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Video: Lawmakers rally for Hillary Clinton by The Colorado Statesman

Several of Colorado’s leading current and former Democratic officials called Hillary Clinton the most qualified presidential candidate in the field — some going so far as to say she’s the most qualified candidate in living memory — at a news conference Thursday at Denver’s Civic Center.

Just five days before Colorado’s Democratic caucuses, the Clinton campaign hauled out some of its top endorsers in the state to argue that she has what it takes to defeat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the caucus straw poll.

“Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are,” said former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who served in the Obama cabinet with Clinton when she was secretary of state.

“I know of no one of any party that is more qualified to be president of the United States,” he said. “In my view, she’s the most qualified candidate that we have ever seen in my entire lifetime.”

It was a familiar refrain among the officials taking turns at the microphone.

“I don’t think there is anyone ready from day one to handle the job of president and all that job requires,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper, who maintained that Clinton understands the changing economy and how to make it work for Americans better than any other candidate.

“We also need someone who’s tough,” he said. “Hillary Clinton has been tested as few people have been. They’ve thrown everything at her — they’ve thrown the kitchen sink, they’ve thrown the bathroom sink, they’ve thrown pretty much every sink at her. I don’t think anyone has received as much attack-ad attention as she has. Every time she’s knocked down she gets right back up and she gets back to work.”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock made similar points.

“Through the lens of being mayor, and as an elected official, what this really boils down to is, when all the pomp and circumstance is over, when the ribbon-cuttings and the ceremonies have concluded, who do you trust to be behind the doors, meeting with advisors, making critical decisions every day?” Hancock said, answering his own question: “There isn’t a person better qualified, better experienced and better prepared to address those questions when no one else is looking.”

“On Tuesday,” Hancock concluded, “I’m asking all Coloradans to be very thoughtful in your approach to your caucus vote and to support Hillary Clinton.”

State Rep. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, and Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, repeated the assertions that Clinton was the most qualified candidate and that she gets knocked down and then gets right back up.

“Hillary Clinton has proved that she’s a fighter and she will do whatever it takes to get the work done,” Winter said. “She didn’t try just once for health care, she didn’t try just once to feed children — she has spent 40 years trying and moving the ball forward, and I know she’s going to move the ball forward for us in Colorado.”

After the press conference, Hickenlooper said that Clinton has had to face an unprecedented “barrage of negativity” throughout her decades in the spotlight and hoped that caucus-goers would be able to see through the attacks.

“I think Colorado might be one of those turning points in her campaign, where she demonstrates that some of that groundedness that so many of us know and recognize does translate out to the voting public,” he said.

Asked whether it would be a setback for Clinton if she lagged Sanders in Colorado’s straw poll, Hickenlooper chuckled.

“I don’t think it would be the end of the world,” he told reporters. “But I would take it personally. Her broad-based experience on so many different levels is so powerful, I would feel disappointed — in my state and myself.” He added, “She’s got so much momentum now, she’s in a very good place.”

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com

Video production by Ramsey Scott