Business leaders frequently glance at political campaigns and conclude, “I could do that.” And, occasionally, a John Hickenlooper or Donald Trump succeeds. But for every non-politician who takes the plunge, nine drown with barely a ripple. Have you heard anything from Howard Schultz recently? When he came to town last month he attracted a crowd of about 75 to listen to his presidential pitch. It was still morning yet his campaign failed to expend to provide Starbucks and donuts – an easy, clever move. Schultz’s “middle-of-the-road,” common sense solutions embraced just enough compromise to outrage fringe voters from both the left and right.

I received a call from Tom Strickland in 1995 asking for my support in a Democratic primary to replace Hank Brown, who had unexpectedly announced his departure from the United States Senate. His Republican opponent would either be Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton or Congressman Wayne Allard. Tom had recently been appointed U. S. attorney, replacing Henry Solano who moved on to Washington to serve in Bill Clinton’s Department of Labor. Tom’s primary challenger was Boulder law school Dean Gene Nichol.

Twelve-term Congresswoman Pat Schroeder had also announced her decision to retire. No candidates had emerged for her seat at this point so I suggested he would likely have a better chance, perhaps without opposition, if he jumped into that race. His response was, to paraphrase, that he simply had too much to offer voters to waste his time as a member of Congress. I suggested that both Norton and Allard had previously run for office, providing them a distinct advantage in a general election. It was Speaker Sam Rayburn who surveyed John Kennedy’s “best and brightest” and observed to Lyndon Johnson, “…I’d feel a whole lot better if just one of them had run for sheriff.”

Nichol would pummel Strickland, a partner at Denver’s legal powerhouse Brownstein Farber, as a lawyer-lobbyist during the Democratic primary. This slur didn’t secure Nichol the nomination, but Republican Svengali Dick Wadhams picked up the chorus after his candidate, Wayne Allard, captured the Republican nod. Once in office, Allard picked up Schroeder’s mantle as the Colorado delegation member most likely to help you when you needed help in Washington. In 2001 I was in Pagosa Springs, only to discover the senator was holding a luncheon townhall at the senior center. One of his first questions came from an intensely irate, retired federal employee with a grievance regarding changes to his pension benefits. He was trembling with rage and could readily have derailed the entire event.

Senator Allard chuckled and replied, “I don’t understand what’s happening any better than you. But there’s definitely a problem with the recent changes.” Then, pointing out a young staffer, he advised the complainant, “I want you to meet with Lisa at the end of this meeting and you give her all the details of your case. Then I should be able to take your example back to D.C. where we’ll see whether we can’t get an answer for both of us.” Poof – all the heat escaped the room. It wasn’t obvious if the senator actually had a handle on this issue. But experience teaches politicians how to navigate and that’s why incumbents are so very hard to beat. Allard went on to stomp Strickland again in a 2002 rematch.?

This tale serves as prologue to thinking about the Hancock vs. Giellis contest for mayor of Denver. Michael Hancock remains the same enthusiast he was in 2011. He loves his job, loves his city and feels he’s been a lucky man. He learned to ride the bull of runaway development rather than attempting to tame it. Arguably, perhaps it wasn’t and isn’t tamable. Steering may be the best we can hope for. That’s not the argument the mayor makes, however. He brags on the economic prosperity we enjoy and says he would rather deal with the challenges of prosperity than a city in decline. So would we all. Four more years that look like the last eight will not be a horror – but more blue-collar families will flee a city they can no longer afford.

Jamie Giellis wants us to share her sense all this can be managed better. If that’s true, and God knows we should hope it is, she has little time to convince voters she can actually deliver change. During the campaign’s closing days she’s made several rookie missteps and critics have been quick to push her off balance – diverting the campaign conversation from what needs to change to whether she’s prepared to lead a diverse community. Yet, when voters are repeatedly late to work because contractors are allowed to block commuter lanes before 9:00 A.M., they know change is necessary. Placing people before profits isn’t merely a slogan – it’s common decency.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former state legislator. He can be reached at mnhwriter@msn.com.