Colorado politics at a glance

An Electoral Topography

Though the traditional narrative paints Colorado as a thoroughly red state, its independent streak cannot be underscored enough. Historically, it has been considered a safe state for Republican presidential hopefuls: since 1964 it has consistently voted for the Republican presidential candidate, with the exception of Bill Clinton's 1992 bid, when he took the state by a margin of only 4 percentage points. Meanwhile, Colorado has seen Democratic Governors elected for 22 of the past 30 years. In many ways, as the National Journal points out, Colorado politics can be seen as a contest between the twin, ideologically opposed poles of Denver-Boulder (generally liberal) and Colorado Springs-Eastern Planes (generally conservative).

The Political Status Quo

With 9 electoral votes up for grabs in a presidential race that CQ Politics rates as too close to call, and an important US Senate seat vacated by Republican Wayne Allard, it should be no surprise that Colorado has proved to be one of the most competitive states in the nation.

The Senate race has become particularly divisive--it is nearly impossible for a tv comercial break to pass without having to sit through several 527 sponsored smear ads in a row. The Washington Times notes that:

"we're having a record year overall [...] political advertising has jumped by as much as 50 percent since 2004, the last presidential year. Campaign ads constitute about 20 percent to 25 percent of most Denver television stations' advertising time, managers said."

The CQ Politics rating for Colorado's Senatorial race is "leans democratic", and despite the heated ad campaigns and the Democratic National Convention's proximity, the race's trend has been relative stable as can be seen bellow (graph courtesy of Pollster.com):

Nate of Fivethirtyeight.com has compiled a large number of more recent polls and similarly finds that Democrat Mark Udall maintains an average 6.2 % lead over his Republican opponent. It goes without saying that, these numbers bode fairly well for Congressman Udall lending hope to many democrats of gaining an important foothold in the American West.