Romanoff Out In Colorado's 6th Congressional District

Democrat and former Colorado State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff has disavowed rumors that he will run in Colorado's 6th Congressional District race against incumbent Republican Mike Coffman (who replaced Tom Tancredo in the seat in the 2008 election) in a seat that is far more competitive than it used to be a result of a Congressional redistricting plan to take effect for the 2012 election that was recently approved by the Colorado Supreme Court. State Representative Joe Miklosi, a district resident who has been campaigning for many months in the race (back when the old district lines made the seat look unwinnable), is the only announced Democratic challenger to Coffman. Romanoff's decision suggests that Miklosi will probably not face a primary fight.

Romanoff mounted a fierce primary challenge against U.S. Senator Michael Bennet in 2010, a race that cast Bennet as a corporate, establishment Democrat against a Romanoff campaign that was styled as a grass roots campaign opposed to excess big business power. The quality of his election campaigns when he served the 6th state house district in Denver's Washington Park neighborhood, is legendary, as was his aptitude for getting deals done under the dome downtown. Some pundits and Democratic insiders had hoped that Romanoff's reputation as a "big name" in the party would help the party win a critical swing district that lower profile Miklosi might lack. But, Romanoff has thrown is support to Miklosi in the 6th Congressional District race.