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Colorado
Electoral Votes: 9 (+1 since 2000)
2000 Results: Bush 51%, Gore 42%, Nader 5%
Recent Polls
Zogby International: Bush 50%, Kerry 45%
(Oct. 27-30; margin of error +/-4.1%)
Mason-Dixon: Bush 50%, Kerry 43%, Nader 1%
(Oct. 27-29; margin of error +/-4.0%)
Population: White 74.5%, Hispanic 17.1%, Black 3.7%, Asian 2.2%
Urban Population: 84.5%
Rural: 15.5%
Median Income: $47,203
Unemployment: 5.1%, as of August
Forecast: Bush has the upper hand, but the state is volatile.
Colorado's political identity still seems up for grabs. Thirty years ago, liberal environmentalists looking for pristine spaces settled in Boulder. In the '90s, high-tech workers with a strong belief in family values moved into vast new suburbs south of Denver. Bill Clinton won Colorado in 1992 but lost the state four years later to Bob Dole. Al Gore didn't bother to compete here, and yet Democrats think the state could be up for grabs. An exciting Senate race between state attorney general Ken Salazar and brewmeister Pete Coors could increase turnout on both sides. Downtown Denver and Boulder will back Kerry. Colorado Springs and the Western half of the state will back Bush, and those ever-expanding Denver suburbs are anyone's guess.
Going into the final sprint, most polls—but not all—show a Bush lead. But younger voters back Kerry by a big margin, and the Demos hope they can motivate them to turn out.
Counties to Watch: Adams; Jefferson; Gunnison
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