It appears that the Kerry campaign does not see Colorado as a swingstate

[Bombtrack]

The 30-second spot will run in 17 states beginning Friday: Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Washington and Ohio.
http://www.johnkerry.com/

It's the odd man out of possible targets for dems. We did lose it by more than 8 points in 2000. Although Nader got more than 5 points.

I have seen posts asking if Colorado was a swingstate. Both campaigns do alot more internal polling than we ever see. And they did ads in the above states for good reasons.

[curse10]

1. I'd say it's not a swing state

as the years go by it gets more and more conservative. Tons of libertarians. Tons of republicans. It's all the Reagan Californians and Bush Texans heading to the state.

[rockymountaindem]

2. I'm annoyed.

I really wanted to work for the Kerry campaign this year. Perhaps I'll still find a way to help out, but perhaps I'll have to settle for working on the Ken Salazar campaign.

[Bombtrack]

3. That's a mighty worthy cause. Also, If you're near the southern border,

you could help out in him winning New Mexico.

[GordonOKC]

4. The Greens

in New Mexico that I've talked to are going to vote Democratic because the stakes are too high.

[Qanisqineq]

5. You guys are depressing me

I have to move to CO in a few months. :scared:

[rockymountaindem]

6. Where in CO?

[Qanisqineq]

7. Co. Springs... husband is stationed at Ft. Carson

I just spent a week there welcoming my husband back from Iraq and was traumatized by all the conservatives.

[rockymountaindem]

8. Get ready to hate your life.

I'm sorry, but Colorado Springs is the pits. Everyone is a hard-core religious conservative or a military conservative. There are people who wear "I love Jesus" t-shirts all over the place and have *multiple* Jesus fish on their cars. It's really wierd.

[Qanisqineq]

10. I noticed

especially all the "respect life" license plates. I wasn't sure it they were referring to abortion or Columbine (with the columbine flower on there). Not a good place for a hard-core pro-choice person.

And my husband is already getting crap from the military out there that he should get me "under control" and make me move out there immediately, quit my career, and start popping out kids ASAP.

[Hippo_Tron]

34. Are you kidding me? As a liberal I would have a blast there...

There's so many funny ways to piss off the religious right.

[rockymountaindem]

38. No, they refuse to be pissed...

it usually culminates in some "my God can beat up your God" diatribe, or else they refuse to be provoked.

[Zynx]

9. Colorado is certainly a swing state.

If it weren't for Nader, we would have only lost Colorado by three or four points last time. Also, Gore almost never campaigned there.

[AndyTiedye]

13. More of a Swing State than Florida

Yes, I know there are lots of Democrats in Florida,
but their votes won't be counted, so that doesn't help us.

[Bombtrack]

16. Would you people give your idiotic fear-mongering an end

I deal in reality. Please all of you shut up about Florida being unwinnable untill you can back it up with any evidence. I've gone through your (non) arguments over and over and none of you can refute what I have to say. Florida is still one of the top 2 or 3 most winnable states who's EV's went to Bush in 2000.

[childslibrarian]

11. They only have so much money

Maybe we should give more...

[mobuto]

12. Exactamento

If Kerry had enough money, Mississippi just might be a swing state.

If you don't contribute to his campaign (time, money, etc.) then you don't have any right to complain if he doesn't have the resources to campaign in your state.

I'm actually impressed the campaign considers Arkansas a swing state. That shows they're not conceding the South.

[JI7]

25. because he is looking for Bill Clinton to help him

and he talks to clinton often. i'm sure clinton has promised to do all he can to try to get the state to him.

[mobuto]

30. Bill Clinton... and Wes Clark

a native of Little Rock.

Could it be significant that Kerry's running ads in Arkansas, and not North Carolina? Or am I reading too much into this?

[JI7]

32. arkansas is much more democratic leaning than NC

so i wouldn't look too much into it. arkansas , west virginia, and florida are 3 southern states all democrats should run in no matter what. in my opinion louisiana also should be included also. but i do think the chance that we can win arkansas could be a factor in kerry maybe picking clark.especially if polls are very close in arkansas, kerry would see picking clark as giving him an advantage in such a close race in the state.

[mobuto]

33. I know that

But Arkansas is still something of a reach for any politican from Massachusetts. I agree about Lousiana, but I also think that North Carolina is somewhat winnable. Its been trending not Democratic but liberal (remember many Southern Democrats are extremely conservative dixiecrats) and Georgia is as well, although the 2002 election was an obvious disaster that probably prejudices national Democrats against it.

One thing that Arkansas has going for it, is that it is one of the cheapest media markets in the US. Arkansas and Georgia may have similar percentages of Democrats, but its damned expensive to run ads in Metro Atlanta.

