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On March 16—caucus night—state Democrats will take their first step in officially selecting their candidates—or candidate—for U.S. Senate.
It will be the first time Dems have gathered statewide since 2004, when activist Mike Miles lobbied the grassroots all the way to the top line of the primary ballot, but lost to then-Attorney General Ken Salazar, who went on to become a U.S. senator, as The Colorado Statesman notes in an article on the contentious battle between current sitting Senator Michael Bennet and former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Bennet will get a big push later this week, when President Barack Obama visits Colorado to campaign for him, USA Today points out. The fear for Democrats is that the state has trended toward red, “making Bennet one of the most endangered Democrats up for election in the fall,” writes The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Romanoff, who has cast himself as a populist, has rolled out a slate of new supporters, including two-thirds of the Democratic caucus in the Colorado House of Representatives, according to Politico.
“Andrew Romanoff is the epitome of what a United States senator should be: a bright, young, articulate statesman who leads by example,” says state Representative Edward Casso in a statement.
Last week, Romanoff grabbed the support of two of the state’s largest unions: the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers.