Do any of my kind and forgiving readers recall my column of last December, wherein I stated my belief that President Joe Biden would not, in fact, run for a second term? No one? Oh good (Editor: let me help, here it is…). While I was then, and remain now, a strong supporter of Biden, I did hope he might consider stepping aside, purely as a matter of age. Biden will be 82 when he is reelected and will be 86 when his second term ends, so he won’t announce a reelection campaign, will he?

So, I called it?

Not so much…

Frankly, I thought Biden was just too old and I still have reservations. But I’m beginning to think that those reservations have more to do with me than with Biden. The guy is now 80 yet he still is quick in his step and, based on the last State of the Union speech and other actions, is still smart and mentally agile. Oh, and you do know his occasionally garbled speaking is not due to age, but due to being a life-long stutterer, right? Pretty remarkable to overcome that handicap.

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The simple fact is job growth and other economic indicators are doing better under Biden than under any modern president. He inherited a Potemkin village of an economy and has done, well, brilliantly.

That said, a recent Colorado Politics story caught my eye. Ace reporter Ernest Luning wrote about our state’s terrific governor, and how his name is being increasingly mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, should Biden take ill or something else occur that prevented Biden from running for a second term. I admit, I think Polis would make a marvelous president and his own massive reelection victory (beating down the GOP nominee by about 20 points) in a purple state points to his electability.

The story notes The Washington Post runs twice-monthly stories ranking the top-10 possible alternate Democratic candidates, should Biden step aside. It is a fascinating list and I urge you to look. On the most recent listing, Polis comes in fourth, behind Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and just ahead of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The rest of the top-10 in the Post story are California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, and a tie between two more Democratic governors, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.

A few things kind of leap out at me when perusing this list. The first is how deep a bench the Dems have over the next few decades. There are young(ish) and dynamic future POTUS candidates that will make very desirable candidates nationwide. I got to spend a couple hours with Sen. Klobuchar on an Obama bus back in my own 2008 congressional campaign. Let me tell you, she is quite impressive. She was kind, insightful, funny and compelling.

I’ve spent no time with Buttigieg, but I remain a huge fan of his. He has perhaps been the most articulate and insightful of those taking on the MAGA crowd and their conspiracy nonsense. He will, in four years, be a terrific candidate.

I also note one name that is, in my humble view, missing from that list, and that is my old boss, Sen. Michael Bennet. Bennet is brilliant and kind, and I hope he is high on anyone’s VP list in future elections.

But back to Polis…

I’ve spent just enough time with our governor that I think he would know me, in a vague “I think I know that guy” way. During our mutual first runs for Congress back in 2008 we appeared at various events together, and he was always great to be around. We were rather a mirror image of each other, in that he as a Dem was essentially guaranteed a win in CD-2 while I, as a Dem, was almost certainly guaranteed a loss in CD-5. But he always treated me with great kindness and respect. On my very last day working for Sen. Bennet, I was surprised to get a phone call from Polis, thanking me for my service, both military and congressional. He didn’t have to do that, but it was very kind of him to do so.

I hope Polis is a presidential candidate at some point, this year if Biden unexpectedly steps aside (which I think is very unlikely) or in four years. Polis presents an interesting challenge to the GOP, in that he is a massively successful private-sector guy (as is Bennet). He built a company to national prominence and is, well, really rich from his hard work. That should be something the GOPers can get behind.

The 200-pound gorilla in the room, of course, is the degree to which the American electorate remains homophobic. It used to be an 800-pound gorilla, but I really think that as we boomers age and get out of the way, issues of sexuality are just not important to the Americans coming of age now.

Yet I worry. The election of 2016 showed us there is still quite a bit of misogyny in our society. Perhaps the most qualified candidate in several generations was (barely) defeated by a misogynistic beast who tapped into, and happily exploited, bigotries that had previously mostly been held in dark corners and out of public view. Trump empowered bigots with the classic claim that those other people are the source of your problems in life.

So is the United States ready to elect an openly gay man to the presidency? I think so…

During Polis’s reelection campaign, I didn’t hear any buzz about his home situation, other than that he was a good husband and father. Orientation just doesn’t matter to most voters, at least here in Colorado. But can Polis win in, say, Mississippi? No, of course not, but neither can Biden or any other Dem on the list. There are some states that are so thoroughly red – often with vile gerrymandering – that no Dem will ever win. But in the roughly 15 states that are less dogmatic and are critical to any candidates’ quest for the White House, I think we may be past the level of homophobia that might, in decades past, have rendered any such campaign a non-starter.

As I predicted (Editor: sigh), Joe Biden is running for reelection (no need to fact check that, really). But should something come up, or in four years, I truly hope to support a great leader from Colorado for president. Fingers crossed for Bennet, but I’ll also be delighted to be on Team Polis.

Stay tuned…

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.