I got an email from Daily Post contributor Cynda Green last March. She had attended a Town Hall meeting in Salida, Colorado hosted by US Senator Michael Bennet. Although she is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, she was impressed by Senator Bennet’s intelligence and demeanor.
She also attached two photos she’d shot with her phone, to the email.
Just went to a packed Salida Town Hall Meeting with US Senator Michael Bennet. Such a dynamic speaker who comfortably interacted with the crowd and stayed over to answer every question. So he’ll be late for Gunnison…. Among other things, Bennet advocated for compromise and courtesy to replace the current national political scene. Here, here!
Senator Bennet announced the end of his presidential campaign after a disappointing New Hampshire finish on Tuesday, February 11, winning only 0.3% of the Democratic primary votes, according to an article by reporters John Frank and Jesse Paul, posted in the Colorado Sun on Wednesday.
Bennet had abandoned his campaigning in Iowa months ago, to focus time, money and staff on the New Hampshire contest.
From the Colorado Sun article:
Colorado’s Sen. Michael Bennet ended his improbable bid for the White House on Tuesday after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary, where he bet his campaign’s future but won less than a thousand votes…
Bennet announced his decision at a campaign event in Concord shortly after the polls closed and as results showed him last among active candidates in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
“Tonight is not going to be our night,” Bennet said. “But let me say this to New Hampshire: You may see me once again…”
“I feel nothing but joy tonight as we conclude this particular campaign, and this particular chapter,” Bennet told supporters. “I am going to do absolutely everything I can do as one human being to make sure that Donald Trump is a one-term president. I will support the nominee of my party no matter who it is to make sure that we defeat Donald Trump.”
In early 2019, Bennet stepped into the national spotlight when his speech on the Senate floor — accusing Texas Senator Ted Cruz of weeping “crocodile tears” over a government shutdown — went viral, and led to calls for Bennet to make a bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination. But after stepping into the Democratic race, his campaign failed to gain traction in the crowded field of candidates, and he was cut from the Democratic debates after the second event.
Ahead of primary day, Bennet had stated that his campaign needed to finish in the top three or four candidates to continue. According to New Hampshire coverage in The New York Times — with 89% of the vote tallied — Bennet had won just 916 votes, or 0.3%.
Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders got the media boost that eluded him in Iowa, and confirmed his status as the Democratic front-runner at this point in the primary race. But former former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg came in a very close second, with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar turning in an unexpectedly strong third-place finish, indicating a possible head-to-head race with Buttigieg for the moderate Democratic vote. The race next shifts to Nevada and South Carolina, where candidates need to appeal to a more diverse base of Latino and African American voters.
Bennet poured a great deal of time and energy — but relatively little money — into his New Hampshire effort. He hosted 50 town hall meetings in the final weeks of the campaign, casting himself as the best alternative to Sanders and Warren — the practical moderate candidate who supports a public option rather than “Medicare for All.” His war chest had been drained, apparently, by his previous failed campaign effort in Iowa.
From the Colorado Sun article:
In the speech ending his campaign, Bennet vowed to campaign for US Senate candidates around the country to try and win back a Democratic majority in the chamber. He also urged his supporters to keep working toward a better democracy.
“I want you to be optimistic tonight,” he said. “This is in our hands. It is in our hands.”
Asked for a comment, Cynda Green said, “Michael Bennet, a moderate progressive, would have been a more palatable Democratic candidate than those that remain on the stage.”