All Politics Is Local - Dems Learn This Lesson

Not all politics is at the national level. Colorado Democrats figured that out this year and made a large impact in a “red state”. An impact that might be felt in future federal elections.

What did they do? In a year dominated by the presidential election they poured their money into state-level elections. As a result they took over the Colorado state house and state senate. This was done with financing of four liberal donors to the cause - Pat Stryker, Jared Polis, Tim Gill, and Rutt Bridges. Together they contributed to the bulk of a $2 million fund that outspent their Republican counterparts 3-to-1.

This money was enough to swing the Colorado House and Senate into Democratic control for the first time in decades. And this was done in a Red/Republican state.

Now the Republican governor, a possible presidential candidate in 2008, must deal for the first time with a hostile legislature. Depending on how he handles this change of events, this could hurt his chances of succeeding in the 2008 presidential race.

With their newfound power, there is the chance that the Democrats can establish a beach head that will allow them to control the gerrymander in Colorado, resulting from the 2010 census. While that may seem a long way out, the power of incumbency will ensure that this election will reverberate into future elections. Affecting both state and federal elections.

George Soros spent over $20 million this year trying to affect the presidential election this year. It didn’t work, Bush was still reelected. Now suppose Soros had spent this same money trying to affect politics at the state level instead of the national level. He might have been able to affect several state houses and, ultimately, a few governorships - the best launching pads for Presidents (Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter).

So, will the Democratic party notice what happened in Colorado and replicate it in other states? Will the Republican party notice and adjust their tactics accordingly? I suspect the Republican party, awash with its national success, will see the Colorado results as an anomoly. I believe the Democratic party, even in its current state of upheaval, will learn this new lesson (at least in some states). The effects will be seen in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

“So”, you say, it’s only local politics who cares? Realize this, a “Red State” now has two Democratic senators. Who do you think spent their money better this election season - George Soros or the four Colorado millionaires with much less money?

Boulder County Still Counting Ballots

After the ‘hanging chad’ issues of the 2000 election Boulder County in Colorado changed their balloting system. They decided that the most secure and reliable method would be to go to paper ballots.

This was expected to be a little slower, but Boulder County election officials expected the counts to finish by late-morning on Wednesday. It’s now Thursday and they are still counting.

This morning KOA radio reported that the $1.5 million scanning system couldn’t rotate the images. Staffing also became an issue. From the Boulder Daily Camera:

A lack of staffing and poorly trained election judges appeared to slow the counting process. At about 11 a.m. Wednesday, with fewer than 40 percent of the total vote tabulated, several ballot-scanning machines sat idle as dozens of boxes of ballots waited to be counted.

David Leeds, chairman of the Boulder County Republican Party, said some scanning machines weren’t being used because election officials couldn’t find bipartisan pairs of judges to staff the “resolution committees” that issue verdicts on ballots the new vote-counting machines reject. He said he had Republicans available, but they were twiddling their thumbs, waiting for their Democratic counterparts to show up.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Leeds said. “This is Boulder. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a Democrat.”

County spokesman Jim Burrus said the county had enough bipartisan judges. But officials temporarily had run out of people to staff the third spot on each resolution committee — the computer operator. At some point, he said, volunteers and election workers needed to get some sleep.

“The people who had been working since the wee hours of the morning have gone home, and we’re waiting for their replacements to show up,” he said. “There’s a little gap going on here.”

Several judges at one station who were ready to work stared in frustration at the computer screen, which was demanding a password. One of the judges explained that only three people know that code — two had gone home, and the other was busy.

Meanwhile, two dozen volunteers sat at a table in the middle of the room alphabetizing early-voting election documents. Although officials have to complete that task, it doesn’t assist in the counting process. But Burrus said those volunteers weren’t trained to sit on resolution committees.

And some glitches took large amounts of time. For one batch of about 300 ballots, election judges had to confirm every race on every ballot by hand — a process that took hours.

