaps he is just trying to light a fire under Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Former Congressman Scott McInnis sounds like he’s getting closer to entering the race. He says “It would be an honor” to run. Can he get the nomination away from Bob Beauprez?