Give it to Governor Hickenlooper. His awe-shucks, tell-it-like-it-is communication strategy may work well for his own political fortunes, but he often ends up putting his foot in someone else’s mouth.

While the mainstream media was out pushing 2011 census numbers released today proclaiming the economy has “bottomed out,” Hickenlooper took the occasion of increased revenue forecasts for the state of Colorado to sound a note of caution on those optimistic assessments:

“It’s always good to get positive news with the state revenue forecast,” Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “But we know many households are still struggling and different sectors of the economy are still fragile.”

That would seem to be an obvious statement of fact to those who recall that Colorado’s unemployment rate has risen for the last four consecutive months. The government’s coffers may be swelling, but that should be no cause for joy while Coloradans are still more likely to get a pink slip than a raise.

Still, it’s not a helpful argument from the state’s leading Democrat. Right now, Democrats are trying to convince people their stewardship has a positive effect on the economy. Any tiny headline that doesn’t spell economic doom has been heralded by them.

Governor Hickenlooper’s top economist, Henry Sobanet, kicked some more sand on the Democrats’ talking points when he predicted things could be about to get worse:

“We are maintaining a relatively cautious forecast as the economy continues to face several major uncertainties and risks, such as the continuing struggles in Europe and possible impending federal spending cuts and tax increases,” said Henry Sobanet, executive director of OSPB. “These issues may result in more pronounced slowing than currently forecast.”

Turns out, even though they haven’t been able to convince Governor Hickenlooper of it, Democratic politicians have convinced some people things aren’t so bad.

A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that “citizens with Democratic leanings” are actually deluding themselves on the economy, with only 15% saying recent economic news was mostly bad:

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – With just 47 days before the general election and Mitt Romney attempting to pivot the focus of the election back on the state of the economy, citizens with Democratic leanings are actually doing an about-face on the economy compared to their Republican counterparts, according to a recent study from the Pew Research Center.

New data found that just 15 percent of Democrats believe that recent economic news is mostly poor, a percentage that took a significant drop from the 31 percent of Democrats polled last month who did think that economic news was mostly bad. According to the study, the 15-percent clip is among the lowest percentages during President Barack Obama’s nearly four years in office.

We may not be the biggest fans of the Governor on these pages, but we are thankful he feels the need to step all over his party’s messaging when it appears out of whack with reality.

From saying Obama “will have a hard time” winning Colorado to proclaiming it “inconceivable” that fracking could contaminate groundwater, Hick is best when he forgets the Democrat talking points.