A Missed Opportunity For Coors

From Denver’s Channel 4 (CBS):

Salazar’s victory bucked a nationwide trend that gave the GOP at least 54 seats in the Senate, a net gain of four.

Campbell said he would have pitched in to help Coors lure Democratic voters — support that Campbell said is a must. “I just wasn’t asked until the last couple of days,” he said late Tuesday, and by then he had other commitments.

“I can’t do more if I am not asked to do it,” Campbell said.

Campbell helped Republican Sen. Wayne Allard through a tough re-election fight in 2002 by appearing in a TV ad shortly before Election Day.

Campbell is well-liked in his home area of southwestern Colorado. But Salazar beat Coors in La Plata County, the most populous in that corner of the state, probably by appealing to moderate Republicans.

“You cannot win a statewide race in Colorado without crossover (votes),” Campbell said.

Democratic Wave Of A Purple State

The electoral news on the national front is obscuring the results, on the local level, in Colorado.

Before the election, Republicans held the state senate by a slim 18-17 margin. It’s not too suprising to hear that the Democrats took one seat and regained the state senate. What is suprising is that house Republicans started yesterday with a 37-28 advantage and now they are a 34-31 minority (depending on final counts).

This Red State has a Blue Legislature…and two ‘Blue’ senators.

Colorado might be better described as ‘Purple’, not ‘Red’.

So how did this happen in a state with more registered Republicans (37%)than Democrats (31%)? The two primary reasons are the independant nature of the Colorado Voter and poor management by the Republican party.

Colorado is independent. In 1992, Ross Perot got 23% of the vote. In 1996, Dole won but over 140,000 votes went for third-party candidates. In 2000, almost 100,000 voters went for Ralph Nader. This state is used to voting “outside the party lines”.

But ultimately it was bad management by the Republican party. Coors was the only Republican to lose a close senatorial election. Nationally, the other close races broke toward the Republicans. In Colorado Bush won with a margin twice that of his margin nationally. The Republican governor is very popular.

Yet, the state house moves from a 9-point Republican advantage to a 3-point Democratic advantage. That can’t happen without mismanagement.

Who’s to blame in the Republican party? I don’t know.

One person who could pay the price is the Governor - Bill Owens. He’s on the mythical short-list of Republicans who might run for President in 2008. Some in the party might blame him for the losses within the state. But, now he faces a hostile legislature which will force him to issue more vetos and make more unpopular decisions.

One thing I can tell you…the Colorado media has missed the story of the resurging Democratic party and the problems in the state Republican party. There are many stories here and they aren’t being told.

Colorado Wrapup

Final numbers are not in, but the major races and issues have been decided.

President
George Bush®takes Colorado’s nine electoral votes. This race was highly contested with heavy advertising and frequent state visits. Ultimately, the difference came down to the larger number of registered Republicans in the state.

Senate
Ken Salazar(D) wins Ben Nighthorse Campbell’s® vacant senate seat over Pete Coors®. Salazar ran a much better campaign and was able to paint himself as a moderate to the voters. Coors inexperience as a candidate didn’t help at times but, ultimately, his campaign was poorly run.

Referendum 4A - FasTracks
Opponents only raised a few thousand dollars. Supporters raised millions. This Denver Metro mass-transit bill won easily as a result (currently 18% margin).

Referendum 4B - SCFD Funding
There was no noticeable opposition to this referendum which continues a tax to support the arts. Currently winning by about a 30-point margin.

Amendment 34 - Contractor Liability
This amendment would have raised liability caps on home builder lawsuits. Opponents heavily outspent supporters and ran highly-effective ads. Currently winning by a 42-point margin.

Amendment 35 - Raising Tobacco Taxes
Colorado has the lowest tobacco taxes in the country and a lower number of smokers. With no significant opposition this passed easily.

