Election Thoughts
I was much more interested in the local election this year, mainly because there were a lot of referenda and constitutional amendments to be voted on. The national race wasn't such a big deal, since Colorado had no Senate seats up for vote and I live in Diana De Gette's House district - as safe a Democratic seat as there is in the country, a fact that the GOP acknowleged by not even bothering to offer a candidate this year. The wierd thing is that her opponent, from the Green party, took 21% of the vote. Either this district is a whole lot more liberal than I thought, or 21% of the voters in CO HD 1 will vote for anybody but De Gette.
There's been a lot made in recent years about how Colorado is becoming bluer. I just don't see that happening. District 7 was the only really big win for the Democrats, replacing Bob Beauprez with Ed Perlmutter. HD 4 was probably a lot closer than the GOP would have liked, but the interesting thing there is that the Reform party candidate took 11% of the vote. I'd interpret that as the "anybody but Musgrave" vote - I'd guess the Reform candidate took more votes from Musgrave than Paccione.
I think the statewide issues were more indicitave of the true colors here. First of all, the same-sex marriage issues (Amend. 43, defining marriage as 1 man, 1 woman, and Ref. I, allowing same sex domestic partnerships) were voted up and down, respectively, with essentially the same breakdown - 56% - 44% on 43, 53% - 47% on Ref. I. Even though these were not the same issue, voters lumped them together. Secondly, there were a couple of marginal issues (gesture politics) from both sides - Amend. 44 which intended to legalize posession of up to 1 oz. of marijuana, and Ref. K, which directed the state Attorney General to sue the federal government to enforce existing immigration laws. 44 went down with a 40% - 60% margin, Ref K. passed 56% - 44%. I think that pretty well identifies the Liberal / Conservative split in the state. The only real surprise was Amendment 42, which raised the state minimum wage, and puts that wage onto an annual increase indexed to inflation. 42 passed 53% - 47%; I think this indicates the real source of the problem for the GOP, at least in Colorado. Once again, it's the economy, stupid.