[Hippo_Tron]

35. Arkansas + New Hampshire + Gore States = Kerry win...

I see it as a very key state.

[Kanary]

14. What in the world are you talking about???

"Swing" has to do with the GE.

ARe you saying Kerry will NOT campaign in Colorado in the fall?

If so, doesn't that say something?

You're not losing *anything* yet.

The GE is MONTHS away.

The upcoming caucus doesn't have to do with *, or the Republicans.

Kanary

Another Delusional Diehard for Dennis!!

Kucinich 2004!

[Hippo_Tron]

36. Eh what are you talking about?

Yes, we were referring to the general election because Kerry has already won the amount of delegates needed to be considered the nominee.

[dolstein]

15. They've written off Tennessee, Virginia, Lousiana . . .

Each of these would be in play if Edwards had won the nomination.

[Bombtrack]

17. Other than Virginia I agree

.

[mobuto]

18. Each of those would be in play...

if John Kerry had enough money to contest them.

I agree that John Edwards would be stronger in a couple of Southern States, he would have probably have been weaker in a couple of others. But that's just Monday-morning quarterbacking. Kerry is the nominee and we have to do whatever we can to get him to defeat Bush.

[dolstein]

20. Name one Southern state where Edwards would be weaker than Kerry

NT

[fujiyama]

21. Although I agree with you

that Edwards would have been a stronger candidate in general, there's no point in feeling bad about it now.

This election is far from over. I'd say Kerry still has a strong chance. As long as he is able to loosen up a bit, gives shorter and more concise answers, and really campaigns more actively, he still has a chance.

[mobuto]

29. Not Southern states

But I think Edwards would have been weaker in Ohio, New Hampshire, Arizona and New Mexico. Look, we can debate this 'til the cows come home. Kerry wasn't my first choice and he wasn't yours. But he is the candidate and he's a pretty good candidate, and at this point it is irrelevent to discuss "What might have been" had the primaries turned out differently. They didn't. So rather than bitch and moan, lets do what we can to get Bush voted out in November. If we fail, then we can each run our candidates again in 2008. But let us try.

[rockymountaindem]

23. Louisiana is in play

especially if Clark or Edwards is the VP. The Democratic Party (even if it is the DLC) is very powerful there. They win a lot of squeekers, and I think Kerry can win there.

[Hippo_Tron]

37. The Democratic Party here in Louisiana is worse than the DLC...

They are a huge corrupt conservative political machine that is only better than the Republicans because the GOP here is filled with racist scum who appeal very much to the religious right. If Blanco endorses Kerry we might have a shot but there's a chance that she will not. Landrieu's endorsement won't do shit since everybody but the democrats pretty much can't stand her.

[Touchdown]

19. Kerry was born in Colorado.

Don't really know what that means, but Edwards won his primary in his birth state.:D

Someone mentioned the columbine "Respect Life" license plate. It supposed to commemorate the Columbine massacre, although I don't knoow who came up with the "respect Life" slogan or their motivations behind it. There are a lot of religious nuts in the Legislature, so the stealth message could've been the motivation.

[mobuto]

31. What does it mean?

Well, absolutely nothing. Kerry's connection to Colorado, aside from the fact that he was born there, is, well, nothing.

[ButterflyBlood]

22. it might be counter *'s attacks

I don't know if * has been hitting Colorado, but here in Minnesota we've beeen overloaded with his stupid lie filled ads.

[JI7]

24. he has limited funds

he is mostly trying to keep those states which are mostly democratic from going republican and then he can focus on others when he gets more money. write letters to his campaign to not write off the state. i'm hoping later on in the campaign he starts running ads there.

[Bombtrack]

26. I should have prefaced the thread with "as of right now"

As we all know things could change.

[JI7]

28. yes, but i think writing letters or calling

to let them know they should compete in the state is a good idea also. it is very early and without much money they couldn't run ads in all states they want to compete in even if they wanted to. the time they bought the ads for states you list was before the expected 40 million he raised. it's also very early and i'm hoping after the vice president choice is made they will broaden the places they campaign in more and of course the vp will be able to help with attending fundraisers. a southern vice president would be the best way to go. the gore states which kerry should win will not vote based on geography as much as southerners will so a southern choice is the safest and best way to go.

[NewJerseyDem]

27. It would be a swing state without Nader

If Nader stays in the race and gets on the ballot in Colorado then Bush will probably win pretty easily in the state. CO is one of the best state for the Green party and I don't see how Kerry can overcome that 5% or so for Nader. So, it is too early to see because we don't know if Nader is going to go after every state or just try to get on the ballot in some states. Even if Nader doesn't run in CO, there will be a green party nominee who will probably pick up some support there anyway.