Denver's wildly popular Mayor, John Hickenlooper, named by Time Magazine as one of the five most influential mayors in the country, just held a news conference to announce his final decision on whether he will run for Governor. The answer is "no." He loves being Mayor and wants to complete the programs he has in the works.

I live-blogged the press conference over at 5280. Up until this morning, speculation was rampant that he was going to run. As late as yesterday, his supporters were giddy with excitement.

My take: Hick made the correct decision, and one that will increase his political capital by leaps and bounds. He demonstrated that he puts the welfare of the people who elected him above personal ambition. How rare is that? He positively glowed with positive energy during the announcement.

I think we'll be calling him Senator Hickenlooper in a few years.

Karl Rove has been busy the past few months re-vamping the Republican's message so they can keep their hold on Congress. In a word, the message is fear. Fear, Rove thinks, will make the country believe:

• Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance on Americans is legal
• Bush's judicial picks will keep those terrorist detainees in their place and ensure our safety by curtailling our civil liberties
• The renewal of the Patriot Act will protect us against another terrorist attack

We're no closer to getting Osama. There hasn't been a terrorist attack in more than four years, and there's no evidence the Patriot Act or subway searches are the reason.

Via David Sirota: Is Ohio Democratic Senate Candidate Paul Hackett becoming the Tom Tancredo of the Democratic Party? Shame on him.

From the Toledo Blade:

The Bush administration, Mr. Hackett said, "is willing to let illegals come in and take the jobs of Americans." The answer made several of the young Democrats squirm in their seats.

One pushed Mr. Hackett to clarify. "Deport them?" Mr. Hackett was asked. "If we can afford to," Mr. Hackett said, "yeah."

Corporate crime-buster Eliot Spitzer may get a primary challenger for the 2006 New York Governor's race: Tom Suozzi, a Long Island politician.

Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, has the hugely influential backing of Home Depot founder Ken Langone, a Long Island billionaire who has tangled with Spitzer on Wall Street and has vowed to raise "as much money as I can" to help knock off the two-term attorney general.

...."I will leave no stone unturned to help Tom Suozzi wage a very successful and effective campaign," Langone told The Associated Press this week. He added that Suozzi has done a marvelous job as county executive and is "focused like I've never seen a politician in my life."

Suozzi this week filed papers with the State Elections Office to form a fundraising committee for the Governor's race.

The Donald is considering a run against Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York Governor's race, according to Joseph Bruno, the state's Senate Majority Leader.

Republicans are looking for a candidate with name recognition and money to take on the only announced Democratic candidate, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer is far ahead of all candidates for governor in the early polls.

I think the Republicans are dreaming, Trump won't do it....I just can't see him commuting, even by private jet, to Albany every day.

Newsweek has posted an interview with Markos of Daily Kos in which he handicaps the 2006 races. Some tidbits:

• the hottest race will be in Pennsylvania, between Rick Santorum and Bob Casey Jr.
• Races in Rhode Island, Ohio, Missouri and Montana are next up.

On whether Dems will win in 2006:

I think Democrats will make gains, but it's 2008 we need to think about. I'm hoping that as we build our machine and repair the Democratic brand, people will start voting for Democrats because they want to vote for Democrats and not just because they want to vote against Republicans.

New York City Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer came under fire Friday from death penalty opponents for saying that the death penalty is justified in some cases.

"After 10 years of experience with the death penalty, New Yorkers have rethought their position on the issue, and Mr. Ferrer should, too," said David Kaczynski, executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, which was influential in virtually scuttling the state's death penalty law this year. "We would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Ferrer to help him sort through the various issues."

Ferrer has flip-flopped before on capital punishment. He has said he's opposed to the death penalty. He's also said he supports it in some cases. At other times he has said he supports a moratorium until flaws can be removed.

Say Hello to Allan Lichtman - political historian and the Democrat's expert witness in the Texas re-districting case - and many such cases before that. He's running for the Senate in Maryland, for the seat being vacated by Sarbanes.

He's also written this article on the DeLay Indictment, based on his experiences in the Texas re-districting case. He didn't send a link to the arcticle, so I'm assuming he wanted me to reprint it:

As far as I'm concerned, anything that divides the Republicans is a good thing. The Wall St. Journal has a (free) article up for tomorrow on how conservatives who are balking at Bush's spending plans are worried that voters may stay home from the polls in the mid-term elections.

...conservatives' rebelliousness threatens a range of Bush initiatives before Congress. Moreover, Republican strategists worry that widespread disenchantment among the party's bedrock conservatives could lead many to stay home in next year's midterm elections.

by TChris

Rep. "Duke" Cunningham's profitable relationship with a defense contractor (TalkLeft background here) spawned a criminal investigation that would have been an unpleasant campaign issue. Cunningham has decided not to seek reelection, creating an open congressional seat in his San Diego area district.

Dick Cheney came to Colorado today to raise money for Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, the chief architect of the constitutional ban against gay marriage.

Vice President Dick Cheney helped raise an estimated $200,000 Monday for the campaign of Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress.

Musgrave, one of the original sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, has proved "to be exactly the right person for the job," Cheney told a crowd about 200 people who paid $500 to $4,000 to attend the luncheon in downtown Denver.

The money is raised through the Retain Our Majority Program, created in 1999 by Tom DeLay.

Air America Radio Host and comedian Al Franken is moving his show to Minnesota, where he will decide whether to challenge Norm Coleman for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Al Franken wants to be a senator.

"I'd rather be part of [the process] than commenting on it," he insists. But he pauses, shrugs indecisively, a boyish chuckle follows. "I think. I don't know. That might be part of the calculus of whether I go for it or not." Whether Franken will "go for it" in 2008, against freshman Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, remains to be seen. "I can tell you honestly, I don't know if I'm going to run," Franken continues, as we now sit 41 floors below his studio, in the skyscraper's courtyard. "But I'm doing the stuff I need to do, in order to do it."

Does he have a chance? Former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi thinks so.