I never imagined that lunch Friday would be with the next U.S. senator for Colorado.

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet and I have made it something of a tradition to share a meal during the Christmas break. It gives us a chance to catch up without interference from the daily noise of his regular work day or mine.

Through his years as Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff at City Hall and at DPS, I've come to know Bennet as someone with a wide range of interests and a good sense of humor. And with a brother who's a journalist, he's someone with a particular feel for what we do.

Earlier this week we'd agreed to meet Friday. The day after New Year's is typically slow at the paper.

Then, at 10 a.m. Friday, the Rocky sent out a breaking news text message that he would be named to the U.S. Senate, replacing Ken Salazar, who will become Interior secretary.

It was supposed to have been a tightly kept secret, held close until Gov. Bill Ritter could make the announcement today with Bennet by his side. But thanks to the skills of our political reporters - Lynn Bartels, Ed Sealover and M.E. Sprengelmeyer - the Rocky was first to report this national story. No tangled web of corruption like in the Illinois pick here. No debate over whether Camelot can be relived like in New York. Instead, a stunner. A 44-year-old who had never run for public office being handed the keys to one of the desks in the most powerful legislative body in the world.

At our morning news meeting, right after the alert went out, we discussed the need to find Bennet and get a photo of him. So I text messaged him: "Still on for lunch? Congrats! We need to get your picture . . . or we'll run the one of you biting your nails while driving with your knees."

That was a reference to a photo of Bennet we ran in a series called "Leaving to Learn," a definitive account of where families in Denver were choosing to send their children and why that was hurting DPS. We were bombarded with calls afterward because some readers thought it was irresponsible to show him driving that way.

What it captured, however, was the intensity of a guy who has the air of a golden boy. Things just seem to go his way. But in my experience there's a reason for that. He's an incredibly hard worker.

He called me Friday after getting my text message, saying we were still on and asking where we were going to meet. He was by himself, driving away from Salazar's LoDo office.

I told him Emilio's Superchef Mexican Restaurant, at the southwest corner of Colfax and Logan in Denver, a good, honest lunch place kitty-corner from the Catholic cathedral. Bennet walked in looking like anything but a senator. But he fit right in with the rest of the customers, who ranged from guys in ties to street people. He was in jeans, a blue sweat shirt and a plaid blue shirt. His BlackBerry was buzzing.

It didn't seem like anybody in the restaurant knew who he was or what had just happened, although our photographer lurking outside might have given it away that somebody inside was worth paying attention to.

I remember when I was named editor and woke up the next morning responsible for the paper for the first time. I felt a weight that I hadn't expected. I had been managing editor for three years and had been the No. 2 at another paper before that. I thought I was ready. That it would be no big deal.

I was wrong.

Looking at Bennet across the table from me, it seemed like he was feeling the same thing. The full weight of what was about to happen was settling on him. He was loving it, but he was jittery. Constantly glancing at the BlackBerry in his shirt pocket. Yanking it out, holding a quick conversation and then picking up where we left off.

Ahead of him lay huge amounts of work. He knew he wouldn't be able to travel Colorado in the cowboy hat and boots of his predecessor. He would need to introduce himself to much of the state outside Denver and many of its people. He was concerned about DPS, although confident that it would continue to move forward without him. He worried about his family, the time he would have to spend away from his three girls and wonderful wife.

But it was obvious that he relished the opportunity that had been placed in his hands and was prepared to do anything to rise to his new role.

I wouldn't bet against him.

His is a new story for many, but it's an American story, a Colorado story, the story of a man grateful for the opportunity he has been given, grateful to have come to a state where individuals can still rise and make a difference, as he already has done.

John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202.