Denver mayoral candidates Michael Hancock and Chris Romer have been trotting out various high-profile endorsements in their race to the June 7 runoff election, from recent campaign foes like James Mejia [2] to former Governor Bill Ritter [3], but it's hard to say how much of an impact—if any—they're having on the men's voter appeal.

According to a new poll by RBI Strategies [4] and Colorado Pols, the results give Hancock "a small, well-within-the-margin-of-error lead...with 41 percent, followed by Romer, with 37 percent" (Denver Pols [5]). Romer led the last poll, but factors such as name recognition and favorable and negative opinions are shifting.

Count among those fluctuations a surprise announcement this week by Romer, who is reconsidering his previous stance on eliminating the city's manager of public safety position (The Spot [6]). Former mayoral contenders Mejia and Theresa Spahn urged Romer to reassess after throwing their support behind his campaign.

Mejia is among a camp of Latino leaders backing Romer, including two women from different generations of legislating at the state Capitol: former state Senator Polly Baca and state Representative Crisanta Duran (Post [7]). But Hancock has his own cabal of Latino support in power pol Paul Sandoval and city councilors Paul Lopez and Judy Montero—two of six council members [8] in all who back Hancock.

After sparring at a Republican forum Wednesday night (Westword [9]), the contenders played nice during yesterday's exchanges, when the two discussed homelessness and GLBT issues at The Gathering Place [10], then moved on to talk about everything from abortion rights to Romer's role in a New Mexico political controversy (Post [11]). While it remained civil, Hancock once again had to clarify an answer he gave related to religion after the event was over—this time about creationism's role in public schools (CW2 [12]).