John Hickenlooper, Climate Bill and Common Ground With Joe Manchin

U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper is basking in the glow of the most positive publicity he’s received since his election in 2020, thanks to his role in nudging West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to belatedly back the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which supporters say “will make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.” The Senate is expected to vote on the measure this week.

Hick’s victory lap isn’t without irony. On July 27, the same day that U.S. Senate Democrats released the Inflation Reduction Act’s legislative text and Manchin confirmed that he’d signed on, a Hickenlooper spokesperson was quoted by Colorado Public Radio denying that his boss…