Last week Public Policy Polling surveyed Colorado voters and came to the conclusion that "Colorado is still Obama territory." President Obama's approval rating is at 51%. While this is an early test of the President's popularity, it points to continued strength among Democrats and unaffiliated voters in Colorado.
The poll tested four Republican possible nominees against the President. A contender from 2008, Mitt Romney trails President Obama by six points. He is followed by Mike Huckabee, who trails by nine points. Newt Gingrich trails the President by 14 points, and Sarah Palin trails by 19 points.
The poll shows that Republicans do less well with their own party than the President does with Democrats. However, the President has double-digit leads among unaffiliateds. This voting bloc is critical in a state where the voter registration is still roughly 1/3 Republican, 1/3 Unaffiliated and 1/3 Democrat.
Colorado Democrats weathered the Republican sweep in the 2010 election by electing U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Governor John Hickenlooper. Post-election analysis shows that unaffiliated voters gave Senator Bennet a substantial lead over his opponent.
Although Colorado Democrats lost some important seats in the 2010 election, they also had some hard-fought wins, given the national climate and the outside money spent in the state.
This poll confirms what we know from knocking on doors and talking to voters. President Obama carried Colorado by 9 percentage points in 2008. Voters are listening to the President and know he is doing what he promised: that is to find workable solutions to the economic challenges.
The 2012 race may be tighter, but we believe that Colorado will once again be a target for a vigorous and exciting campaign.
For access to the poll, go to http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_CO_0208424.pdf.
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The divisiveness of the Senate Primary will be with us for a long time. And that is the fault of Obama and the State Democratic Party Officials who apparently forgot they were supposed to represent the interests of Colorado Democrats (to choose their nominees without outside interference) instead of elite Washington DC Dems and Obama.
Polly Baca is the only one of the three candidates for party Chair that publicly opposed Obama's interference in our Senate Primary.
PLEASE support Polly for our next party Chair. She has more Democratic Party experience than the other two candidates combined and has proven that she will protect Colorado Dems from outside interference and manipulation.
Same for Independents?!? They don't give a rip about the Blue Team or Red Team -- they largely think both suck; and not without a LOT of justification in both cases!
I'm supposed to be thrilled, given the set of ISSUES that I care about, that Brand Obama is doing as well as it is, when it does NOT address even a minority of the issues I care about?!!?
Give me a friggin break!!
Some, "on the other side," have issues they care about, and they push their team based on those. How much of that happens in Blueville?
Profoundly sadly, the Dems are even worse than the Repubs in supporting their team, no matter what. Dems seem to have no Litmus Tests that candidates and office holders have to pass. No criteria whatsoever!
So it digresses into a Blue / Red Crayon Color War (to borrow Sirota's term,) that leaves everybody but the die-hards in both Redville and Blueville wondering.
Mind you, Hick may end up being a very good governor for CO. In the end, what matters more is not the Blue or Red, or what the ardent supporters of either team THINK about how their team is doing! In the end, what matters is ACTION and INACTION!! What matters is what Hick DOES and DOES NOT DO, as Governor!!!
So far, not a lot of DETAILED action ...
Once upon a time, a now long time ago, it seemed like being a Democrat meant you stood for a certain set of values -- woman's choice, pro-labor, pro-environment, anti-war, etc. (The details varied by time and place, but at least the general outline was relatively clear.)
Now, we have era of Politics As Entertainment and Sport, wherein, all that matters is the Blue Team win over the Red, over vice-verse.
Take Hick as Exhibit A. He's SUPPOSEDLY a Dem -- he ran as one. But, he didn't espouse traditional Dem values,. or really any values or visions or such -- well, maybe aside from that the Hick Brand wanted to project.
It worked, he got elected, there is a Hick Brand, and we'll all have to wait to see how much of a Dem, or non-Dem, he REALLY is -- based on his ACTIONS! Not words, not branding, not B.S.
What we desperately need is a Dem Party in this state that is about Dem values! We need that at a national level roughly a trillion times that much over!!
The Obama Brand stands for a bunch of stuff. He has shown he is a corpraslave to Wall Street, and the Big Banks; and maybe GE too. Virtually EVERYTHING he has DONE on the economic front is exactly the opposite of what FDR would have done!