Posted on 10/19/2008 1:24:09 PM PDT by Red Steel
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The race to secure voters is on for Democratic and Republican volunteers.
This year El Paso County could determine which way Colorado swings.
Nearly 374,000 people in El Paso County are registered voters, making it the second largest in the state only to Denver County which has just over 400,000 registered voters.
Nearly 166,000 in the county are registered Republicans.
Only just over 85,000 are registered Democrats.
This becoming one of the most discussed presidential elections, and because of that we've seen registered significantly increase across party lines.
But here's what's significant in El Paso County.
It's one of the fastest growing counties in our state and many of those potential voters are registering unaffiliated.
Volunteers this weekend are setting their sites on the nearly 12,000 unaffiliated voters
Many of which remain undecided.
So how has that affected the way campaigners are approaching potential voters?
"You know what's going to be key about communicating is that people have to relate and those that have heard Sarah Palin and John McCain they're on board," says State Representative Amy Stephens.
"I think there's a lot of people around here who would be willing to vote for Obama they just don't know how to," says Democratic Volunteer Eliza Wicks-Arshack.
For Republicans El Paso has been a county they rely on to off-set the strongly Democratic Denver and Boulder Counties.
"It has caused the Republican base to turn out," says Representative Stephens.
The Republicans, but also the Democrats. They are campaigning in the county possibly stronger than ever before.
"You would be lucky to fill a room with Kerry supporters, and this year with Obama supporters, we could fill several football fields," says Democratic Volunteer Team Leader Rich Hemphill.
"Every vote that gets out there counts because we just need 40 percent towards Obama," says Wicks-Arshack.
Forty percent is not enough to take the county, that would require 83 percent of unaffiliateds voting for Barack Obama, but it is possibly enough to offset the Republican hold on El Paso County.
So has reality affected conversation among potential voters?
"Yes actually because we think its going to be very important. I think the future of the country depends a great deal on this," says Republican Volunteer Bret Wiebe.
The election is only 17 days away, on November 4.
Latest polls show Barack Obama just barely ahead of John McCain in Colorado.
The last time the majority of Coloradans voted for a Democratic president was when Bill Clinton was elected in 1992.
Thanks for posting this.
And for you conservatives whom might be thinking CS might be a good place to live seeing how it is usually a top the Money Magazine list of the same name, YES IT IS AND NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO RELOCATE!!!
And we could use some more conservatives here...
An article typo: it's 123,000 unaffiliated voters
Colorado Springs THE GAZETTE
August 23, 2008
Colorado Springs is among the reddest of Republican strongholds. A Democrat hasn't won the presidential election here since 1964.Check the county clerk's office to see for yourself: Registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats more than 2-to-1. The county clerk insists that all waiting room TVs in the building play Fox News. He says if you don't like it, don't watch.
How we deal with your type
Not everyone in town always agrees with the president. About 1,000 people gathered to protest the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Colorado Springs police dispersed the crowd, which was blocking traffic, but was otherwise nonviolent, using tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and Tasers.
Fast Food Nation
Yep, that best-seller about hamburgers, which your smarty-pants liberal friends recommended, was based on Colorado Springs. Author Eric Schlosser wrote about the city, "Burger Kings, Wendy's and McDonald's, Subways, Pizza Huts, and Taco Bells, they keep appearing along the road, the same buildings and signage replaying like a tape loop. You can drive for 20 minutes, pass another fast food cluster, and feel like you've gotten nowhere." So what? We like it that way.
Focus on the Family
The city is the world headquarters for James Dobson's conservative colossus, where every day his "traditional values" radio show goes out to an estimated 2 million listeners. Dobson's organization doesn't like you. Focus employees made a video asking supporters to pray for "rain of biblical proportions" during Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field.
The Rev. Ted Haggard
Once one of the most influential evangelicals in the nation, Haggard was an adviser to President Bush. He was head of the National Association of Evangelicals. He built his New Life Church into the biggest in Colorado. It has 14,000 congregants. Sure, he has been out of the picture since he allegedly bought meth for a gay prostitute in 2006 and engaged in what he called "sexual immorality." But he completed his "spiritual restoration" earlier this year, so he could be back any day.
