Colorado the next California?

[backtored]

Coloradans have not become more "left-wing."  In fact, if you take the last 20 years out as a case study, the opposite might be more true.  Remember Tim Wirth, Pat Shroeder, Gary Hart, and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D) in the 1970s?  Environmentalists moved to Colorado seeking a fresh, open lifestyle and turned Colorado politics to the left.  Then the oil-bust in thte 1980s crushed the economy and opened the door to investment in the 90s.  Focus on the Family, Doug Bruce, and most of Douglas County then entered the scene and turned the state dramatically to the right.

By the way, Bruce and Focus on the Family are both from California.  Most Californians who moved here in the 90s were conservative southern California families escaping the high taxes and shady morals of the new California.  They settled in Douglas and El Paso counties--GOP hotbeds in Colorado.

Most of the GOP gains in the late 1990s and the Democratic gains in the last several years have been artificial.  The GOP beat the Democrats at turnout, and now Democrats are winning that game and have been dominating the money game since Tim Gill and Pat Stryker figured out what a 527 was.  But the state remains mostly conservative, with liberal pockets in Boulder, parts of Denver, and the ski resorts.  We have a split legislature, the GOP has a edge in congressional seats, both senators are center-left Democrats, the governor is a centrist Democrat, the school board of education is Republican-controlled, and every other statewide office is in GOP hands.  Frankly, that's how Colorado politics has looked for a long, long time.  Independent, divided, and unpredictable.

Finally, the last census showed that the highest growth in Colorado is happening in Weld, El Paso, Douglas, and Mesa counties.  What do each of those counties have in common?  They are the most reliably Republican parts of the state.  Boulder and Denver counties, on the other hand, where Democrats cash in the most votes, have anaemic growth rates.  And Pueblo County, the conservative blue collar Democratic county, is trending Republican.  Democrats continue to win with moderate Democrats doing very well in Larimer, Jefferson, and Arapahoe counties.  But democraphics do not favor the Democrats, and Colorado will likely continue to grow more Republican as the GOP learns to match the liberal money advatnage that has held the state hostage.