Thirty-Five Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Gov. Dick Lamm hadn’t decided yet whether he planned to run for a third term in 1982, but the Democrat conceded he could be unseated by Colorado Republicans, who had said their major goal in the next year was retaking the governor’s mansion. “Oh, sure,” Lamm said in an interview with The Statesman. “I think anyone in public office is beatable, especially in these very shifting times. You go into any campaign — no matter how high or seemingly unbeatable you are — with at least a third chance of losing just because of the vagaries in a campaign and the kind of things which can happen. You’ve involved in a process that you only have marginal control over.” …

… Regardless of Lamm’s plans, more than two dozen Republicans were considering or — GOP power brokers suggested — should start considering a run for governor in the next year. El Paso County lawmaker Bill Hughes was furthest along, with a 45-page campaign plan, committees organized in several counties and $2,000 already raised. State Sen. Steve Durham and state Rep. Bill Becker, both Colorado Springs Republicans, headed Hughes’s steering committee, and Mary Ann Tebedo was doing advance work for him. Hughes was getting started early because, he predicted, it would take $1 million to beat Lamm, and he wanted to have a formidable enough campaign to avoid a five-way primary. According to the Hughes playbook, Lamm was likely to be a tough opponent, since he’d be “well organized, well financed, well known and generally well liked.” The incumbent “will no doubt portray himself as a ‘maverick’ and attempt to avoid party identification as a Democrat. His issue stands, which will be few, will no doubt evolve in terms of his conflicts with the Ronald Reagan administration … (over) ecology, limited growth, etc. He will be sincerely concerned, perhaps even worried, about many things. Failures will be blamed on the Legislature.” Another possible Republican candidate, former President Gerald Ford, a Vail resident, was used to having his name pop up whenever Colorado Republicans were bantering about names — he was mentioned as a possible 1980 challenger to U.S. Sen. Gary Hart for a while — but the scenarios involving Ford “usually don’t pan out,” The Statesman noted. Ford was in China and couldn’t be reached for comment, but an assistant “quashed the rumor” that Ford might decide to challenge Lamm. “I don’t think it’s true,” she said. …

… Even though most politicos were convinced Lamm would seek a third term, there could be a lengthy line of Democrats jockeying for the nomination if he opted against it. Among the dozen or so luminaries contacted by The Statesman, nearly all said they thought Lamm would run and, besides, they weren’t going to entertain hypotheticals so far out. State Treasurer Roy Romer said he was urging Lamm to run and his own political plans were loose. “I’m an existentialist,” Romer said. “I went from agriculture commissioner to chief of staff to treasurer, and whether I eventually move up or sideways, I’m perfectly satisfied to do a job. Ten years ago I had a political agenda, but not now. I enjoy what I’m doing. I have an open mind and a sense of freedom, but I’m not a very good schemer.” Agriculture Commissioner Morgan Smith, a one-time candidate in the 4th Congressional District, said he wanted Lamm to run. “He’s very popular. I don’t see any Republican with stature who can give him a difficult race,” though he added that the power of negative advertising could make it tough for an incumbent. Smith added that he thought about being governor once while driving around in his truck. “But my blood isn’t boiling over for it.” …

… Former Englewood Mayor Judy Henning, fresh off a full year working to help re-elect U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, had her hands full organizing the state Democrats’ annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner but was running into some roadblocks when it came to getting the Dems to buy tickets to the shindig. It was, after all, a fundraiser, but she whispered to The Statesman that she’d had no idea party workers were so, er, cheap. Tickets were $40 apiece, and the cost of living was putting the squeeze on everyone, but didn’t Democrats realize that meant it also cost more to put on one of the big dinners? All things considered, she wasn’t complaining — much — and had around 400 confirmed seats sold, along with plenty of others who planned to plunk down the bucks to hear West Virginia Gov. Jay Rockefeller IV deliver the keynote address at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Denver. Except for state party chair candidate Chuck Bair, former chair of the Adams County Democrats, who had been arguing that the dinner should be a “thank you” for party stalwarts. Henning, by the way, had just started work at the Children’s Museum, where she would be putting together special events and throwing fundraisers.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com