Look to Colorado to dispel reports of Dems' premature demise

[IrateCitizen]

The following article was on today's Alternet.org. It gives an excellent synopsis of the tremendous gains that Democrats made in Colorado this year, in spite of the state going for Bush.

What (Good Things) Happened in Colorado?
By Rick Ridder, AlterNet. Posted December 15, 2004.

A political strategist explains why Democrats in Colorado cleaned the Republicans clocks on Nov. 2.


I read with interest, and perhaps a bit of bemusement, outgoing Colorado Senate President John Andrews’ explanation in the Weekly Standard for why the Republican Party of Colorado suffered major losses — a U.S. Senate seat, a Congressional seat, and both the State Senate and House — in November. “Why did a state so reliably red for so long – a state that's gone Republican in seven of eight presidential races since I came here from the Nixon White House in 1974,” Andrews asks, “vote deep blue all down the ticket below Bush-Cheney?” Andrews rightly ascribes the Democratic success to the failure of the Republican Party to offer a positive agenda and the extraordinary funding capabilities of the Democrats. But those two elements were only a small part of the reason for the Democratic success.

So what did Senator Andrews miss? Statewide victories for the Democrats in traditionally Republican states were not the norm in this election, so it makes sense for everyone to take a look at what happened in Colorado. Here are some reasons for why the Democrats did so well:

1.) Change vs. stay the same – The past two years there has been little more than bad news coming forth from the State Capitol. Insufficient education funding, torpid job growth, on-going state budget fiscal crises, rising health care costs and reductions in benefits all led to an environment where voters were seeking a change.

2.) Salazar – Ken Salazar exemplified the attributes voters sought. His Senate campaign stressed his personal values — hard work, commitment to family and Western roots and ethics — and successes as Attorney General on local and state issues. These provided an overarching thematic for the Colorado Democratic Party. In contrast to John Kerry, Salazar, in large part because of his background as Attorney General, was perceived as the candidate who was better on issues related to terrorism and personal safety. In suburban counties Salazar outpaced Kerry by significant margins and based on the exit polling data ran eight percent ahead of Kerry among women; “security moms” voted for Ken Salazar but not John Kerry. The Democrat was the safe choice.

READ THE REST HERE: http://www.alternet.org/election04/20757/