Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper shouldn't have any problem getting on the May ballot.

The mayor turned in four times the necessary signatures on Tuesday, a day ahead of the deadline.

Hickenlooper, who will face a relatively unknown challenger once his signatures are verified, is considered a shoo-in for re-election.

"Obviously, we're not having an election here," Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann said.

"We're having a coronation and a reaffirmation," he said. "There were more competitive processes in the old Soviet Union, I think."

The last time Denver had a mayor seek re-election without a serious contender was in 1999.

That year, Wellington Webb devoured the competition with more than 80 percent of the vote to win his third term.

"In that case, there was no significant challenger, there was no doubt about the outcome (and) there was no doubt that it wasn't even going to require a runoff," Sondermann said.

"But there were at least a couple of people with some community recognition who threw their name on the ballot," he said. "Here, I'm not even sure we have that."

In this year's race, the other mayoral candidate is Danny Lopez, a television unit supervisor in the wastewater division of the city's Public Works Department.

"I know I don't stand a snowball's chance in hell in winning this election," Lopez said.

"But let me tell you something, I hope to bring some issues out there that the public is not aware of," such as the city's failure to have a snow-removal plan for neighborhood streets, he said.

While Hickenlooper has nearly $588,000 on hand, Lopez said he doesn't plan to solicit any donations "because it would be like asking people to throw their money away."

Dwight Henson, who had pulled papers to run for mayor, said Tuesday that he has decided to "pull out."

Henson, who used to be homeless, said he wants to concentrate on working for a local newspaper that covers homeless issues.

He also said he thought he could reach more people with "the power of the pen" than in public office.

Denver mayor runoff races

With today the final day for candidates to file for the May 1 election, it appears unlikely that Mayor John Hickenlooper will have a challenger who will force a runoff. These are the finalists in recent elections for mayor:

• 1983 Federico Peña* vs. Dale Tooley.

• 1987 Federico Peña* vs. Don Bain.

• 1991 Wellington Webb* vs. Norm Early.

• 1995 Wellington Webb* vs. Mary DeGroot.

• 1999 (None. Wellington Webb won outright.)

• 2003 John Hickenlooper* vs. Don Mares.*Winner / Source: Denver Election Commission

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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