Amendment 36 - Electoral College
This amendment would have caused the state to divide up its nine electoral votes by percentage of the popular vote. Initially this led in the polls but the amendment quickly plummeted as it drew bi-partisan opposition, newspaper’s came out against it, and heavy anti-36 money entered the contest. Currently losing by 32 points.

Amendment 37 - Renewable Energy
This amendment would mandate a percentage of energy be generated by renewable resources. There was very little opposition spending, yet this passed by just a few percentage points. This was kept close by concerns about this raising the cost of energy.

House District 3
John Salazar(D) (Ken Salazar’s brother) wins a close contest over Greg Walcher®. A lot of 527 money went into this race and Walcher’s support of a (failed) water bill last year cost him votes in his district. Salazar probably picked up some votes due to name recognition and heavy advertising for his brother’s Senate race.

House District 4
This was looking close for a while but Marilyn Musgrave® will win over Stan Matsunaka(D) by a comfortable margin. Musgrave is a very conservative Republican in a conservative district. Republicans came in, late in the race, with a reported $3 million for her campaign.

House District 6
Tom Tancredo® wins easily against Joanna Conti(D). This was considered a safe Republican seat in a strong Republican district.

House District 7
Bob Beauprez® easily wins this district over Dave Thomas(D)by 26,000 votes. You may remember that Beauprez barely won this seat last time by slighly more than 100 votes in this evenly-split (voter registrations) house seat.

And in the undercovered story of the day…

It looks like Democrats will gain control of both the state house and senate. In a state with a solid advantage in Republican registrations, this has to be considered something of an upset. It looks like Democrats had a much stronger ground game.

NBC Calls Senate Race For Ken Salazar

If this holds, and it looks like it will, the Democrats will pick up a Senate seat in Colorado.

Salazars winning, losing in CO

Ken Salazar [D] is winning by about four percentage points in the U.S. Senate race to fill the seat vacated by Ben Nighthorse Campbell [R].

His brother, John Salazar [D], is losing by about the same margin in the 3rd Congressional District.

Colorado Voting Update

Update on state candidate and ballot issues:

Senate: Too close to call. Salazar has the edge

House:
District 1 - Degette in a walk
District 2 - Udall should win easily
District 3 - Close. Walcher is currently leading Salazar by 5 points
District 4 - Surprisingly close. Musgrave is ahead by 4 points. Considered the favorite in this race.
District 5 - Hefley in a walk
District 6 - Tancredo will easily win this one
District 7 - Beauprez will carry the district comfortably
Amendment 34 - (Construction) - Will fail. Currently losing by a 3-1 margin
Amendment 35 - (Tobacco Tax) - Will pass. Currently has a 25 point lead
Amendment 36 - (Electoral College) - Will fail. Currently losing by a 2-1 margin
Amendment 37 - (Renewable Energy) - Should pass. Though it’s currently passing by a suprisingly tight 8 points.
4A (FasTracks) - Will pass easily
SCFD - This looks like it will cruise to a win. Early voting is 2-1 in favor.

Fox Reports No Lawsuits (So Far)

No lawsuits, but there is a challenge going on in El Paso County by the Democrats and the Republicans challenged electioneering in Boulder County.

This report mirrors what’s being said elsewhere in the media…overall voting has gone relatively smoothly.

CBS Calls Colorado For Bush

Headline says it all.

Voting Still Going On In Colorado

Colorado rules state that anybody in line at 7pm will be able to vote. Channel 7 just reported that voting is still going on. The voting at 10th & Grant (Denver) is expected to continue until at least 8:30pm

Amendment 36 - to split electoral votes - FAILS, per Fox

Our local Fox affiliate, Channel 31, calls Amendment 36 a NO. This is the amendment that would split our electoral votes proportionately to the popular vote in Colorado.

No Suprise

AP is calling Amendment 36 - it’ll fail. Amendment 36 would have split Colorado’s electoral votes by percentage of the vote instead of “winner takes all”.

