I know John Hickenlooper well and have heard him talk many times before.  There was little new on Tuesday.  The critical challenges to the next government will be balancing the budget while doing as little damage as possible to needed services.  This cannot be done without reducing governement employee wages and benefits to private sector levels.  Total state government employment must also be cut as both John and Tom have done in the past.  In the end, the governor has miinimal leverage on the State's overall economy which is being driven by national (even global) macroeconomic factors.