Petitioning Onto the Ballot Retrospective

Election geek, Stonewall Dem, and Denver Dem's officer candidate Dan Willis in June of 2006 recapped the candidates who tried to petition onto the ballot in Colorado, rather than using the party caucus process. Post-election, the results aren't pretty. Who tried?

Gov: Marc Holtzman (R) insufficient signatures - challenging the decision LOST IN PRIMARY

CD5: Lionel Rivera (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
CD5: Bentley Rayburn (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
CD5: John Anderson (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
CD5: Duncan Bremer (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY

CD7: Peggy Lamm (D) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
CD7: Herb Rubenstein (D) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY

SD9: Eric Singer (R) insufficient signatures
SD22: Kiki Traylor (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
SD22: Justin Everett (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
SD30: Mark Baisley (R) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
SD32: Chris Romer (D) certified to ballot WON PRIMARY AND GENERAL ELECTION RACE

HD1: Margaret Atencio (D) insufficient signatures
HD13: Jim Rettew (D) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
HD35: Jeffrey Vigil (D) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY
HD37: Mick Davis (R) insufficient signatures
HD59: Jeffrey Deitch (D) certified to ballot LOST IN PRIMARY

Who won?

Chris Romer, a Democrat running in Senate District 32, is the only person running for state office in the entire state who was nominated by petition, rather than a caucus and made it past a primary.

Senate District 32 is a safe Democratic district so the primary in this open seat vacated by Dan Grossman was the election for all practical purposes. The primary results were as follows:

Jennifer Mello (DEM) 3073 35.64 %
Fran Coleman (DEM) 1294 15.01 %
Chris Romer (DEM) 4256 49.36 %

While petitioning onto the ballot and getting elected isn't impossible, but it is very nearly so. Romer came to the party with name recognition, as the son of the former Democratic Governor of Colorado, and may have been influenced in his decision by the fact that three candidates were running for this safe open seat, making caucus voting (where 30% support is required) less predictable.