This was expected to lose by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Coors / Salazar - Keys To Race

9News reports:

Salazar’s campaign believes there are four key elements to their candidate’s victory.
1. He needs 65% margin of victory in Denver
2. He needs 75,000 El Paso County Democrats to vote.
3. He needs to win the 3rd Congressional District by a large enough margin to offset his loss in the 4th Congressional District.
4. He needs a 2 to 1 margin of victory in Pueblo and Boulder

The Coors’ campaign also has four keys to their candidate’s chances for victory.
1. Coors needs a margin of victory in El Paso County to match Salazar’s margin of victory in Denver.
2. He needs to be 20,000 votes up coming out of Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties to offset Salazar’s edge in Boulder.
3. He needs to win the Eastern Plains by 6 - 7 percent
and 4. Coors needs to break even on the West Slope.

90% Turnout In Some Districts

KOA Radio just reported that some precincts are showing voter turnout near 90%.

Record Early Voting In Colorado

Also from Denver’s Channel 7:

A spokeswoman for the Colorado secretary of state’s office said that nearly 850,000 people voted early or by absentee. That compares to more than 775,000 people who voted early in 2000.

Lisa Duran predicts voter turnout will be between 70 percent to 75 percent this year.

Lawyer Challenges ALL Republican Voters

Denver’s Channel 7:

State GOP spokesman Peter DeMarco said a lawyer for the Democratic Party showed up at an Eagle County precinct with a list of registered Republican voters and a plan to challenge all of them. Democrats admitted it was true.

“There was one of our members of our voter protection team who, unbeknown to us, did file a blanket challenge,” said Steve Haro, spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. “It ended up failing immediately. No voter was turned away. That attorney has been taken off our team.”

Power Outage / 3-Hour Waits Hit Some Precincts

Rocky Mountain News reports on a few problems at the polls today…

Some technical problems were reported in Arapahoe and Teller counties.

In Arapahoe County, five precincts lost electrical power. According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, Xcel Energy was working on restoring power to those precincts. The voting machines that were affected have a battery backup and were still functioning.

In Teller County, voters who said they had not cast ballots in this year’s election appeared to have already voted early or voted with an absentee ballot. The software for the voting machine was fixed and election judges released new poll books, the Secretary of State’s office said. Voters in the first 30 minutes were given provisional ballots.

In some voting locations across the Denver area, lines were extremely long. For example, it three hours for a 7 a.m. voter at the Tattered Cover bookstore in downtown Denver.

Denver voters at the Tower at Speer Apartments at 1255 Galapago St. waited for up to two hours in lines that stretched through the complex’s lobby, into a main hallway and past residents’ doors.

Going To The Polls

Polls in Colorado opened at 7am. I arrived at mine at 6:30am and there were only two people waiting in their cars (17 degree temperatures). I jumped in the line forming at the door at 6:57 and I was luck 13th in line. When the doors opened at 7am sharp the line had grown to 20 and quickly grew to 25.

I was out of there in 24 minutes and voters were averaging of about 3 1/2 minutes behind the curtains. There were about 15 people in line when I left. All-in-all it went smoothly. It was “church-quiet” in line except for a few neighbors who knew each other.

It appears my experience was the exception. One voter I spoke to went to vote at 7am and the line was 100 people long when they left. Long lines were everywhere.

A number of people from Jefferson County commented that they did not get a “I Voted” sticker. They were quite disappointed!

Minimal voting problems reported in Colorado

Here.

If it isn’t close, they won’t be relevant. Let’s hope.

Some horns, no fingers

I swung by my local polling place this morning - no lines, at least none that came out the door.

Then I saw some college kids on the corner of a busy street waving Kerry signs, smack in the middle of my neanderthal Republican neighborhood. I heard a few supportive honks (obviously from furners just passing through), and saw no fingers or other rudeness. Hoorah!

The day continues bright, cool, and cloudless.

