Ernest Luning

Local media described Michael Hancock’s 16-point win over Chris Romer variously as a trouncing, a cruise to victory and a landslide.

The seemingly endless series of forums and debates in Denver’s mayoral race came to a conclusion on Tuesday night the same way it began, with the candidates talking about education.

It could all come down to Colorado.

That’s according to Republican strategist Karl Rove, who called Colorado “the quintessential swing state” and laid out a scenario to a group of Republicans in Denver that depicted the state as crucial to defeating President Barack Obama next year.

AS DENVER’S MAYORAL campaign nears the finish line, we wanted to reward readers who have paid close attention to the race — and amuse those who haven’t — with a quiz about the marathon endeavor.

Below are the answers to the 2011 Denver Mayoral Race Quiz.

The former Republican congressman whose gubernatorial aspirations were derailed last summer by a plagiarism scandal won’t be disciplined by a state board that investigates complaints against attorneys.

From hecklers to dinosaurs to Tom Tancredo, Denver’s mayoral runoff election has seen it all this week.

As voters began returning mail ballots with two weeks to go before the June 7 deadline, the campaigns of former state Sen. Chris Romer and Councilman Michael Hancock focused increasingly on the tones, tactics and missteps of their opponents’ campaigns.

“Science is back,” Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd of excited dignitaries and federal employees gathered at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden during a swing through the metro area on May 20.

A bestselling conservative author told a group of Colorado Republicans that President Barack Obama is “captive to an ideology” that drives him to want to take America down a notch or two. And that, said Dinesh D’Souza, is the reason the upcoming presidential election is so critical.

Decrying massive cuts to Colorado’s funding for education, state Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, this week unveiled an initiative aimed at this fall’s ballot to ask voters to hike state sales and income taxes for five years. His proposed ballot measure, dubbed Initiative 25, would raise an estimated $3 billion through 2016 by restoring tax rates to 1999 levels.