Governor Hickenlooper is backtracking on his support for the coming tax hike campaign. The Denver Post might not have noticed it, but reporters and operatives across Colorado certainly did.

In an interview yesterday with the Post‘s Democrat blogger, Allison Sherry, Hickenlooper shifted position and said he was still “undecided” on supporting the tax increase that will be on the ballot this fall.

WASHINGTON — Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wednesday he was still undecided on whether to back a ballot measure this fall that would fuel a new $1.1 billion tax increase necessary to pay for a newly overhauled system for administering the state’s education dollars.

But, Hickenlooper said it would be “crazy to put more money into the system unless you change the structure of the system.”

“I think it’s likely that we will support something,” he said.

That’s interesting, because when he was signing the bill attached to the tax increase, SB213, he said he’d support any tax increase proponents came up with. 

Why yes, Kristen, he has. Flashback to reporting by the Durango Herald‘s Joe Hanel on Hickenlooper signing SB213 in May:

Hickenlooper pledged Tuesday to campaign for the tax increase once the sponsors pick a single initiative.

It’s possible that after seeing the dramatic drop in his poll numbers in the latest Quinnipiac poll, Hickenlooper decided he no longer had the political capital to spare to support an unpopular tax increase.

If that’s true, and Hick is backtracking on the tax hike, it will only further cement the view that the governor is incapable of tough decisions.

It also would explain why the President of the largest teachers union in Colorado took to Twitter recently to trash Hick for hiding on the tax increase.

Post-Dunlap, it looks like Chickenlooper is here to stay.