I think Colorado is the most politically interesting state right now. For one, it has become a presidential bellwether state. It is closely connected in its statewide margins to Virginia, since 1996, which was the best bellwether for Elections 2008 and 2012 (which left Colo. to rank Nos. 3 and 2 over the last two cycles). In fact, Colo.'s gender-voting outcomes from 2008 matched the national percentages of support for President Obama by both males (49) and females (56). No other state did that! (From 2012, the exit-polled state which best matched up was the nation's most-recognized bellwether, Ohio. It was No. 2 for statewide-vs.-nationwide in its margin.)
While much has been said of California has been true, that it is a
trendsetter, I can see a common denominator in the two states. And Colo. deserves plenty attention.
Just look at how Colo. voted last year. The ballot-proposal passage for marijuana that is not just medicinal but also recreational. That state's voters embraced this before Oregon, regularly in the Democratic presidential column since 1988, and before a whole host of blue presidential states. And Colo.'s voting electorate flipped the state House to the Democratic column.
The way Colo. is heading, it's probably going to get marriage equality in its state before a number of other blue presidential states, like my home state Michigan (which has Republican majorities via the midterm wave of 2010 and a state Democratic party which has rested on their supposed laurels for much too long that it made a switch with the chairmanship). And given that the Colo. state legislators went for civil unions, which is not the solution but was an improvement, before Mich. and many other presidential blue states, I think that state is worthy of plenty discussion. California brought marriage equality to the U.S. Supreme Court, so to speak, and Colo. is one state that is amongst the first to bring marijuana (recreational along with medicinal) to the national conversation about the freedom to personally use a substance that does not harm anywhere on the level as does alcohol.
There was also the 2012 vote, by the Colorado electorate, on fracking. For more of a report about the 2012 vote in Colorado, I'll give this link: @
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/progressives_win_big_in_colorado/ .
There is a thread where one person tries to argue that state of Pennsylvania is going in the direction of the Republicans by phrasing it as "the right." No. That is a base state for the Democratic Party, and has a blue tilt since after the 1940s. With Colo., and with its 2012 voting, it's become a presidential bellwether state which produces margins tightly connected with the national numbers. And Coloradoans are saying, "Go left!"
That contradicts with the national policies of both the two parties (both in a Washington, D.C. bubble for what seems an eternity); they have a comfy bubble in which they live. Great money. Great benefits. Great payoffs. But it's becoming more and more apparent that social and political policies, by voters, are telling this country to go in the direction of the left. Trendsetter states California and Colorado are helping to lead the way.
