from other states and Mexico are my guesses. Unfortunately, these are not real solutions for the electoral problems Dems have in the deep south.

This reminds me of one of the more idiotic political truisms -- that as the Red States of the Sunbelt acquire more voters, and more electoral votes, they'll solidify the Republican base.  Actually, there's nothing in the soil that makes one Republican.  As Florida and Colorado show, the newcomers will vote their own preferences, and AZ, CO, NV, NC, VA will eventually go Democratic.

That, I think, is one of the bigger reasons why the state legislature swept back to the Democrats for the first time since the 60s.

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.

Colorado is a blue state with the heart of a red state, or vice versa.  Colorado has frequently split its ticket, and sent conservatives to Washington and liberals to the state house.  Why?  Probably states' rights issues, and the notion that we need to be protected from the elite in Washington, but also that we need to take care of our own.

I'm not from the state.

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.

I've read a bunch about CO, on all levels, the D's won. However, had the R's got the gay marriage issue onto the ballot in the state, would they have?  The R's had pushed their fundamentalism pretty hard in CO, maybe it signals a turning point, sure hope so.  Also, the D's in the House had a 3:1 advantage in cash, and did it under the radar, the R's were preoccupied with the Presidential, which they were unaccostomed to, and defeating the EV proportional measure. It was a good brew for the D's to gain.

for more than a decade now, this state represents some serious shifts. Denver, as a whole, is all over the map. Denver/Boulder solidly Dem, Douglas/Jefferson counties solidly Republican as evidenced by the lack of even a semblance of a fight for Tancredo.

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.

In colorado Bush won the $50,000 and under vote 50-49, while he lost this vote 44-55 nationally. Other than that most of the others questions lined pretty well. Maybe those groups you mentioned are very effective with the upper-middle class, but havent gotten their message to lower class people yet.

First, as several people have pointed out, the GOP has taken over the state party and driven the local economy into a ditch. The lethal cocktail of TaBoR and their education amendment has put a stranglehold on the state budget. Wal-Mart has surpassed Qwest as the largest employer in the state.

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.

There were a number of factors that contributed to the Democratic successes in Colorado.

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.

Seaking as someone who was involved in the effort, I'd just like to point out that GOTV in Boulder County was amazing:  http://www.co.boulder.co.us/clerk/elect/2004%20General/Frame.htm

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.

Four years ago, Gore win the national popular vote by 0.5% but lost Ohio by 3.5%.  This year, Kerry lost the national popular vote by 3% - not considering fraud for the purpose of this illustration - but, by the time all the votes are in, the final margin in Ohio will be no more than 1%.  In other words, Ohio is 6% bluer, relative to the country as a whole, than it was just four years ago.

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

I was in Co Springs, a very conservative part of the state, with a group of Texans.  Lots of lower/middle class people have gotten hurt by the economy over the past four years.

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...

Right now, many on this blog believe that McCain will be the GOP nominee in 2008.

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

There's one Southern state worthy of attention that's received little mention so far: Texas. This might sound crazy at first: we just lost a clutch of House seats there and the Republicans hold every statewide office. But consider:
Texas's demographics resemble CA, FL, CO and AZ more than it does the other Southern states. There's a large immigrant population. Cosmopolitan cities and high-tech centers like Austin attract Dem leaning voters.
There's a huge, rapidly growing hispanic population (TX is projected to join CA as a majority-minority state by 2010). There are fewer white fundamentalist protestants than in the rest of the south.
Clinton lost by only 5 points in 96-the only election in the past five without a home-state Bush on the ticket. Look at Arkansas as an indicator of what could happen without home state advantage: In 92 and 96 AR was bluer than CA. Without Clinton on the ballot it flipped in 2000 and is now solidly red.
Given the demographics, Post-Bush TX could become as much a battleground as FL or CO, IF we recognize this as an opportunity and start organizing now. A good place to start: target that other major Texas political figure, the scandal-ridden Tom DeLay.
DeLay only won with 55% this time against an unknown opponent with no money. The tide should be with the Dems in '06: a stronger candidate running against him as a corrupt, out-of-touch Washington politician could topple him (like Speaker Foley in 94). The DCCC, ACT and MoveOn should pour money into this race -it would be sweet revenge for Daschle.
Another target would be to get a Dem elected to state-wide office in 06 (the governorship, perhaps?). Just making TX competitive in 08 would be worthwhile in itself. As the biggest red state, its a must win for the republican nominee. Forcing them to pour resources there would be a huge plus.
My southern strategy for '08. Invest in TX and FL and VA, forget the rest.

Dear Friends

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.
   

We need to rebuild the Democratic Party in this state and it would be nice if the rest of the country would leave us some of our own money to do it with.

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
3.