Population  (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado Secretary of State) Total Population, July 1, 2008 est. 4,939,456 Total Registration, Oct. 31, 2008 2,626,175 (active) Rep. 892,791 (34.00%)   Dem. 902,444 (34.36%)   Unaff. 814,281 (31.01%)    Lib. 9,489 (0.36%)   Grn. 5,526 (0.21%)   ACN 1,461 (0.05%)  UPA 183 Colorado has: 64 counties. Counties over 500,000: Denver, El Paso, Jefferson, Arapahoe. > Cities over 250,000: Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora. > Government Governor: Bill Ritter (D) elected Nov. 2006. State Legislature: Colorado General Assembly   House: 65 seats  Senate: 35 seats Local: Communities   NACO Counties U.S. House 4D, 3R  - 1. D.DeGette (D) | 2. M.Udall (D) | J.Salazar (D) | 4. M.Musgrave (R) | 5. D.Lamborn (R) | 6. T.Tancredo (R) | 7. E.Perlmutter (D). U.S. Senate: Wayne Allard (R) retiring in 2008, Ken Salazar (D) elected 2004. 2008 update U.S. Senate:  Rep. Mark Udall (D) defeated former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) by 52.80% to 42.49% to gain the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Wayne Allard (R). U.S. House:  Democrats picked up one House seat.  In the 4th CD (eastern third of the state), Betsy Markey (D) defeated Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R) by 56.20% to 43.80%.  Udall's run opened the 2nd CD (Boulder and areas NW of Denver); entrepreneur Jared Polis (D) defeated Scott Starin (R) and two others.  Rep. Tom Tancredo (R)'s retirement opened the 6th CD (central CO south of Denver); Secretary of State Mike Coffman (R) defeated Hank Eng (D).  The balance of the U.S. House delegation goes from 4D, 3R in the 110th to 5D, 2R in the 111th Congress. Post-Election: On Dec. 17, 2008 President-Elect Obama named Sen. Ken Salazar (D) as his nominee for Secretary of the Interior.  On Jan. 3, 2009 Gov. Ritter announced the appointment of Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to succeed Salazar; Bennet was sworn in on Jan. 22.     > Democrats pick up U.S. Senate seat and one U.S. House seat.  MORE

Colorado Homepage Secretary of State American Const. Party CO Democratic Party CO Libertarian Party CO Republican Party Green Party of CO Denver Post Rocky Mountain News TV, Radio Politics1-CO blogs ColoradoPols.com The Centennial State

[Primary Election: August 12, 2008]

Precinct Caucuses  -- Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Registration, Jan. 25, 2008:  Rep. 1,011,152 (34.83%)   Dem. 880,761 (30.34%)   Unaff. 998,939 (34.41%)    Lib. 6,817 (0.23%)   Grn. 4,667 (0.16%)   NLP 13    Ref. 308   ACP 426   GOR 161   PLP 95   Total 2,903,376

Democrats 70 Delegates (55 Pledged and 15 Unpledged) and 9 Alternates. > 1.75% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.  1.65% of the 4,234 Delegate Votes. Clinton  |  Obama former Kucinich-state coordinator Paige Tomson Richardson Key Dates (See Colorado Democratic Party "How to Participate..." [PDF]) Dec. 5, 2007 - In order to participate in the caucus process, a voter must be registered as a Democrat by Dec. 5. Feb. 5, 2008 - Precinct caucuses. Feb. 20-March 18, 2008 - County assemblies and conventions. May 3-16, 2008 - Congressional district conventions and assemblies. May 17, 2008 - State Assembly/Convention at World Arena in Colorado Springs. Results  3,201 of 3,205 precincts reporting Joe Biden 4 -  Hillary Clinton 38,839 32.26% Chris Dodd 0  -  John Edwards 102 0.08% Mike Gravel 18 0.01% Dennis Kucinich 58 0.05% +Barack Obama 80,113 66.53% Bill Richardson 17 0.01% Not Committed 1,260 1.05% Total 120,411 attendance 120,971

Republicans 46 Delegates: 3 RNC; 22 at-large; 21 by CD (3 x 7) and 43 Alternates. 1.93% of the 2,380 Delegates. Huckabee  |  McCain  |  Paul  |  Romney former Giuliani Tancredo - The Congressman from Colorado's 6th CD formed a presidential exploratory committee in Jan. 2007, announced his candidacy on April 2, 2007, but and ended his campaign and endorsed Romney on Dec. 20, 2007. > Key Dates Feb. 5, 2008 - Precinct caucuses. Feb. 20-March 16, 2008 - County Conventions. between March 16 and May 17, 2008 tbd - CD Conventions. May 31, 2008 - State Convention. Presidential Preference Poll Rudy Giuliani 58 0.08% Mike Huckabee 8,960 12.76% Duncan Hunter 25 0.04% Alan Keyes 67 0.10% John McCain 12,918 18.39% Ron Paul 5,910 8.42% +Mitt Romney 42,218 60.11% Tom Tancredo 10 0.01% Fred Thompson 63 0.09% Total 70,229

