Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper To Run For Colorado Governor

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) will run for governor of Colorado, the Denver Post reports.

Hickenlooper is a top-tier name in Colorado politics. He was first elected mayor of Denver in 2003, and was easily re-elected in 2007. Before going into local politics, Hickenlooper was a businessman in Denver, owning several restaurants and a microbrewery.

Hickenlooper's expected entry into the race comes after incumbent Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter announced his retirement. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former U.S. Senator and Colorado state attorney general, decided last week not to run. A recent Rasmussen poll has Hickenlooper trailing Republican former Rep. Scott McInnis by 45%-42%, though this was a better showing than Salazar in the same poll, and better than Ritter in the Rasmussen poll from the month before.