Senator Wayne Allard Announces Retirement

Colorado Senator Wayne Allard announced today that he would keep a campaign promise made a decade ago and not seek a third term in office. Instead of running for what has long been considered the last "safe" seat in Colorado, he will retire when his current term expires. Allard's retirement sets up a wide-open contest for the seat, in a state that has seen two House seats and the other Senate seat fall into Democratic control in the last two years. The Democratic onslaught in Colorado is showing no sign of slacking: The Governor is a Democrat and both houses of the Colorado Legislature have Democratic majorities. The next wave of national office holders are sitting in state legislatures and sleeping in Governor's Mansions right now, you know.

On the Republican side, anti-immigration zealot Tom Tancredo has expressed interest in running for the Senate, as has former congressman Scott McInnis. No word yet on whether former Governor Bill Owen has any interest in running for the seat.

Among Colorado Democrats, five-term congressman Mark Udall announced previously that he intended to run for the Senate seat whether Allard ran as an incumbent or not. Another Democrat with aspirations to the Senate is Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

The Senate race in Colorado will be the Webb-Allen or McCaskill-Talent "Race to Watch" in 2008, with an open seat up for grabs. It will get interesting early.