UPDATE – (Denver) – Now Senator Bennet’s office tells 9 News’ Brandon Rittiman his introduction of Judge Gorsuch should not be read as support of the nomination. Although it’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario where Senator Bennet would introduce Judge Gorsuch then votes against him, apparently he’s still not making any commitments on the actual vote.

“This kind of political whiplash is exhausting to politicos, imagine how it feels to everyday Coloradans,” said Kelly Maher, executive director of Compass Colorado. “Senator Bennet has been spending years billing himself as above partisanship while voting lockstep with the hard left. This is his opportunity to finally show us all that he’s above the fray.”

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(DENVER) – Colorado’s Sen. Michael Bennet has been playing coy on his support, or lack thereof, for the nomination of Colorado’s Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the open seat in the Supreme Court of the United States. Late Friday afternoon, the Denver Post’s Mark Matthews tweeted that Bennet would join Sen. Cory Gardner in introducing Judge Gorsuch at next week’s confirmation hearings.

We assume Sen. Bennet would not introduce Judge Gorsuch at the hearings then vote against him, so we are interpreting this move as a tacit nod from the senator to his support for Gorsuch. Our praise of Senator Bennet is predicated on that assumption, but it seems like the most logical message from Bennet to the voters with this introduction.

This move comes after weeks of Compass Colorado and other organizations on both the left and the right calling on Senator Bennet to disclose his support or opposition to Judge Gorsuch. Compass Colorado even created a citizen’s petition asking for Senator Bennet to support the appointment.

“It appears as if Senator Bennet may be setting aside partisan gamesmanship in order to truly represent the majority middle of Coloradans,” said Kelly Maher, executive director of Compass Colorado. “Our job is to hold politicians and policy makers accountable to their words, Bennet has been saying for a long time he wants to buck the current partisan trends in Washington and if he does so, we deeply appreciate his leadership.”

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