UPDATE: KDVR‘s Eli Stokols gets Morse denying he’ll step down, but Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio acknowledges Merrifield being on the ballot is a distinct possibility:

DENVER — Senate President John Morse, who may be facing a recall election in Colorado Springs later this year, says he will not resign his seat early.

“I am in now until the bitter end,” Morse told FOX31 Denver Tuesday.

Conservative blogs have been suggesting that, should a recall election be set, that Morse would resign in order to avoid it, enabling a vacancy committee to install former Democratic state Rep. Michael Merrifield to finish out the final year of Morse’s term…

Palacio did acknowledge that the two-part recall election could involve Merrifield.

If an election is set, the first question would be whether or not to recall Morse; the second question would be who to replace him with.

Merrifield, who has already filed papers to run for Morse’s seat next year, would likely be listed as a possible replacement on that recall ballot.

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Wondering exactly how large a role New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is playing in the recall of Colorado Springs Senate President John Morse?

About this big — If the recall against Morse goes ahead, liberal gun grabbers Plan B is to appoint the Bloomberg gun group’s Colorado State Director to run for Morse’s seat, Michael Merrifield.

Merrifield was previously a State Representative known for saying supporters of charter schools “deserve a special place in hell.” That comment forced him to resign his chairmanship of the House Education Committee.

In the time since, Merrifield has unsuccessfully run for a number of political offices and held the position of state director for none other than Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG).

Bloomberg Plan A…spend enough cash convincing people sex offenders are trying to steal their identities to protect John Morse from recall. 

Bloomberg Plan B…promote Bloomberg’s director of gun control to the office of Colorado State Senator. 

These people have some serious chutzpah. Dig with us a little deeper… 

Long before Morse faced a recall, Merrifield had been posturing to take Morse’s place when the Senate President is term limited.

From our friends at Rocky Mountain Right:

Former State Representative and gun control activist Michael Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) is preparing a campaign to run for State Senate in 2014. Merrifield will be running for Senate District 11, currently occupied by Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) who will be term-limited.

With Morse’s recall gaining steam, and recent polls showing Morse is in serious danger, there is rampant talk in the community that, if enough signatures are collected to force a recall, Morse will wave the white flag, and a Democratic vacancy committee will appoint Merrifield.

From the Colorado Springs-based Jeff Crank Show on Saturday morning:

We do not know how accurate these reports are, but we do know that this scenario has been widely discussed among Capitol chatterers. There is no doubt that conservatives and Second Amendment enthusiasts would love to take the fight all the way to an election.

Make no mistake, though. Forcing the Senate President to resign would be an incredible victory for Second Amendment supporters, and would portend very bad things for the many other Democrats, including John Hickenlooper, who have to face the electorate in 2014. In effect, Morse’s resignation would be an admission of guilt, that the legislature’s assault on gun owners was so grievous that it couldn’t be defended in a Democratic leaning district.

We don’t actually believe that Morse will quit, notwithstanding comments made this weekend. Morse is too arrogant for that. His comments in The Denver Post this weekend suggest that arrogance hasn’t been watered down.

If he does, though, Democrats have a Plan B in the wings. Is anyone surprised that it is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s point man in Colorado? We aren’t.

NOTE: ProgressNow’s eternally outraged political director, Alan Franklin, informs us that Merrifield is no longer the state director for MAIG, having left the position last year. Someone should tell Merrifield to update his Huffington Post bio.

Apparently, the state director is now this creepy looking dude, Seth Ford:

Via Twitter

Our point remains the same — a Bloomberg lackey sits in the wings should Morse decide to decline the recall challenge.