Election 2010: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet aims to keep appointed seat former Denver Public Schools chief faces competition in democratic primary.

• Author: Cole, Mike
• Position: 2010 ELECTION - Interview

ColoradoBiz: What have you learned over the last year and a half in Washington? Michael Bennet: If you look at the last period of economic growth in this country and in our state, it's the first time our economy grew and median family income fell. In Colorado, it fell by $800 while the cost of health insurance rose by 97 percent; the cost of higher education rose by 50. We've created no net new jobs in the United States since 1998, and the household wealth was the same at the end of the decade as it was at the beginning of the decade.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

We led the world in college graduates when the last administration went to Washington. Today, we're 15th in the world and falling. We've got $12 trillion of debt on our balance sheet, and in my view nothing to show for it. It's not as though we invested in our roads, our bridges, our infrastructure, our sewer systems, our wastewater systems. What I've mostly learned is that there are an awful lot of people back in Washington who are either not interested in what I just said or don't understand what I just said.

ColoradoBiz: During the televised debate with Andrew Romanoff that Aaron Harber moderated one of the common themes was there wasn't a lot of difference between you. What sets you apart?

Bennet: I think the major difference is not a policy difference. I have not spent my career in politics. I haven't run for office before. I'm bringing a lifetime of experience outside of politics in business, restructuring very distressed companies and bringing them through bankruptcy; in local government, at the Denver Public Schools, which also needed and continues to need very profound restructuring.

It's a very different perspective than most of the people in Washington have. The people there have spent their lifetimes in politics. I don't denigrate that, but I think we need people who have other experience back there as well, people who have actually worked in business, people who have been on the receiving end of somebody's usually well-intentioned idea from Washington that by the time it gets to a classroom in our state makes absolutely no sense to the teacher who's teaching or the kid trying to learn.

ColoradoBiz: You grew up in Washington, and your father spent part of his career working for the U.S. Consulate. How did that shape your life and what you learned?

Bennet: Both of my parents had a big effect on shaping me. My mom immigrated here from Warsaw, Poland. She and her parents were...