A beautiful day in the Mile High City, with just a touch of Socialism

Denver gets over 300 days of sunshine each year. The cloud in front of this silver lining is an increased incidence of skin cancer: the absence of a full mile of bad-stuff-filtering atmosphere makes a difference.

And it is sunny again today, not a cloud in the sky, which will probably make short work of what’s left of Sunday’s snow. My friends in the high country say they got a couple feet of the white stuff, and folks were slow getting to work yesterday. Here on the plains it was just enough snow to get your car filthy.

More oddities on the Colorado ballot, in addition to a Dayhorse trying to replace Nighthorse: three different flavors of Socialists on the Presidential ballot - Socialist Workers, Socialist Equality, and plain vanilla Socialists. Go figure.

If they can put aside their differences and unify into one giant socialist collective, rather than splintering the socialist vote this way, maybe they can garner a couple dozen votes statewide.

Denver Charges Third Person In Vote Fraud

From the 9news website:

Prosecutors say Herrera filled out voter registration forms using fake names, even though just above where he allegedly signed the forms, it states: “Warning, it is a crime to answer or affirm falsely as to your qualifications to register to vote.”

Herrera is charged with five counts of perjury. If convicted, he could face up to 18 months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine.

Mayer Accused Of Stealing Signs

In Colorado last week a candidate’s wife was caught taking down the signs of their opponent. Now the Democrat mayor of Arvada has been caught on videotape taking down signs of Republicans. The mayor says he was taking down the signs that were posted in prohibited areas. Others say these signs were not violating Arvada laws.

Moronski predicts...the Senate

Today in political punditry from Sean Moronski, he casts an eye over the US Senate races.

Every two years, approximately one-third of the U.S. Senate is up for grabs.  Currently, the GOP has 51 seats to the Dems 49 (including the so-called “independent” from Vermont).  In addition to help shape legislation and policy, this body is responsible for granting consent to judges, cabinet members, and other Federal officials.  Given the potential for several Supreme Court appointments over the next several years, control of this chamber may shape the Federal Judiciary for the next generation.

Almost every political observer believes the parties will swap seats in Georgia (to GOP) and Illinois (Dems win).  Putting aside the non-competitive races, there are eight races that will determine control of the Senate - four in the South and four west of the Mississippi in GOP country.  Of these seats, five are held by Democrats and three by Republicans.

North Carolina.  John Edwards chose to run for Vice President rather than face almost certain defeat facing reelection.  The Dem nominee is Erskine Bowles, former Clinton Chief of Staff, who lost a tough fight in 2002 to Elizabeth Dole.  U.S. Rep. Richard Burr has the GOP nod.  Bowles had a solid lead for weeks, but the race has closed to even in this solidly pro-Bush state. 

South Carolina. After 36 years of serving as Strom Thurmond’s junior Senator, Ernest Hollings is calling it quits.  Republicans nominated U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint while the Dems are running State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum.  DeMint is running as a big Bush backer in this hardcore GOP state while Tenenbaum is downplaying any connection to Kerry or the national Democrat party.  Probably a good strategy in a state Bush won’t lose.

Florida.  Another prominent Democrat, Bob Graham, decided to call it a career.  The White House asked Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez to run.  The Dem nominee is former State Education official Betty Castor.  This big race has been the sideshow in the media’s non-stop examination of the Presidential race here.  

Louisiana.  The wildest of wild cards with a unique open primary system that send the top two finishers regardless of party to a December runoff if no one candidate gets 50% plus one vote on Election Day.  GOP candidate U.S. Rep. David Vitter is virtually assured of making the runoff, polling in the low to mid-40s.  The race here is whether the national Democrats can prevent him from winning outright on November 2, as well as what Democrat would make a runoff.  Louisiana has never elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate, nor has one served from there since Reconstruction. 

