Colorado is Perfect Example of Why Democrats Need Obama

February 14, 2008

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Colorado is a state that for a long time now has been up for grabs in terms of the general election vote for the presidency. In 2004, President George W. Bush won the state by less than five points over Democrat Senator John Kerry. Colorado’s ability to go either way has made it into a key indicator of what other “swing states” are likely to do come election day next November. Right now it is impossible to be certain of whom Colorado will hand it’s nine electoral college votes to, however recent poll numbers lead you to believe that it is a state that Barack Obama could ultimately win, with somewhat of a comfortable margin. Rasmussen Markets data shows Colorado to be a toss-up at this time, with both parties given a roughly equal chance of victory (current pricing: Democrats 55.0 % Republicans 40.0 %). That being said, the new polls I spoke about above greatly increase the Democrats chances in Colorado if Barack Obama is in fact the nominee:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that Barack Obama (D) currently holds a seven-point advantage over John McCain (R), 46% to 39%. However, if the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton, McCain will begin the race with a fourteen point advantage, 49% to 35%. National polling, updated daily, currently shows the same general trend with Obama currently performing better than Clinton in match-ups with McCain.
Sixty percent (60%) of Colorado voters currently have a favorable opinion of Obama while just 36% hold an unfavorable view.

Now their is absolutely no question that Senator Barack Obama’s negatives will rise somewhat during the general election, that’s simply part of the political cycle leading up to a nation vote. But with John McCain emerging as the GOP candidate it is becoming aphoristic that a Hillary nomination would be disastrous. This ultimately leaves it up to Democrat’s themselves, the decision to put fourth Barack Obama as the nominee would clearly garnish more votes in crucial swing states then a Hillary Clinton nomination would, that my friends in indisputable. What remains unknown is whether or not Clinton and her supporters are willing to step aside for the advancement of the party as a whole. This is by no means a given, the level of “by any means necessary” mindset among both Hillary, and her rabid supporters has become increasingly unsettling, and I am beginning to believe that they would rip the party apart before they could stomach conceding a loss to Barack Obama. This unfortunately is something the Democratic party as a whole will inevitably have to confront, what comes from that confrontation remains the biggest question surrounding this historic race.