Why did Bob Dole win Colorado in 1996?

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Perot and low Democratic turnout. The majority of Perot 1996 voters went to Bush but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have voted for Clinton in 1996. I also disagree with the narrative that Clinton would have lost CO in 1992 without Perot. Bush Sr. underperformed heavily in 1988 (Dukakis's 45% was the highest received by a Dem in CO since 1964) and Clinton was the type of moderate Dem that CO liked (Gary Hart was also a neoliberal).

I suppose people look at Dole's 1996 win and Bush's high single digit 2000 victory over Gore and assume that CO was a likely R state in the 1990s, but all of the mountain west swung heavily towards Bush in 2000, it was simply stronger in CO because Nader cut deeply into Gore's support in Denver and Boulder.