Jody Hope Strogoff

Three short weeks ago political pundits were still pondering the fate of the two remaining Denver mayoral candidates, Chris Romer and Michael Hancock, and trying to predict how large the blow-out would be.

Now the game has refocused and city hall watchers are trying to figure out who will go to work in the Hancock administration.

It didn’t take long for John Salazar, who represented CD 3 in Congress for three terms before losing his seat in the Republican tsunami of 2010, to rekindle his passion upon leaving Washington.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is well known for crafting a positive pitch for beer — afterall, he co-founded the iconic Wynkoop Brewing Co. in lower downtown Denver in 1988 and the sudsy stuff has been one of his trademarks since being elected Denver’s mayor 15 years later.

Elected officials, a Cabinet Secretary, a famous country and western singer, a legendary Denver Broncos quarterback, Colorado’s current governor and two of his predecessors, movers and shakers in the world of business, civic affairs and philanthropy, and so-called ‘regular’ citizens — close to 2,000 of them — congregated May 26 at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver to honor Sharon Magness Blake, this year’s recipient of the Mizel Museum’s Community Enrichment Award.

When 36-year-old Rick Palacio was elected to head the Colorado Democratic Party in March, he became the youngest state chair in living memory. Three weeks later, he lost the title when Republicans elected 35-year-old Ryan Call to chair the state GOP.

Seven years ago this month, two-term U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell sent Colorado’s political world spinning with an abrupt announcement he wouldn’t seek another term.

If you had the tenacity to go through the pages of The Colorado Statesman from the last three decades — 33 years, to be exact, which is how long I’ve been associated with the newspaper — there’s probably no other name that has graced our pages more often than that of Dick Wadhams.

If the current campaign for GOP state chairman is any indication, the battle facing Colorado Republicans to resurrect their wounded party may take longer than anyone thinks. The race to succeed Chairman Dick Wadhams, who decided not to run for a third term just last month, has turned into an ugly mess, and the ultimate victor — to be decided March 26 at the Republican state central committee meeting — will have his hands full trying to unite a party split along not only ideological lines, but with major crevices at its very foundation.

The three candidates running for Colorado Democratic Party chair talk about the state of the party and what they have to offer in an in-depth interview with The Colorado Statesman. Two weeks before state Democrats pick new leadership, Polly Baca, Adam Bowen and Rick Palacio took stock of their campaigns and had a lot to say about the races that will be run in Colorado next year, when the state is considered a must-win for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

It was like old home week at the state Capitol this week when Congressman Scott Tipton, who defeated three-term Democratic incumbent John Salazar in November, visited his old stomping ground.