DENVER - Swept into office by a 15-point margin and riding the popularity of being a moderate first-time Democratic lawmaker, Gov. Bill Ritter had few expectations heaped upon him in 2007.

The former Denver district attorney used his first year in office to pass many largely popular renewable-energy measures and to appoint or add onto commissions studying the state’s major problems: health care, education and transportation funding. Four months after the session ended, he was sitting on a 71 percent approval rating.

Now those commissions have reported back their needs, and the best estimates just in those areas are $3 billion more a year. The state is facing a lawsuit over a property-tax freeze for schools that Ritter signed into law, and business groups that had backed the Democrat are angry over a November executive order he signed giving state employee unions more power.

The honeymoon is over.

Few describe 2008 as a make-or-break year for Ritter, but most acknowledge there is pressure on him to improve the areas he has been studying. Three major lobbies are seeking financial help, and while the governor has not committed to putting a tax increase on the ballot to cure Colorado’s ills, he has signaled that each commission proposal will be vetted and that some progress can come in all areas.

“We have an ambitious agenda, and so much of our agenda is a long-term agenda,” the governor said recently, describing what is at stake for him this year. “We’re running long-distance races, and you measure your progress by moving the rock down the road.”

Other legislative watchers say he must do more this year than just discuss how to solve problems. After 12 months of study and talk, he and legislative Democrats must prioritize among the big three topics and pass some laws that at least begin to address the funding gaps in these areas, they say.

“I think it’s going to be a very important year . . . ’08 will really be the test,” said Floyd Ciruli, the pollster who came up with the 71 percent approval rating in September. “The first year went pretty well with the exception of the labor union issue. Now he’s got everything teed up, and he has to strike some balls.”

At a recent media forum, Ritter declined to name a priority among the health care, transportation and education issues. He is trying to get a sense of what is most important from people outside the Capitol and then determine what is doable in the General Assembly, he said.

The governor has emphasized for months that he will put no more than one tax increase on the ballot in 2008, but he recently suggested there might not be one. Coloradans’ appetite for taxes appears to be low, he said, and the major ballot issue of 2008 might be to untangle the financial conflicts past ballot measures have created in the constitution, he said.

Exactly what Ritter must do in the coming year to maintain his popularity and political capital depends on who you talk to. His opponents generally have higher expectations than his backers of something major.

Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, criticized the governor for showing no agenda during his first year in office, despite the campaign goals he referred to as the Colorado Promise. Ritter seems to have no road map on how to meet even his worthy goals, such as reducing the high school dropout rate and insuring more Coloradans, he said.

“Right now the only agenda I see is that he wants to raise a tax, but he doesn’t know which one and he doesn’t know what he wants to use the money for,” McElhany said.

But backers like Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, said they don’t see this year as being any more critical for Ritter’s future than 2007 or what may lie ahead. In fact, Morse argued, Ritter may not be in a position to put even well-crafted plans for health care or education into place until citizens address the limits on revenue retention and generalfund spending that crowd the constitution.

Lisa Weil, director of policy for the advocacy group Great Education Colorado, said she expects the governor and legislators can pass legislation helping areas such as school construction even if they don’t come up with a comprehensive solution for the ballot.

“Something big must be done with education in the near future,” Weil said. “I don’t know if everybody’s ready this year to know exactly what it will be.”

Ritter emphasized recently that not putting a certain topic on the ballot in 2008 doesn’t mean it’s a dead issue. Health care, transportation and education are “marathon issues,” and each will be addressed, he said.

“I look forward to a year where we can find common ground,” Ritter said.

John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University, said Ritter and the Legislature will be expected to make at least incremental progress this year but not gargantuan steps on all issues. This year may help to determine whether Ritter will face major opposition when he is up for re-election in 2010, but it will not seal his fate, he said.

“I don’t think there are expectations that he’s going to shake government,” Straayer said. “There are expectations that he’s going to make progress.”