Colorado Pols.com observes that Wellington Webb’s campaign for chairman of the Democratic National Committee is faltering, largely because he can’t even get Colorado Democrats to line up behind him.

The post and its comments include a lot of speculation as to why this is true, but I think the best explanation is simplest: Big city mayors inevitably make enemies, because the job is one with so many competing demands. And the longer you are in the job (three terms in the case of Webb), the more enemies you make. As far as the DNC job goes, my guess is that Webb’s biggest enemies are the labor unions, who got the short end of the stick in the Webb-brokered convention center deal.

This is something John Hickenlooper might ponder as he considers whether to jump in the race for governor in 2006. Hickenlooper is popular now, but after a few more years in the mayor’s hot seat, will he have the same favorability ratings? I have to believe that sooner or later, he’ll face a situation where he won’t be able to avoid getting a significant number of people angry with him, and that might make it tougher for him to move on to higher office.