When this goes to print—July 2006—Ritter’s being written about in all major Front Range media, as the candidate who’s pulling out ahead: The June 6 Rocky Mountain News reported, “Democrat Bill Ritter raised more money than his two Republican rivals combined for the second month in a row in the race to be Colorado’s governor,” and the June 2, 2006 Denver Post stated, “Some Republican business leaders are thinking about abandoning Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez for Democrat Bill Ritter because of Beauprez’s continued opposition to Referendum C.

"At least one already has jumped ship.”

Ritter can live with all that financial and political backing—he’s used to crowds, particularly supportive ones. Born the sixth of 12 children on a farm in Arapahoe County, Ritter is married, has four children, and 28 nieces and nephews, “nearly all of whom live here in Colorado.”
He’s also no stranger to political contests. Appointed Denver DA in 1993, Ritter successfully ran for re-election in 1996 and finished a 12-year career as DA when he was term-limited out of the office. A partner in the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, where he specializes in government investigations and litigation practices, Ritter has a few things to say—is virtually chomping at the bit—to get to and tend to what he sees as Colorado’s top issues.

“The toughest issues we face today are K-12 education, health care and access to health care, and how we go forward handling immigration,” he says. “However, developing high paying jobs that people can access is also key—and every one of these issues is interrelated, so I could not put one over the other.”

Ritter sees health care and the job market as an interconnected dynamic and says that announcing some plan to fix or improve either is not the way he’ll address these pressing matters. Rather, he looks to states that have successfully innovated inroads into these prickly problems, with an eye on what mirroring what those states did right, without hoping or waiting for the Federal government to act.
“As a state we can do a lot about these issues,” he says. “Just because there are no answers coming out of D.C., doesn’t mean we cannot move and act as a state. The state of Massachusetts signed into law a plan that gives every citizen a primary care package. We think the state of Colorado should try to figure out how to respond to 770,000 uninsured.”

And this is where Ritter thinks that businesses can penetrate and help provide health care, without feeling crushed by skyrocketing premiums. “Businesses are deciding whether to grow, move, or start-up,” he says. “The bottom line for them is that they can’t make it if they have to pay increasing health care costs, unless they quit providing insurance and move their employees into the ranks of the uninsured.

“We think the state has a role in facilitating the process that resolves what this means to uninsured and to businesses,” says Ritter. “It’s about finding a way to look at assets for everyone across the state; that’s there equality and transparency in the system and we do something about the fragmentation. In this way everyone has an impetus to create the answer.

“States that have already done this recommend not committing to a plan,” he adds. “Rather, commit to a process. Ultimately, the process will get the people to the table that will get to a plan. I have a sense about how I’d like to do it and sense about the outcome. I avoid announcing a plan because that’s the job for stakeholders at table.
Once we are elected we’ll put together group of people and hope within a year can submit a package of reforms that would become the Colorado plan.”

But following in the footsteps of states that have managed to successfully deal with health insurance issues is not the only reason Ritter sees himself as the next leader of Colorado—he says he has a vision and that Colorado voters share his vision. “This is the 21st Century,” he says. “We need to have vision for this state in the 21st century that includes renewable energy and the role that technology plays in our lives. The private sector will drive some of this vision, but we think the state can be a catalyst in a host of different ways around this.

“Our campaign also lives by a 21st Century vision where quality public education as well as our work force is the best in the country.
“I’m a native,” he adds. “I was born here and am one of 11 living children. I know what wonderful promise this state affords everyone and we’re committed to focusing on how we, as a state, can live up to that promise. We believe that’s what the people in this state deserve and want."