Registered Democrats in Arapahoe County now outnumber — if only slightly — Republicans and unaffiliated voters, a change that seemed unthinkable even a few years ago.
Voter-registration numbers as of Saturday showed that there were 112,424 Democratic voters registered in Arapahoe County, compared with 112,268 Republicans and 107,023 unaffiliated voters and those registered with third parties.
It was just 156 more Democratic than Republican voters, but a lead nonetheless in this county, where there have traditionally been tens of thousands more registered Republicans.
In November 2004, for example, there were 133,885 registered Republicans in the county, compared with 106,690 Democrats and 122,970 unaffiliated voters.
"The fact that the Democrats are slightly ahead is sort of an amazing thing," said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver pollster and a former chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party.
Ciruli said the change reflects the county's shifting demographics.
With more minorities and immigrants attracted to Aurora and with greater numbers of suburban voters registering as Democrats or as unaffiliated, Arapahoe County is emerging as friendly turf that Barack Obama can win this year, he said.
"I think it'll sort of be the news of this election cycle" in Colorado, Ciruli said.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10672462
