Rocky Hillside

Sounds like they want to promote a fellow Coloradan, whether he's a good fit or not.

Now what about Judge Sotomayor?

There is almost certainly some "payback" going on, but even political maneuvering should pass the straight face test. This just makes anyone who knows Salazar think less of Bennet and Udall.

Another explanation is that Bennet probably still has mostly former Salazar staffers working for him.

I don't know enough about Sotomayor yet to have an opinion. (Diane Wood, I know.) Her parochial school upbringing, experience as a prosecutor, appointment by Bush Sr., and big law firm stint are red flags for me. (I have read that she is good on baseball!)

She probably went through law school early enough to have missed the "'originalism/textualism' is the only responsible theory of interpretation" tidal wave. (Her law school time predates the founding of the Federalist Society, for example.) Hard to know what she thinks about constitutional interpretation without reading more of her opinions. SCOTUSBlog has summarized a great number of her opinions. E.g. http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/judge-sotomayors-appellate-opinions-in-civil-cases/

I also would like to hear more about whether she is a leader or a follower and anything that might indicate whether she is capable of snaring Kennedy's vote in important cases. AWith Court split as it is and Kennedy the only consistent swing vote, how Sotomayor can be expected to interact with him is critical.

Red flags don't necessarily end up negatives. And, prospects for confirmation are important: perhaps Obama would have trouble getting a true liberal appointed. Nonetheless, for most presidents (not to say that Obama is like most presidents) their Supreme Court appointments influence policy much longer than their formal policy programs.