Holtzman/Spradley ’06?

Karen Crummy of The Denver Post reports this morning that the Marc Holtzman campaign is courting former House Speaker Lola Spradley as his gubernatorial running mate. The salient observation from the article is that Spradley does not fit the campaign’s recent anti-establishment tone. Republican consultant Katy Atkinson astutely observes that Holtzman “could be trying to balance the ticket.”

To me it appears that Holtzman may be backing off the strident attack footing that resulted in some bad press last week. Floating Spradley’s name as a potential running mate might refocus and stabilize the direction of his unconventional, heavily grassroots campaign. Spradley, who hails from tiny Beulah north of Pueblo, was Colorado’s first-ever female Speaker of the House. While she has her conservative bona fides with a solid legislative record and open opposition to last fall’s Referendum C tax increase, she may be most regarded in some circles for joining Democratic Congressman Mark Udall to lead the charge in the 2004 campaign to mandate the use of renewable energy. As such, Spradley was an articulate spokesperson for an overwhelmingly successful statewide ballot initiative.

Although we have yet to hear the names of any other potential Holtzman running mates, his campaign could do a lot worse than to add Lola Spradley to the ticket. The news Colorado political insiders would wait to hear is whether she would accept such an offer.

Meanwhile, in other campaign news, Pueblo School District 60 Superintendent Joyce Bales (a reported “education adviser” to the Holtzman campaign) has accepted a new job in California, according to today’s edition of the Pueblo Chieftain. Bales will be noted for trying to buck the status quo on some matters and bring creative efforts toward academic improvement in Pueblo.

Cross posted at Holtzman v Beauprez.