Colorado Is starting to turn Into a slight Blue state after years as Red state.Clinton only won In
1992 here because Perot got 29 percent of the vote.It slowly started turning back In 2004.Kerry lost by 8 compared to Gore losing by 15.And democrats started doing well In state and congressional races In 2004.Back In 2010 Democrats keep the Governor's office and Bennet was elected to full term In Senate.Colorado has a decent population of Hispanics.The ones Romney and Republicans have gone out of their way to ailenate.
If Obama wins the Kerry States plus Nevada,New Mexico and Colorado he wins the election.
The problem for Romney Is apart from Indina he Isn't ahead In any states Obama won.PPP
even has had Missouri,and Arizona tied.
The overall gist is correct, I totally agree with your analysis. But, Gore only lost by 8 and Kerry only lost by 5
And you're right about the Clinton years. Colorado was beginning to turn but Clinton lost it in 1996 despite improving on his national margin of victory. I suspect it was part of a larger trend in the entire Rocky mountain region. Maybe Clinton was perceived in 1992 as less of a fiscal conservative and made him more palatable to the voters in the wild wild west. But by 1996, he was seen to be more fiscally liberal after the budget fights. That probably improved his margins in traditionally big government states like New York and Massachusetts, but decreased his margin out west where they tend to be more anti government on all facets.
I think the Democratic party has moved to the left on social issues but has trended more to the right on fiscal issues, which I think has really helped in states like Colorado. It's full of granola type liberals who like Obama's more progressive stance on social issues and can't stand right wing moral rhetoric, but since Clinton the party has been perceived as less anti business which help them among suburban types out there.
And I know that a lot of Republicans might want to chime in and say that the Democrats have never been more big govt than they are now, but I don't really agree with that. Since Clinton they have really changed their tone. During the days on Reagan/Bush, democratic presidential candidates didn't seem to even touch on the issue of business. They prided themselves more as the keepers of social welfare programs. But when Clinton won in 1992 because of the "economy stupid" the party realized that a lot of their future success depended on their promises to improve the economy.
So they've kind of shifted their views on business to pick up those upscale suburban voters and that's the reason they have continuously won a handful of states that haven't voted Republican since 1988. Like Pennsylvania, Illinois and California.
