The Denver Post has endorsed appointed Sen. Michael Bennet for a full six year term:

Bennet has the potential to lead a bipartisan coalition of centrist U.S. senators who can finally begin tackling the nation’s burdensome debt, the unsustainable entitlement system, and the confusing, unfair tax code while also helping to guide us out of two wars and a deep recession.
These are monumental tasks, to be sure. They will require sacrifice from all Americans, but also intelligence and deftness from our leaders.
Bennet can do that. He must.
But first, he must be Colorado’s senator — not President Obama’s senator or Harry Reid’s senator.

In its rambling endorsement, the Post cites an independent streak that the paper could not find itself in any of his votes or behavior to this point while in office.

Summing up their argument:

So much potential, yet not enough spine.

Instead the Post points to Bennet’s past performance to bolster their decision:

Should he win a six-year term, Bennet needs to show independence and not be an automatic vote for the Obama agenda. While his track record in the Senate so far isn’t one of a centrist, his stellar accomplishments and maverick views in his earlier career convince us that he’s more likely to lead Colorado from the center than Ken Buck.

In contrast to Bennet’s potential centrism, the editorial board notes Buck’s numerous modifications of his views on a variety of subjects, carried over from his bitter primary with Jane Norton. Buck wouldn’t be the centrist that Bennet might be, and in the end, the Post awards their support to the Democrat:

Buck, however, likely would be an automatic Republican vote in the Senate, and given the unprecedented challenges that face this country, we don’t think it’s fair, or right, to simply govern for the next six years by saying no.
If the polls are accurate, the Democratic monopoly in Congress soon could be over. The House could be in the hands of Republicans, and the Senate likely will be essentially split or just narrowly Democratic. At such a time, it’s important for leaders to emerge who can forge centrist coalitions.
It’s Bennet’s moment.