Though not as hackish as saying the GOP is destined to make Colorado back into the right-wing political backwater it was in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Colorado was never the beacon of conservative thought people think it was. Never. President Clinton took the state in '92, the same year that Amendment 2 passed. In 2000 President Bush won by 9 points, but Ralph Nader did quite well, taking votes for Gore, and medical marijuana also passed. In 2006 Democrats swept everything, but the marriage amendment passed by 10 points, marijuana legalization lost by 20 points, and civil unions lost on the ballot.
The whole liberal narrative is built on the idea that demographics somehow turned a super-red state blue. That's wrong on two accounts. First, Colorado has
always been a relatively independent state. Bill Owens was the first Republican governor in a really long time, and the state has a history of ticket-splitting and wild politics. Second, it's not at all a blue state now. Republicans have a solid active registration advantage, and the state continues to be an anti-tax haven with strong social conservative elements. We'll see how things shake out in November, but this poll indicates that Colorado hasn't changed that much at all.
