Swing Left, Sweet Jefferson
Posted on | September 13, 2008 at 12:04 pm | 3 Comments
So not only is Colorado an apparent battleground state in the upcoming presidential election, but supposedly the county I live in, Jefferson, is some sort of swing county. After a successful appearance in Colorado Springs last weekend, right-wing nutjob VP candidate Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak at the Jeffco County Fairgrounds on Monday morning. Not to be outdone, Barack Obama adjusted his campaigning to make an appearance in the county on Tuesday (he is already scheduled to be in other parts of the state this week). I was thinking about going to see the Alaska gov in order to score some free pancakes and bask in her godliness, but apparently that part of it was canceled because it’s hard to get cheap food these days due to the economic state of the nation that the policies of our current administration have put it in.
I had no idea Jefferson County was so important. But now that I think about it, it does make sense. Here’s something from the first article above:
Jefferson County is a swing county that has leaned Democratic as of late, Ciruli said, helping to push Sen. Ken Salazar and Gov. Bill Ritter to victories.
Palin is looking to bring Jefferson County back into Republican hands. Her appearance at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, in fact, marks a repeat of 2004 when Vice President Dick Cheney hosted an event there while helping deliver Colorado to President Bush.
Bush carried the county in 2004 by more than five points.
“Her biggest job is to use her charisma to motivate the grass roots,” Ciruli said. “In Jeffco, they’re hoping to firm up the base with the enthusiasm she brings and that she will attract some of those voters who haven’t settled on someone yet.”
I’ve always thought that my county of residence was pretty handily Republican, but I’ve definitely seen the tide turning lately, starting with the 2006 elections. People here definitely aren’t stupid, and a lot more of them have figured out what’s going on in the country lately. But this is a middle class to upper middle class area and folks are pretty conservative, especially when it comes to taxes and such. I think Palin’s appearance will sway some undecideds to the dark side, but I’m hoping Obama can do some damage control. I don’t want my county to be responsible for shifting the state in the wrong direction.
Wow, this is the most political I’ve gotten here in like forever. I like being courted by the candidates! I feel all puffed up and important!
Latre.
Whoops, almost forgot I wanted to pass on this link, courtesy of frequent commenter InfK: Saving Bristol. Won’t you please help?
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 57°F) (Short run, trying to get back into the habit after a hiatus.)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Down By The River” (Pere Ubu)
- “I Feel the Comfort in the Ruin of It” (Dave Allen)
- “Nightmares” (Violent Femmes)
- “Patty Lee” (Les Savy Fav)
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “what will take sticky stuff off a screen”.
Comments
3 Responses to “Swing Left, Sweet Jefferson”
September 13th, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
You’ve gotta save Bristol!
heh!
iFahey xxxx
September 13th, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
Jefferson is a big county (I used to work for it, back during the Reagan Administration dont’cha know) and in a state like Colorado, with such a sharp divide between the politics of urban and rural areas, a place which straddles both is bound to be “swing”.
Each party knows they’ll never appeal to the other side – and I for one secretly suspect that the teeming hordes of “undecideds” are actually a media myth – so they’re both about rallying the base, trying to get more of their roughly-even share of the electorate to actually bother to vote. In other words, what’s different about this election is – nothing.
September 15th, 2008 @ 1:23 am
Besides — don’t forget that JeffCo made up a good portion of the old 2nd congressional district back when 1200 baud was fast, and at that time we were sending a fairly liberal democrat to congress despite the fact that the county was considered fairly conservative. (True, Boulder was also a part of that old 2nd CD, but Boulder alone couldn’t carry the whole election.)
The redistricting that split the old 2nd CD and created the one JeffCo is now in (not sure what its called these days) was because of conservative JeffCo. I’m sure it fit the conservative profile for quite a while because the cards where stacked that way.
But if things are proceeding down there like they are up here, the suburbs, once a bastion of the GOP, are now slowly shifting Blue. Given that, plus JeffCo’s checkered history, I’m not at all surprised that it would be a swing county.