Flood recovery was a rallying point as Colorado Democrats gathered Saturday to officially renominate Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall.
The 1,200 county delegates and alternates at the Colorado Convention Center’s Bellco Theatre cheered for Udall’s pledge to raise the minimum wage, Hickenlooper’s statistics on Colorado’s improving economy and any mention of women’s empowerment.
But it was the appearance at the lectern of Mayor Tara Schoedinger, of flood-ravaged Jamestown, that drew the biggest roar of support.
Schoedinger teared up recalling the devastation after floods cut through the town in September, and she credited Udall for helping Jamestown rebuild.
“When the cameras and the media and the emergency personnel were gone, Mark Udall was still there,” Schoedinger said. “Always by our side to this very day.”
In a nod to his continual plug for constructive campaigning, Hickenlooper said after his speech that flood recovery was a positive topic on which Democrats could easily harmonize.
Against the odds, Hickenlooper said, the state reopened all flood-damaged roads in Colorado before Dec. 1.
“It was considered impossible, but we did it,” Hickenlooper said. “The Republicans aren’t going to ever mention that. They hate that because it demonstrates that, actually, the state is being pretty well run.”
Udall trumpeted his work with Sen. Michael Bennet, also in attendance at Saturday’s assembly, to secure additional federal funds for flood recovery.
“We’ve literally seen hell, and we’ve seen high water, and that’s why I fought to get $700 million so we could rebuild our communities here in Colorado,” Udall said.
He referenced money secured in the U.S. Senate’s shutdown compromise and extra aid from U.S. Housing and Urban Development.
After unveiling a humorous campaign advertisement in which Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia acts as Hickenlooper’s personal trainer, the governor said economic, environmental and agricultural growth has persisted in Colorado despite the disaster.
“I do know that there has never been another state in the union that has been through as much as Colorado has in the past couple of years,” Hickenlooper said. “I also know that there aren’t many states that are doing better.”
He said that, in the past three years, Colorado has jumped from No. 40 to No. 4 in the nation in terms of economic growth.
In a speech that touched on equal pay, Medicare, Social Security, immigration, the government shutdown in October, minimum wage, federal surveillance and optimism, not once did Udall mention health care reform.
After his speech, Udall said he will speak about his support for the Affordable Care Act during the campaign season when other people — his opponent, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, specifically — bring it up.
He said he would rather focus on amending the law to fit state needs instead of aiming, as Gardner has, to repeal Obamacare.
Alison Noon: 303-954-1223, anoon@denverpost.com or twitter.com/alisonnoon