Air Force Academy
Sure, this government-run military academy is supposed to be secular, but many cadets have complained of a Jesus freak atmosphere of proselytizing, harassment and discrimination against nonevangelicals. Not into Jesus?
Maybe try CU Boulder. Armed to the teeth
Gun control, around here, means knowing how to hit your target. El Paso County has the highest number of concealed-carry permits in the state, 8,400. That means of every 1,000 people, about 14 are packing heat. The gun love doesn't stop there. The county sheriff encourages everyone to carry a gun. And the county commissioners designated an official "Friends of the NRA Day."
Chewy liberal center
There is one slightly blue slice of the city, stretching from Manitou Springs to downtown. It is home to liberal Colorado College, a lot of west-side, tree-worshipping hippies and the county's two state office-holding Democrats. The John Jay Institute
for Faith, Society and Law
The mission of this charming little mansion full of young folks wearing scholar's robes is to "prepare Christians for leadership in public life" and battle the "prevailing pernicious trends of intellectual, moral, and artistic nihilism." Translation: Mint a new generation of Antonin Scalias and John Ashcrofts to get God in government. I got your freedom of speech right here
You might think a registered group of citizens holding peace signs on a public street in a St. Patrick's Day parade is the essence of free speech protected by the Bill of Rights. We think it's a bunch of troublemakers who should have their signs broken by the cops and be hauled off to jail. So there.
Renewable energy
Colorado Springs' city-owned utility has repeatedly opposed legislation to require alternative energy, such as wind and solar. Instead, we like to showcase our own brand of renewable energy in the center of town: good old American-made coal, which naturally renews itself every 50 million years or so.
Cold War wonks
Worrying about the Russians may have gone out of style at your lefty cocktail parties, but at Cheyenne Mountain air station (aka NORAD) we're still watching those former Commies, at a cost of $175 million a year, to make sure they don't lob a nuke our way.
Where it all started
No Democrat's tour of the city is complete without a visit to The Broadmoor hotel. In 1986, George W. Bush celebrated his 40th birthday here, getting loaded on what he called "The four B's" - beer, bourbon and B&B. He woke up with a hangover, decided he was throwing his life away, swore off booze, found Jesus, and headed down the road to becoming president. D'oh.
Ronald Reagan Highway
To liberals, he was a more embarrassing part of the 1980s than shoulder pads. To us, he was the Republican JFK.
Rep. Doug Lamborn
Lamborn won his congressional seat in 2006 by vowing to be a conservative's conservative (no gay rights, no taxes, no illegals). True to his word, he was given a 100 percent rating by the American Conservative Union, meaning he voted for conservative bills every time.
Schriever Air Force Base
This razor-wire stronghold on the plains is the brain center for more than 170 Department of Defense satellites. What are those satellites doing? Are ?they spying on you? You'll never know because if you try to find out, the guards? are authorized to shoot you.
Already here - off Baptist road
Well, I know of at least two registered democrats that won’t be voting for 0bambi - my wife and mother-in-law. Mother-in-law is 82 and a retired GM employee and UAW member. Mother-in-law is voting Republican for the first time in her life. (Race has nothing to do with it - scared of what ‘The One’ might end up doing to her retirement check.)
Mother-in-law moved here to stay with us in CS 4 years ago. Only reason she wants to go back to Indiana is to be buried next to my Father-in-law.
My wife was raised in a UAW household, but after 32 years of marriage and listening to what everyone is saying - including ‘The One’, she’s so scared of what he might do to our consulting company with taxes, she’s voting Republican.
I had promised not to tell anyone else in the family, but all of those Democrats are voting Republican also. I really don’t believe that he’s likely to get as many votes as there are register Dims.
Yeah I live in Gleneagle which as you know is close.
Hmmmmmm, that gives me an idea.....................
I’ve been here for 46 years and we’ve seen liberals moving in since the mid-70s. We used to have bumper stickers that said “Don’t Californicate Colorado.”
Unfortunately it’s happened anyway along with the a large number of midwesterners, particularly from Chicago.
I don’t think they reach 40% yet but we’ll soon find out.
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