Colorado is supposedly a liberal state; at least that’s what the main stream media and the Obama campaign would have you believe. But there is just one problem.
Somebody forgot to tell Coloradans that.
The reality is that Colorado is largely independent in nature, with a strong historical tendency to lean to the right. Watch any mainstream news program and you will see reporters seemingly bewildered by the prospect of Colorado as a toss-up state. Ask anyone you know what the political landscape is in the state and you will likely be told that it is a sea of liberalism.
But historical facts do not lie and tell another story altogether.
Since 1972, the last ten presidential elections, Colorado has actually only voted Democrat on two occasions, and only four times since World War II. In 1992, the state of Colorado gave its 9 electoral votes to President Bill Clinton, and in 2008, Barack Obama bested John McCain by a 54%-45% margin.
President Clinton failed to hold on to Colorado in his re-election bid, and if what is brewing on the ground today is any indication, neither will Obama.
Highways that were dotted with Obama signs in 2008 suddenly are adorned with symbols of support for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Messages of “Hope and Change” and “Yes we Can” have now been substituted with homemade signs bearing phrases such as “My Farm, I built it!” and “GONE, January 20, 2013!”
On Monday, October 22, with only 15 days left, the Rasmussen Presidential Poll showed Mitt Romney jumping to a sizable 4-point lead and crossing the significant 50% mark with Obama dropping to 46% support. And if Tuesday night, at the Red Rock Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, just outside of Denver, is any indication, Mitt Romney is much further ahead…and gaining.
Hours before the gates opened at 4:30, people from all over Colorado started arriving at the Romney/Ryan “Victory Rally”, with only a few days’ notice. Several supporters noted that they had received campaign alerts just days before inviting them to the event, and one such supporter had only been informed of the rally Tuesday morning. Cars were backed up over a several mile span, offering attendees the perfect opportunity to take in the beautiful setting of the event’s namesake the Red Rocks. All area parking lots were overflowing, and cars were squeezed in on both sides of the road, filled with Americans waiting and hoping to get in to see the man who they say would bring real ‘hope and change’ to America.
As the sun went down, and Kid Rock took the stage, miles and miles of backed-up car lights could be seen in the distance as a local radio station reported that over 25,000 people showed up to the amphitheater that has a capacity crowd of less than 10,000. As the lines grew longer, reports started coming in that police had closed off C-470. One can only wonder as to the number of cars who weren’t even able to access the road to Red Rocks Amphitheater. At least 12,000 people did get through, but many were concerned from the beginning of their wait that the venue wouldn’t be able to accommodate the large crowd. Those concerns were proven valid by the end of the evening.
Glenda Hames made the drive from Evergreen, CO to get her chance to see Romney/Ryan in person. After waiting in the lines for hours and nearing the entry gate, several would-be event attendees began to turn around and head back to make the long hike to their cars before commenting that they had heard capacity was reached. Hames had previously been separated from her friends and family after suffering an asthma attack on the hike, which included quite a steep incline. Her friends and family went ahead of her, and while a few in the line were understandably deflated when they realized they would be turned away, she was not.
Hames gleefully declared, “Even if I don’t get in, I’m just so excited to see all these people here!”
Several others around her echoed her sentiments. Some of them voiced what they said was a silent fear that they “were all alone” after hearing the mainstream media telling the world how liberal their state was.
As night fell and the sky darkened the remaining thousands of Coloradans left standing in line that hadn’t been lucky enough to arrive early enough to gain entry to the event, began a rousing course of “Romney, Romney, Romney!” They pleaded with security staff to allow them through the gates, to no avail. Fire and safety codes dictated that they would not be allowed in.
Nobody expected such a turn out, on such short notice, in the “swing state” of Colorado. That is, except Coloradans.
A resident from Breckenridge arrived “a couple hours” before the gates opened and was not surprised at all by the large turnout. “Colorado is very conservative, economically,” she said. “Other than Boulder, which is more liberal, the rest of the state is moderate to conservative.”
That same sentiment was shared by others from across the state.
Lisa Kouf of Timnath, CO, makes the hour plus commute to Denver several times per week, traveling various routes on a regular basis. A recent transplant to the state, she too notices the absence of Obama supporters in Colorado. Kouf stated that she had expected Colorado to be more liberal than she is realizing. “The only Obama signs I’ve seen have been on cars and I can probably count them on two hands.” She continues, “It’s just amazing because this is “supposed” to be a liberal state.”
With less than two weeks away, the number of battle ground states left up for grabs continues to dwindle. If Colorado is any indication of where the momentum is headed, and key states like Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin follow suit, Obama may see first-hand, the results of the policies and agenda that his version of change brought about.
Could it be the end of a very long unemployment line?
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