Gov. Bill Ritter is confident that the Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver in 2008 despite threats from labor leaders to get the convention moved unless Ritter backs a pro-union bill in the Colorado legislature.

"I don't have any reason to believe it's going to move,'' Ritter said today of the national convention slated for Denver in August of 2008.

What's more, Ritter showed no inclination to bow to the AFL-CIO's threats and revive the fight over House Bill 1072, the Colorado Labor Peace Act.

"The veto message was a pretty clear message,'' Ritter said. "Not many people in Colorado are talking about 1072.''

Ritter vowed to extend a warm welcome to union leaders if the national AFL-CIO executive council sends a delegation to Denver to meet with him. But, he said the dialogue didn't get off to a great start. Ritter learned that the national union leaders were threatening to withdraw support for the Denver convention after getting questions from news reporters, not from union leaders themselves.

"That's not the way to initiate it,'' Ritter said.

Nonetheless, he said he's eager to meet with the leaders and discuss their shared goal of improving the lot of workers in Colorado.

"We'll have that dialogue. We're open to doing that,'' Ritter said.

Leaders in the Colorado legislature also guaranteed today that House Bill 1072 won't come back to life this year.

The vetoed bill had routinely returned to the House, where House leaders refused to attempt an override of Ritter's veto.

Unlike bitter floor fights during the bill's passage, the House leaders quietly used a voice vote to kill HB 1072 on a motion by House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder.

"I just want to say this is the finest motion in all of my years down here," joked House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, who clearly was thrilled to see it die.