South Dakota.  Major race in a state with fewer than 800,000 people.  Home of Senate Democrat leader Tom Daschle, promoting his role as provider of Federal largesse instead of being Bush’s chief opposition in Washington.  Not unwise given that Bush is likely to win this state by at least 15 to 20 points.  His GOP opponent, former U.S. Rep. John Thune, lost a Senate seat here in 2002 by fewer than 600 votes.

Oklahoma.  Surprise GOP retirement opened up safe seat in a sure Bush state.  The GOP nominee, former U.S. Rep Tom Coburn, an obstetrician and anti-GOP establishment type, has made every mistake he can to turn a potential 25 to 30 point Bush lead into a horserace against the state’s lone Democrat congressman, Brad Carson.

Colorado.  Another GOP retirement put this seat in play.  Democrats nominated State Attorney General Ken Salazar while the Republicans are going with Pete Coors (“cold filtered… not heat pasteurized”).  Yes, that Coors.  Rocky Mountain Cold.

Alaska.  In a word — nepotism.  After being elected, new Governor Frank Murkowski had to appoint a successor to the U.S. Senate seat he vacated.  Of course he chose his daughter Lisa, a state senator.  This boneheaded move did the near impossible, creating a competitive U.S. Senate race in Alaska.  The Dem nominee is former two-term governor Tony Knowles.  This state has no business having a competitve statewide race in a presidential election year where Bush will win by 20+ points.

Bottom line… Dems must win 7 of the 8 races to gain control, or 6 if Kerry wins and Edwards can make himself useful and break ties.  All of these states were won by Bush in 2000, seven of them convincingly.  It can go either way… predictions next week.  

Sean is a former YR Chairman and political hack that successfully domesticated himself recently. His keen eye for politics has not waned as yet.

GOP Van Stolen, Torched

From KOAA :

An investigation is underway after a van was allegedly taken from the El Paso County Republican headquarters.

Officials from Fort Carson say the van was recovered on post.

Republican chairman Ted Halaby says volunteers for the Republican Party rented vans. The vehicles were decorated with George W. Bush and Pete Coors signs for their get out the vote activities.

Halaby says van was stolen between 3 and 4 o’clock Saturday morning.

A spokesperson with Fort Carson’s public affairs department says that van was found on their property. A soldier found the van with smoke coming from the driver’s side. Authorities were called to the scene and investigated the situation.

Colorado Springs police are looking into the alleged theft.

Blog The Inner Circle has a first-person report :

The 96-Hour Campaign had rented several vans for Tuesday, to drive voters to and from the polls. They were all parked at the top level of the Kiowa St. parking garage near Bush/Cheney-Pete Coors headquarters. I, along with a few others, had decorated the vans with Bush/Cheney and Coors signs Friday night. They were left in those spots as we went home, since it was after midnight. Apparently one of the vans was not locked properly (we didn’t go into the vans to decorate them; we just taped signs onto the outside) and a group … stole it.

Thy drove it through one of the gates of Ft. Carson, the largest military installation in town, and then set fire to the van.

Like Nailing Jell-O To A Tree

In Colorado ballots vary from county to county. From the Ft. Collins Coloradoan:

While many counties will use some form of electronic equipment this November, seven small counties will be hand-counting votes.

“We don’t have machines. We can’t afford them,” Crowley County Clerk Lucile Nichols said.

In all, there are four types of balloting that will be in use in Colorado on Tuesday: Touch screens, optical scanners, paper ballots and the lone punch-card system.

Roughly 350,000 people are registered to vote in El Paso County, where Clerk Bob Balink ordered 582,655 of various types of ballots. Why so many?

“How do you guess how someone’s going to vote — traditional, provisional or absentee?” Balink said.

Clerks begin ordering ballots from printers in early September. Different styles are required for each precinct, in some cases. One precinct may be part of a special tax district or have a school district issue that the next precinct does not. El Paso County has 77 ballot styles alone. Adams County has about 90.

“Planning an election is like nailing Jell-O to a tree,” Routt County Clerk Kay Weinland said.

