Well, it looks like I won’t have to be the one to spark a Colorado Democratic primary fight after all: Former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff has filed papers to challenge our appointed U.S. Senator, “just one vote” Michael Bennet.
The two of them are both straight, white, male, Wonder Bread twins–neither of them could win a one-man charm contest. Romanoff will have to run to Bennet’s left, which will be a good thing. (And there’s plenty of room to swim around in over there!) Romanoff’s background isn’t quite as posh as Bennet’s, and he has the advantage of having run and won several elections. Accordingly, Romanoff has statewide connections with labor, Latinos, and the Dem machine–none of which Bennet had until last January, or has in any depth now. (Most of his money has come from out-of-state–Daddy’s rich friends and the Old School Ties presumably swung into action for him, to the tune of $900,000!)
Romanoff has a kind of earnest wonkishness that appeals to me–he’s someone who has worked for what he’s achieved politically, not someone who (in the famous words of the late Texas Governor Ann Richards talking about George H. W. Bush) “was born on [or appointed to] third base, and thinks he hit a triple.” (The Locust Valley Lockjaw really is out of control with that Bennet guy. Someone in his campaign should suggest an accent coach!)
Historiann 
While the historical profession is grateful, I am kind of sorry that we won’t have Historiann’s colleagues knocking on doors all over Colorado. I would have made a trip to campaign for you!
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Ditto. I was planning on asking for Breckenridge or Durango, too.
The “just one vote” part both intrigues and cuts close to home, though. I got elected to an important, almost king-making, committee at my uni by just one vote. Nothing so simple as 217 votes for me and 216 for a runner-up, either. I got one vote, last spring, and nobody else got zero. By protocol this made me an alternate. I spent the summer knowing there was a better chance of the MacArthur Committee calling than of actually having to serve. Until first day of classes this year, when I got the call about several (dozen?) resignations on high, so here I am about to make kings. I found out who voted for me, too. Constituent service will be a snap but not sure about the kingmaking part.
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Congratulations, Indyanna! But at least your one vote was the result of a democratic process. Bennet was appointed because he won one vote–the Governor’s–despite never having run for office, won a political office, or won any votes from any grubby little citizens like me.
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Thanks, Historiann, and yes, I’ll admit it’s slightly more democratic than the Colorado situation, although there are some details I can’t relate here that make it fairly weird. But, as I reflect on it, my one constituent is going to insist that there be at least as much queenmaking as kingmaking, or there will be a ree-call campaign in a heck of a hurry. Sorry about that; Patriarchal Equilibrium, late-nite vocabulary division.
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