While state tax laws, like the very flawed TABOR, were threatening the livelihood of the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, the state Publicans were working hard to redistrict the state's US Congressional districts.

So instead of trying to fix the state budget problems that could all but shutdown two of the largest employers in the state, they played partisan politics.  So while this may not translate to other states quite as well, it may really be a matter of just making sure that the Publican-controlled legislature's mistakes are very well known.

Unlike most red states, we didn't vote against our economic interests on the local level. And that ray of hope is what keeps me from heading to Canada.

I wonder if Bush's proposal to open huge amounts of wilderness areas up to drilling affected his support. I've heard some grumbling from the "sportsmen" contingent.

My impression is that while CO and other western states were initially thrilled by the great rush of drilling when natural gas prices were deregulated, citizens found that the benefits were fleeting and not widely spread. The hundreds of roads and thousands of bulldozed scars remain.

Don't give any weight to my speculation without hearing from a local.

The Republicans in the state legislature are the reason for the turnaround in the state. Bill Owens has done nothing, zero in this state except keep his nose clean for higher office. I think many here are seeing that and the devicive nature of John Andrews and the like in the state Senate have turned people off. Like federal Republicans in '94, they tried to take advantage of their numerical superiority and Coloradans rejected it. We have to face it though that Colorado is much like the rest of the country in that the largest metro area is decidedly Democrat and much of the rural areas are Republican with wealthy suburbs in Denver also being Republican. The impact of hispanic immigration in some of the rural areas of the state can not be ignored though in helping to turn the tide to the left.

Second, Hispanic immigration to the state has gotten very large over the last two year. The presence of Jon Salazar and Ken Salazar (no relation) probably helped the Democratic Party immensly in the state.

Third, drilling for Oil in the Rocky Mountains is probably not very popular.

Fourth, and wholly unmentioned so far, is the "Water Grab". The Republican Party got behind some amendment that would force the transfer of water from one place in Colorado to another; I think, roughly, from rural farmland to fast growing exurbs. This really honked off a bunch of people, and is one of the big reasons John Salazar won his House seat. This did serious long-term damage to the state GOP in many regions.

The State House and Senate campains were under the radar, and supported by independent 527's and 501c's. I did some phone banking for NARAL, and they strictly targeted local races. A post election email said that they were 14 for 14 in the races they supported. Yea!!! The calls were targeted to female voters in suburban districts; we didn't leave messages, and didn't talk to the men.

The Salazar Brothers -- Ken and John -- grew up on their family's ranch, and it didn't have electricty until 24 years ago. Ken showed off his calloused hands every chance he could. Since Ken entered politics, he has branded himself with one consistent message -- Ken Salazar, fighting for Colorado's Land, Water, and People.

The Salazar's rural roots are a major factor in their sucess -- former Governor Roy Romer was from Lamar, where his family had a farm equipment business. Connecting with rural voters is much easier if the candidate is one of them.

Likewise, Mark Udall is a great guy -- but he will have a tough time winning a statewide race. He will be branded a "Boulder Liberal", and in large portions of the state, that will be all it takes.

Our new rising star is Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. A brew-pub and resturant owner, he ran a brilliant campaign last year, and has gotten rave reviews from everyone. He has reached out to the suburbs, and he helped lead the fight for the new light rail system.

Over the weekend, I read that the big loser in Colorado was Governor Owens -- other than Dubya, he got his clock cleaned on every issue he supported. Maybe we can make the rumor of his two illegitmate kids an issue if he gets nominated for a Bush Cabinet post.

Boulder has always turned out well but over 87% is really something special, and with a substantial student population no less.  Add to this the literally hundreds of volunteers we sent to the surrounding counties and you are looking at a tremendous amount of shoe leather that was expended to make this happen.  If we can get even close to this level of performance from Denver and the nearby counties, Colorado will be true Blue.

We're getting there.  We're just not there yet.

Met many undecideds in the last few days.  Heard very little about 'values'.  Most were unsure whether it was good for the country to be switching presidents in the middle of a war.  

Most of these were Bush/Salazar voters...

If so, say goodbye to any inroads that we're making in the southwest.

I am from Houston,Texas, but I have some ideas on the role of Texas in a new Democratic majority.  Before we get to that, however, I would like to give some thoughts on Colorado.

1.  Colorado has 9 electoral votes.  If we add these to the two Gore states we lost, NM (5)and Iowa (7)we have 21 electoral votes, more than enough to win if we can hold the Kerry states.  If Salazar or Richardson is on the Democratic ticket in 2008 we would have a real chance of pulling it off.  We need to identify the Hispanics of the Southwest with the Democrats and we need to turn out their votes.

2.   Texas is plagued with the Bushes.  Except for the Presidential election of 1996, we had a Bush on the R slate in every presidential year after Jimmy Carter carried the state in 1976.  We also had one on the R slate in two of the eight gubornatorial years following Carter's election (The Democrats won three times out of the six others.)  As a result we are looked upon as a great source of campaign cash, but not as a place to spend any.  The ultimate result of starving us out of our own political funding was the legislative election debacle of 2002 which left us helpless to prevent the removal of four Democratic seats through act of the legislature.
   

3.  Houston, Texas, my home town, elected a mayor in 2003 who was a past chair of the State Democratic Party and an alumnus of the Clinton administration.  Dallas, they tell me, has even better demographics than Houston.  The Rio Grande Valley is heavily Hispanic.  East Texas has a large African American population.  The ingrediants are here, but we could use some help.

Ed Cogburn
Parliamentarian
Texas Democratic Party
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