Cheney Visits Colorado Springs

Vice President Cheney made a last minute stop in Colorado Springs earlier today. He’s racking up the frequent flyer miles…he started the day in Honolulu, HI.

Dayhorse to replace Nighthorse?

Colorado’s Senate race opened up last March when our unbeatable incumbent (and the only Native American in the Senate), Ben Nighthorse Campbell [R], decided to call it quits - to spend more time with his grandkids, no less, which is pretty typical of Ben’s values, and one of the reasons he was so well-liked here.

One of the minor-party Senate candidates is registered on our ballots here as Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell. He’s not showing up in the polls, but you’ve got to give it to the guy for creativity.

Colorado: More on the Latest Poll

Below, Dave posts the “final” poll results from Colorado concerning the races for President (Bush leading 52- 46%) and the Senate (Salazar (D) leading Coors ® 49 - 47%.) The same survey shows Amendment 36 (the initiative to split CO’s electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote) going down in flames: 32% Yes; 65% No.

Every newspaper in Colorado has come out against Amendment 36, as have both Senate candidates.

The poll was conducted by Survey USA, the same outfit that came reasonably close to correctly predicting the outcome of our 2002 Senate race. Many of the pollsters were dead wrong on that one, beyond the margins of error.

Final Colorado Poll Shows Bush, Salazar Leading

The results of the final ‘Survey USA’ poll of 622 likely voters (Colorado):

President
Bush 52%
Kerry 46%
Other 3%

Senate
Salazar49%
Coors 47%
Other 2%

Margin of error is +/- 4%

Colorado Secretary Of State Leaves On Family Emergency

This has not been an easy election cycle for Donetta Davidson. It just got a little worse…

Davidson’s brother was in a motorcycle accident on Saturday and is in a coma at a Phoenix hospital. The election will be overseen by the deputy secretary of state and two election officials.

Registered Voters in Colorado Increased 10%

Colorado Daily Camera reports that Colorado has added about 300,000 new registered voters since January. This is an increase of about 10%. From the article:

Statewide, Republican voter rolls grew by 83,078 people since January for a gain of 8 percent. Democrats added 94,956 voters, an 11.1 percent increase, over the same time period.

The ranks of unaffiliated voters grew the fastest this year, with an increase of 121,284, or 13.4 percent. <\blockquote>

Posted by Dave Bowdish at 05:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ready In Time?

The Denver Post writes about the last-ditch efforts in Colorado to have the polls ready for action:

According to a Denver Post analysis, registration duplicates - voters whose names appear more than once on the rolls - still could be as high as 68,000. Davidson’s office has forwarded those names to counties to consolidate their voter lists.

Counties such as Denver and Larimer cleared their duplicates by last week. But Jefferson County still was whittling down its list of 14,000 names listed twice.

“I don’t know if I’ll get them all done” by Tuesday, said Clerk Faye Griffin.

Prepare the lawyers!

Colorado Introduction

Hello from the swing state of Colorado! These are some of our key issues in this election:

President - We are considered a swing state though the polls now show President Bush leading by a comfortable margin. (Colorado polls have been notoriously unreliable these last couple election cycles.)

Senate: Coors vs Salazar - It’s been a close race between Pete Coors & Ken Salazar for the seat vacated by Sen. Ben Nighthorse Cambell. Polls show the Democrat, Ken Salazar, is leading.

Amendment 36 - Would divide up the state’s electoral votes based on a percentage of the vote instead of the current winner-take-all system. This is expected to go down in flames.

Amendment 37 - Would require utilities to generate a certain percentage of their power from renewable resources. There has been very little organized opposition to this proposed amendment.

Referendum 4a - FasTracks. This would increase sales taxes in the Denver metropolitan area .4 percent to fund a $4.7 billion mass transit expansion. This is expected to pass as opponents to this referendum were heavily outspent. The two Denver papers were split in their recommendations on this referendum.

More to come.