After Gov. John Hickenlooper delivered a State of the State address Thursday that was widely regarded as a renewed pitch to bridge pending partisan trench warfare in the Capitol, lawmakers across the aisle seized the moment and grabbed the governor’s outstretched hand.

“His tone and presentation, and in some respect the lack of specificity, really sends a message that he wants to work with this body,” said Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, the number two man in the newly-elected Republican majority in the upper chamber. “He showed real respect for the process. There were broad themes, a lot of things we can agree on, such as funding for K-12.”

Freshman Rep. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, said the emphasis on collaboration stood out to her as well, “whether you talk about the economy, or the workforce or working together on oil and gas issues.”

Added freshman Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, “[The governor] is trying to reach out to everybody. That was the biggest takeaway for me.”

But despite the praise for Hickenlooper’s implicit invitation to use the split legislature as a doorway to a bipartisan fait-accompli work ethic, not everyone joined in on the kumbaya.

In a post-mortem statement, Colorado GOP Chair Ryan Call said, “While Gov. Hickenlooper gave a positive speech today, he provided few details on how he will tackle the many challenges facing our state. Unfortunately, this lack of substance has become a hallmark of Gov. Hickenlooper’s leadership.”

House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, said he didn’t hear too many things that were controversial. “It was more like a middle-of-the-road, let’s all feel good, let’s all get along type of speech.”

For freshman Rep. Jon Keyser, R-Morrison, Hickenlooper’s address lacked the correct focus. “The governor delivered a message that we all know that the Front Range is doing really well. We would certainly like to see the rural areas of our state have the same amount of success as the I-25 corridor.”

And U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who alongside fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter had made the trip to Denver from Washington, D.C., didn’t quite trust the truce either — yet.

“The governor laid out some of the challenges for the legislature to work on,” he said. “Hopefully the Senate and the state assembly will work together and get some work done.”

State Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, said the governor had hit all the major issues in a bipartisan, positive way. McCann, who sponsors the federal DUI bill Hickenlooper explicitly touted in his remarks, was particularly pleased with the governor’s support for her measure. “So many families have been devastated by drunk drivers. It is time to say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

Hickenlooper’s resolve on the issue surprised even the likes of Senate Majority Leader Scheffel. The Parker Republican said a felony DUI bill “has been knocking around this building for a while.”

Added Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Roxborough Park, “I was really pleased to hear the governor acknowledge the need for a felony DUI bill and fiscal transparency for the voters of Colorado. The more informed our voters are, the better policy we can have going forward.”

Almost traditionally, the state of the state address also set the stage for some heated budget talks.“It was great to hear [the governor] challenge the legislature to really stand up and actually address our ‘big fiscal thicket,’ as he calls it,” said Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood.

Others were less enthusiastic.

“We have to have a robust discussion about the budget,” said Rep. Mike Foote, D-Lafayette. “There weren’t many details about that in the governor’s speech. I hope we can fill the blanks sometime soon because it is an impending crisis.”

“My concern is [Hickenlooper] is willing to ask for general fund money for bicycle infrastructure, but then he wants to create new taxes to fund new road infrastructure that’s actually needed,” said Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Franktown. “I don’t see why we can’t ask for that same amount for roads and bridges.”

But it was Rep. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, who summed up what still seemed to be the prevalent consensus of the day.

“[The speech] set a good tone,” he said. “Both Republicans and Democrats can come together on a lot of the things he mentioned.”

— Lars@coloradostatesman.com