From Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "Republicans are poised to make big gains in the state Democrats thought would be a national model for liberal governance":
Alamosa, Colo.More.
The political class is so focused on what Democrats may lose Nov. 4 that it has largely missed what the party already has lost. So much for the much-vaunted “Colorado Model.”
Nothing has buoyed the progressive left more in recent years than a self-satisfied belief in that blueprint, Exhibit A in their promise of a new Democratic majority. The party poured money into the Centennial State, building an activist infrastructure honed to outspend and attack Republican candidates. These messages were aimed at what was described as an ascendant coalition of liberal whites moving to the state, and minorities—who would join to keep Colorado blue for decades.
It seemed to be working. Democrats, beginning in 2004, would ultimately take from Republicans the state legislature, the governorship, both U.S. Senate seats, key House districts and a variety of statewide offices. The media pronounced a new Democratic dominance of the Mountain West, and the left promised exportation of its model far and wide.
Or not. If Colorado is serving as a model for anything these days, it’s the risks of Democratic overreach. Sen. Mark Udall has trailed GOP Rep. Cory Gardner in every poll since September. Gov. John Hickenlooper is trailing Republican Bob Beauprez in poll averages. Republicans are poised to take back the state Senate. Democrats recently pulled funding from the only Colorado U.S. House seat they had targeted, that of GOP Rep. Mike Coffman.
The party’s biggest mistake was thinking its recent electoral victories—based largely on a superior campaign game—translated into a mandate for liberal governance. Colorado long has been, and remains, a pragmatic state. It’s a place that for decades gave Republicans the state legislature and Democrats the governor’s mansion. It loves its political independents, folks like former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who it elected in 1992 as a Democrat and re-elected in 1998 by an even bigger margin as a Republican.
No surprise, the state hasn’t appreciated Mr. Obama’s ideological agenda. Some 22,000 residents just found out they’re losing health insurance; some 200,000 more face cancellations next year. Residents are worried about Ebola and the terror threat, frustrated by falling incomes, disturbed by Washington scandals. The president’s approval rating—in supposedly liberal-ascendant Colorado—is 40%...
