ritter-billCiting steep budget cuts and too many tax increases, the insider Cook Political Report calculates that several Democratic governors will be vulnerable to attacks by Republicans in the 2010 elections, including Colorado’s Bill Ritter (via Bloomberg News).

Perhaps that will play into former Congressman Scott McInnis’ campaign for the job. The Republican is privately telling his friends “I’m in,” according to The Denver Post. If he’s in, McInnis, who served 12 years in Congress before joining a Denver law firm in 2004, would first battle state Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, who knows McInnis well. Penry served as a staffer to McInnis for four years, as 5280 noted last week.

ColoradoPols theorizes that McInnis could be a tougher opponent for Ritter than Penry but that McInnis’ experience could also be a negative–“from Tom DeLay ties to ‘McLobbyist'” and beyond.

Meanwhile, Politico wonders why Ritter-appointed political newbie Michael Bennet, Colorado’s junior U.S. senator and a Democrat, isn’t facing any real GOP candidates for the 2010 election yet.