Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne, a Democrat running for governor in next year’s election, pledged Friday to run a clean campaign like the ones waged by Gov. John Hickenlooper – who famously took a shower with his clothes on in a TV ad pledging to reject negative campaigning – and challenged the other candidates in the race to join her.

Some of the other candidates – there are nine Republicans and seven Democrats running to take over from Hickenlooper, who faces term limits – said they’ve been running positive campaigns and focusing on the issues all along, offering Lynne backhanded praise for getting with the program. Others upped the ante, issuing their own challenges to eschew campaign contributions from some donors.

“We cannot let the polarization, name-calling and negative campaigning that has a stranglehold on our national political dialogue take root in Colorado,” Lynne said in a statement. “Tearing one another apart is not the way to bring Coloradans together to tackle important topics like addressing our health care challenges, providing every child the education they need to succeed, investing in our infrastructure, and keeping our air and water clean.”

She noted that she’s signed a document prepared by the Colorado Democratic party pledging to run “clean and truthful campaigns based on issues (that) expressly opposes engaging in personal attacks or smears” and said she expects her fellow Democrats to follow suit.

About time, said Democrat Noel Ginsburg’s campaign, pointing out that he signed the party’s pledge a week ago.

“We are glad Donna will be following Noel in committing to staying focused on the issues that will move Colorado forward,” Ginsburg campaign spokeswoman Sheila MacDonald told Colorado Politics.

A campaign spokesman for Republican George Brauchler made a similar point, although the state GOP doesn’t have its own version of the Democrats’ pledge.

“We are pleased Donna is joining George Brauchler in talking about the issues,” Brauchler spokesman Jack Cutter said. “George has been traveling the state for almost a year hearing first hand from Coloradans how the polices out of Denver have failed them.”

Democrat Mike Johnston, a former state senator, said he’ll gladly sign the party’s pledge and asked the other Democrats to agree not to accept contributions from special interests and political action committees, like he’s promised.

“We have said from day one we are running a positive campaign focusing on the best plan to move Colorado forward, so I will happily sign the Democratic Party clean campaign pledge. In addition, we are running a campaign free of special interest or PAC dollars and I ask every Democratic candidate to join us,” Johnston said.

State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, a Democrat, cheered Lynne’s suggestion but said it wasn’t enough, promising to release her own challenge Saturday.

“We should all be running positive campaigns on the issues,” Kennedy told Colorado Politics. “But there is more we can do to have transparent and accountable elections. I will be releasing my campaign pledge and calling on my primary opponents to sign it tomorrow.”

Mara Sheldon, communications director for Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, maintained her boss has been running a clean campaign all along.

“Jared is proud to already be running a positive campaign to turn bold ideas into real results for Colorado families with actionable plans for free, full-day kindergarten and preschool, 100-percent renewable energy, and an economy that works for everyone,” she said in a statement.

A spokesman for Republican Tom Tancredo’s campaign, however, turned the tables on Polis and accused the Democrat of turning things negative when Tancredo was still considering running, when Polis called the anti-illegal immigration hard-liner a “bigot” in an email to supporters.

“Before Congressman Tancredo even entered the race, the Colorado Democrat Party and Jared Polis have attacked the Congressman personally. If the lieutenant governor wants a ‘clean campaign,’ maybe she should look to her own party first.”

Republican Doug Robinson’s campaign spokesperson Brett Maney gave Lynne thumbs up but pointed to an instance when Hickenlooper declined to disavow negative ads run by an outside group when he ran for his second term in 2014.

“Well, good to see Donna Lynne is taking a page out of her bosses playbook. But my first question would be; is she going to take it a little more seriously than he did?” Maney said in a written statement to Colorado Politics.

Spokesmen for Republican candidates State Treasurer Walker Stapleton and businessman Victor Mitchell declined to comment.