Colorado, where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, has
some claim to be on the leading edge of American politics. It produced
antiwar, pro-environment Democrats like Sen. Gary Hart in the 1970s,
Reaganite Republicans like Sen. Bill Armstrong even before Ronald Reagan won
in 1980, Clintonesque Democrats like Gov. Roy Romer in the 1980s, and
National Review's favorite Republican governor, Bill Owens, in the 1990s.
In this decade, a group of liberal multimillionaires -- Tim
Gill, Rutt Bridges, Jared Polis and Pat Stryker -- developed "the Colorado
model," not only funding candidates, but setting up think tanks, advocacy
groups and public relations operations designed to oust Republicans and
install Democrats.
As Fred Barnes pointed out in The Weekly Standard last year,
this Colorado model has been a brilliant success. Democrats captured both
houses of the legislature and a Senate and House seat in 2004, the
governorship in 2006 and a Senate and House seat in 2008. Colorado, which
voted for George W. Bush by 8 points in 2000 and 5 points in 2004, voted for
Barack Obama by 9 points in 2008. It was a fitting conclusion to a campaign
in which Obama accepted his nomination in front of Greek columns in Denver's
Invesco Field.
But now, Colorado seems to be going in the other direction. Gov.
Bill Ritter, elected by 17 points in 2006 and seeking another term next
year, is trailing former Republican Rep. Scott McInnis in the polls and runs
only even against a little-known Republican state legislator. Michael
Bennet, appointed by Ritter to fill Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's Senate
seat, has a negative job rating and runs well under 50 percent against
Republican opponents.
Barack Obama's job rating in the state has been conspicuously
below his national average -- closer to those of still rock-ribbed
Republican Rocky Mountain states than like the hip states of the Pacific
Coast.
Campaigning, it turns out, is easier than governing. The
Colorado model folks could target particular legislators, taking one out for
her strident opposition to same-sex marriage, beating another with the
support of horny-handed labor union operatives. Out of office, Ritter could
gush with enthusiasm about alternative energy sources and Obama could
eloquently promise hope and change.