Stu Rothenberg has dubbed Colorado THE state to win this election.
So, what’s going on in Colorado? Gary Hart gave his manifesto on how to win the West to Obama’s campaign but never heard back. Obama has 29 offices there to McCain’s 10 (though McCain has 23 if you count party offices being used as satellite offices). Better get working. County clerks estimate up to one half of Colorado ballots will be filed in early voting. Good news for those of you looking to do some chad-counting tourism in the Rockies: The Colorado ballot has a whopping 18 initiatives and referenda on it in addition to state, national, and local races, making it the longest ballot in the country and the longest in Colorado since 1912. Let’s hear it for potential catastrophic confusion! Obama has a 2.5-point lead in the RCP poll average right now, and has maintained a lead in the state throughout most of the year except for one week in mid-August. This week’s polls have been widely divergent, with the Insider Advantage poll showing Obama up 10 while the Rasmussen poll had McCain up 2 points (a five-point swing for him, but the poll was published Sept. 14 before a rough week for McCain). Obama stopped in Colorado twice on Monday and once on Tuesday. McCain was not in Colorado this week.
