Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper drops out of the 2020 presidential race.

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. Reuters.

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race and is considering a run for Senate. Reuters. Hickenlooper's campaign never caught on and he rarely polled above 1% in national polling. He did not qualify for the next Democratic Debate both in number of donors and opinion polling. Hickenlooper ran a more centrist campaign which caused quite a bit of criticism from the progressive wing of the party. He was opposed to socialism and questioned why he wasn't being asked if he was going to have a man for a running mate instead of a woman. 

My Comment:

Hickenlooper never really made an impact in the 2020 race. His performance in the debates was poor at best and completely irrelevant at worst. He didn't do much with the time he was given and was overshadowed by even other irrelevant candidates like Marriane Williamson and Tim Ryan. 

Hickenlooper also positioned himself as a centrist in a party that is fleeing from the center as quickly as it can. Though he had a point that socialism isn't popular among the swing voters the Democrats would need to defeat President Trump, it was also the last thing that the progressive wing of the party wanted to hear. Hickenlooper was also prone to gaffs as his comment about wanting to be asked about running with a man instead of a woman was not what you would expect to hear from a Democratic candidate. 

Hickenlooper's biggest problem was that he was trying to go for the centrist lane when that lane was already taken by Joe Biden. Biden has almost all of the centrists wrapped up already, even after some serious gaffs and mistakes. With that lane fully occupied there wasn't really a place for Hickenlooper.

He also didn't have a signature issue like some of the other lower ranked candidates. Even now, I have no idea what Hickenlooper wanted as president. I know he is anti-gun but that's everyone in the Democratic race now and doesn't help him stand out from the crowd. 

As for his senate race, he's going up against Senator Cory Gardner. I don't know enough about Colorado politics to understand how vulnerable that seat is, but I do think that as a governor he has a chance of winning the seat. I don't see Colorado going red in 2020 so it's possible that he could be relevant. Either way he has basically no chance of ever being president. 

I personally am pleased by this. Hickenlooper is a gun-control advocate and was one of the worst candidates in the 2020 race besides Eric "nukem" Swalwell. I wonder if it's not just a coincidence that two of the most anti-gun candidates are gone?