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Hickenlooper adds to advisory staff ahead of potential presidential run

Days out of office, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has beefed up his team of advisers ahead of an expected announcement about a White House bid.

Hickenlooper, who left office last week after two terms, has added foreign policy adviser Jeremy Rosner, finance director Dan Sorenson and a senior communications adviser, Marie Logsden, to his political action committee in recent days, according to an aide.

Rosner is managing partner of Washington-based consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. He previously advised Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Sorenson has served two years as deputy national finance director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And ahead of the 2016 election, he was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s finance director in Colorado and New Mexico.

Hickenlooper hired Logsden two years ago to serve as his gubernatorial director of strategic communications. She previously led communications at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Hickenlooper is traveling to Los Angeles this week to meet with donors and has scheduled visits to early voting states later in the month.

The 66-year-old former businessman, who remains largely unknown to many primary voters outside Colorado, does not plan to launch his campaign before March.

Hickenlooper last September launched a “leadership PAC” that allows him to raise money nationally and hired his 2014 campaign manager, Brad Komar, to run it.

The operation later hired Democratic veteran Anna Greenberg as pollster and FK & Co. as national fundraisers.

At a diner in New Hampshire in October, Hickenlooper introduced himself to a woman (captured on cellphone video) as “the governor of Colorado, and I’m going to run for president.”

Then he backpedaled, saying: “To be honest, I haven’t made a final decision, and if I say I’m absolutely going to, then there are all kinds of legal ramifications. … I’m leaning strongly.”

“We’re beyond mulling (a presidential run),” Hickenlooper said in December. “I think we’re engaging people I’ve known and trusted and understand some of the subtleties around running for the highest office.”

His staff moves come as the 2020 presidential primary season appears about to explode.

Andy Colwell, special to colorado politicsColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper during an interview with Colorado Politics in his office at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Nov. 29. (Andy Colwell)
Andy Colwell, special to colorado politicsColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper during an interview with Colorado Politics in his office at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Nov. 29. (Andy Colwell)


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