Sen. Wayne Allard submitted three names to the White House in mid-December as candidates for the job, but only after he promised his buddy VanMeveren that his name would be the only one submitted for the post. A few weeks later, the list of three names surfaced, though one of those names was just added in for filler - Jim Peters has as much chance of being named U.S. Attorney as the Pols have of becoming the starting frontcourt for the Denver Nuggets. This is Eid's job to lose.

Why is this story so interesting? For two reasons: 1) Troy Eid apparently has some serious juice inside Republican circles if he can put enough pressure on Allard to make him turn on a longtime friend, and 2) This is a strong indication that Allard may be planning to run for re-election in 2008 (or Governor in 2006).

The U.S. Attorney's job is a political plum, and in Colorado rarely goes to a current prosecutor. Recent examples include the last three U.S. Attorneys: John Suthers, Tom Strickland and Henry Solano. It's an administrative job, and by tradition, the state's U.S. Senators make the final call to Bush.

There are many experienced, honest career prosecutors in the Denver U.S. Attorneys' office. It's a shame that they all will get passed over in favor of a political appointee.