Setting the Caucuses Date
H.B. 1376 (“Precinct Caucus Day in Presidential Year”), passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Bill Ritter (D) on June 1, 2007, states that a political party may, by decision of its state central committee, hold its precinct caucuses on the first Tuesday in February.  On July 21, 2007 Colorado Democrats voted at their executive committee meeting in Pueblo to hold their caucuses on Feb. 5, 2008.  "By moving this date forward in the election cycle Colorado takes a greater role in deciding the who becomes the next president," stated Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, in a press release.  In August 2007 the Colorado Republican State Central Committee likewise voted, by a margin of 71 percent to 29 percent, to change its precinct caucus date from March 18 to Feb. 5.  "This move should increase campaign activity in Colorado by all the Republican presidential candidates," Chair of the Colorado Republican Party Dick Wadhams stated in a press release.
Note: Colorado Democrats were among the state parties that applied [PDF] to the DNC in April 2006 to hold a pre-window caucus (between Iowa and New Hampshire), but the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee recommended Nevada.  The state legislature would have had to approve the change or the party would have had to split the caucuses.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Voting Eligible Population: 3,192,647. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.7%. Early voting at the early voters' polling place: Oct. 18-29, 2004. According to unofficial statistics reported by county clerks and recorders 51,529 provisional ballots were cast, of which 39,086 were counted and 12,443 rejected. Registration: Rep. 1,125,374 (36.13%)   Dem. 947,866 (30.43%)    Unaff. 1,028,886 (33.03%)   Others 12,440 (0.40%)  ...Total 3,114,566 Registration Deadline: Oct. 4, 2004.

Official Results +Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 1,101,255 (51.71) Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)  1,001,732 (47.04) Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 7,664 (0.36) Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.)  1,591 (0.07) Nader/Camejo (CRP) 12,718 (0.60) Peroutka/Baldwin (ACP) 2,562 (0.12) Amondson/Pletten (COP) 378 (0.02) Andress/Deasy (Un.) 804 (0.04) Brown/Hollis (SP) 216 (0.01) Dodge/Lydick (Prohib.) 140 (0.01) Harris/Trowe (SWP) 241 (0.01) Van Auken/Lawrence (SEP) 329 (0.02) Total........2,129,630

2004 Overview Democrats made a play for Colorado, and although the brothers Salazar picked up the open U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats, the Kerry-Edwards ticket fell short.  Bush achieved a plurality of 99,523 votes (4.67 percentage points). General Election Details Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04

[Primary Election: August 10, 2004]

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Voting Eligible Population: 3,026,316. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 57.5%. Early voting ran from Oct. 23, 2000 (15 days before the election) to Nov. 3, 2000 (Friday before the election). Registration: Rep. 1,022,019 (35.44%)   Dem. 863,740 (29.95%)   Lib. 4,378 (0.15%)   Grn. 3,237 (0.11%)   NLP 1,204 (0.04%)  Unaff. 989,370 (34.31)  Total 2,883,948

Official Results +Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 883,748  (50.75) Gore/Lieberman (Dem.) 738,227 (42.39) Browne/Olivier (Lib.) 12,799 (0.73) Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP) 2,240 (0.13) Nader/LaDuke (Grn.) 91,434 (5.25) Phillips/Frazier (Am.C.) 1,319 (0.08) Buchanan/Foster (Un/Fr.) 10,465  (0.60) Dodge/Watkins (Prohib.) 208 (0.01) Harris/Trowe (SWC) 216 (0.01) McReynolds/Hollis (SP) 712  (0.04) Total........1,741,368

2000 Overview Bush won Colorado with a plurality of 145,521 votes (8.36 percentage points) and carried 50 of the state's 63 counties. In contrast to 1996, when Colorado experienced a dogfight in the presidential race, the Gore camp did not target the state, making for a quiet general election campaign. During the post-convention period Colorado only merited one visit each from the running mates.  Ralph Nader made a couple of visits after the Greens convention in June (Sept. 8-10 and a final stop on Nov. 2), and his 5.25% proved to be one of his better showings.  Down-ticket there were various initiative campaigns, and Colorado Democrats managed to wrest control of the State Senate from the GOP, for their only legislative chamber pick-up in the country. General Election Activity

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