Coyote Gulch

Saturday, October 23, 2004

2004 Presidential Election
Coyote Gulch has been hoping, no matter who wins the presidential election, that the results are known quickly and are not controversial, as in 2000. Alas, according to the Rocky Mountain News our beloved Colorado may end up delaying results this year [October 23, 2004, "Election delays expected"]. From the article, "Ballot verification, new voting rules and potential legal fights could delay results for days or even weeks, said Secretary of State Donetta Davidson. It's also likely results will be slow in Colorado's tight U.S. Senate race and in the 3rd and 7th congressional district races, she said. Two years ago, Colorado ended up with the last undecided congressional race when both parties went to court over the counting of provisional ballots. Republican Bob Beauprez eventually won by 121 votes. New voting rules were imposed after the messy 2000 presidential election, and fiercely competitive races this year have added to county clerks' headaches."
Here's an interview with master strategist Karl Rove from the Rocky Mountain News [October 23, 2004, "Rove likes Bush's chances here"].
The Rocky is running articles both pro and con regarding Amendment 36. Here's the article for the amendment [October 23, 2004, "Proposal to split state's electoral votes is fairer to Coloradans"]. Here's the article against [October 23, 2004, "Voting no on 36 will shield state's influence, avoid legal nightmare"].
Electoral-vote.com: "Florida can't make up its collective mind. It's tied again. A new Insider Advantage poll puts the race there dead even, with Bush and Kerry each getting 46%. As a result, Kerry edges ahead nationally again, with 257 votes in the electoral college to Bush's 254. However, if we look at the strong+weak totals for each candidate, Bush leads 209 to 205, with 124 really too close to call. According to the latest polls, these are Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. However, in my judgement based on a number of recent polls rather than just the last one, Kerry will win New Jersey, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. The others are true tossups. None are relative safe for Bush. If we count these three as Kerry wins, the "hard" totals are Kerry 246, Bush 209, still a tossup."
TalkLeft: "Who will get the doper vote?"
Update: Blogs for Bush: "Slap the candidates." Good harmless fun. I've gave both a couple of slaps just to get their attention.
Update: TalkLeft: "The LA Times examines who the soldiers in Iraq will vote for on E-day and says there is one paramount issue--which candidate has an exit strategy."
Update: Taegan Goddard: "The latest Newsweek poll shows President Bush maintaining a small lead over Sen. John Kerry among likely voters, 48% to 47%. The latest Time magazine poll shows Bush with a 5% lead among likely voters, 51% to 46%. Here are some notable state polls: Iowa - Kerry 46, Bush 45 (Iowa Newspaper Assn); Hawaii - Bush 43, Kerry 43 (Honolulu Advertiser); Pennsylavnia - Kerry 48, Bush 46 (Morning Call)."
8:52:46 AM

Colorado Water
The state plans to increase funding for a closely watched study to determine if Front Range residents can keep their Bluegrass, according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 23, 2004, "Water conservation study to expand"]. From the article, "The Statewide Water Supply Initiative, as the study is known, was launched 16 months ago in response to the drought. The idea was to help lawmakers understand the state's water needs and what role policymakers could play in managing the state's water supplies. The final report is due Dec. 1. To date, the study has shown that even as the drought eases, Colorado's water needs will soar 53 percent by 2030 as 2.8 million more people arrive. The state will need an additional 630,000 acre-feet of water - enough to serve another 1.26 million households. An acre-foot of water equals about 326,000 gallons. How that water is supplied - whether through additional transmountain diversions, the drying up of farms, aggressive conservation or water recycling - is a critical question Colorado has yet to answer."
8:44:10 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
Young voters, targeted by both presidential campaigns, and numerous other get out the votes efforts, have responded and registered in huge numbers, according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 23, 2004, "The youth factor"]. From the article, "A Rocky Mountain News analysis shows that more than one-third of the state's new voters - those who registered after the Aug. 10 primary election - are between 18 and 24. And while the majority are unaffiliated, Republicans outnumber Democrats. In the two-month window between the primary and the end of voter registration Oct. 4, Colorado saw 133,450 voters sign up for the Nov. 2 election. Of those, 52,290, or 39 percent, were between 18 and 24, the analysis found. Colorado, like many battleground states, was descended upon by voter registration drives aimed at youth, such as Rock the Vote and the New Voter Project. As a result, the 18-24 age voter group in the state was boosted by about 20 percent in the past two months. More than half of these new voters, 30,111, registered as unaffiliated, showing many are issue-oriented. However, among those who did choose a political party, 11,075 registered as Republican and 10,813 as Democrat - a difference of 262."
Buffalo Springfield: "Young people speaking their minds!"
Here's another article on voter registration efforts for you numbers junkies, from the Rocky [October 23, 2004, "Hunting for hidden voters"]. From the article, "The New Voters Project had set up in Colorado in late winter, and workers logged 25,000 hours registering young people before the Oct. 4 deadline. They snagged 71,339 registrations. Nancy Bauer, the founder of the nonpartisan WomenMatter, dropped by Boulder in June when Colorado was first emerging as a swing state. She was drumming up support for her organization, one of several that hopes to inspire many of the 36 million eligible women who didn't vote four years ago. Several dozen groups have combined to add at least 60,000 Hispanics to the state's voter rolls since summer."
According to the Rocky Mountain News Colorado's U.S. Senate race is news outside the U.S. [October 23, 2004, "Coors-Salazar race in global spotlight"]. From the article, The Colorado race is one of the most closely watched in the nation, in part because it could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate and in part because of the candidates themselves. Coors, at 6-foot-5 and with a silver shock of hair, is the made- for-TV guy whose years of pitching his family's beer have made him a natural in front of the cameras. Salazar, who grew up on the New Mexico border without electricity or a telephone, epitomizes a success story that's right out of a made-for-TV movie. Add in their campaign commercials - Coors standing near Colorado's streams and mountains, Salazar riding the range on a horse - and you have the recipe for constant calls from assignment desks and producers wanting one-on-one time with the candidates."
Mike Littwin looks at Ken Salazar and Pete Coors in his column in today's Rocky [October 23, 2004, "Littwin: Many questions, few answers about Coors"]. He writes, "If you trust Republican campaign ads, you'd think Salazar's tenure as attorney general has consisted mostly of releasing sex offenders early from prison. (Salazar wins the negative ad award, however, by bringing the Osama bin Laden commercial to Colorado. Maybe he's hiding out in our mountains.)"
8:23:30 AM

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