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September 15, 2008 04:03 PM UTC

Obama in Grand Jct. CO--Issues on the ground

  • 81 Comments
  • by: ClubTwitty

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Sen. Obama will speak in Grand Junction, Colorado today, September 15, at 11 AM MT.

It will be streamed at www.nbc11news.com.  

This is Grand Junction (which Dalton Trumbo referred to as Shale City in Johnny Got His Gun), financial hub of the West Slope’s energy boom.    

Mesa County (with GJ as the county seat) and the Western Slope is not Democratic turf.  Or it didn’t use to be.

More-

(Cross-posted at DailyKos.com)  

Senator Obama is speaking at the Cross Orchards Living History Farm, where they have had to move the event out into the parking lot due to the overwhelming public interest.

With a voter registration of 37,911 Republican, 29,741 Unaffiliated, and 18,890 Democrat, Grand Junction is well known as a conservative stronghold.  The far-right Republican Janet Rowland just won her re-election primary (which pretty much ensures her win in the general).  

Rowland gained some notoriety during her run for lieutenant governor with Bob Beauprez, when she compared gay marriage to allowing people to marry sheep.  Some Coloradans have been making the comparison of Janet Rowland and Sarah Palin, but there is no doubt that Rowland remains popular in the county. (No, this is not a Palin diary).      

Beyond Mesa County, in the state as a whole Democrats have made substantial gains in the last two cycles.  Part of that success is  attributable to western Colorado.  

In 2004 voters put Democrats in charge of the state legislature, and in 2006 they elected Democratic governor Bill Ritter.  Senator Ken Salazar was elected in 2004, winning back a seat long held by Democrats Until Ben “Change Horse” Campbell switched parties.

In a small, rural town of coalminers, farmers, and (farmer-)hippies, we mostly get along but we don’t run around much in the same circles either.  Yet at the caucus I attended, all of them were there, and they overwhelming had one thing in mind–to nominate Obama. The impetus for change is here, in the mountain communities and small cities, among members of the ‘New West’ and descendants of early Coloradans, and scattered among seemingly everyone in between.  

Sen. Obama can connect with the people of western Colorado.  In addition to the main national issues, certain specific issues, like water and energy, play big on the West Slope, and  differently than on the Front Range.  

Since 2000 the conflict has been growing over encouraging energy development and avoiding poisoning our home, and it has become particularly intense this cycle–with the Udall-Schaffer race, Roan Plateau and a state rule-making in the news, and a couple of ballot measures.  

In 2004 western Colorado voted mostly for Bush and favored Pete Coors in the Salazar-Coors senate match up. But in 2004, when John Salazar won the 3rd CD (after Scott McInnis retired and went to work as a lobbyist, for oil and gas companies among others), natural resource issues were a driving factor.  

Salazar’s opponent, Greg Walcher, carried too much baggage as a proponent of a badly failed 2002 ballot measure, Referendum A, that was widely seen in Colorado as a Front Range water grab, and for his draconian management as Gov. Bill Owen’s Department of Natural Resources.    

2004 was also the year that Amendment 37 passed, setting a mandate for 10% renewable energy in the state by 2015.  And in 2006 the results from the Western Slope were mixed in the race for governor, although Ritter carried several, until then, reliable Republican counties.  

In 2006, Rep. Salazar was returned on a comfortable margin and he is expected to soundly win his race against an unknown and uninspiring candidate, Wayne “Who?” Wolf-a former Delta County commissioner.    

While on the Western Slope, Sen. Obama should touch on the issues that really resonate in western Colorado, what Sen. Salazar called “the Land, the Water, the People” because those are things that unite many of us out here, across many ideological lines.  Obama should talk about the need for a new energy economy, even as we ensure that we do it right and safeguard some special places altogether, protecting our traditions of hunting, fishing, and public recreation.  

Broadly speaking, Colorado is a diverse place in terms of geography, local issues, and economics–from the Plains to the Four Corners region, from the Western Slope to the Front Range, including Colorado Springs-home to Doug Lamborn, Doug Bruce and James Dobson. But on the Western Slope–and probably across the state–Obama can connect to a basic populism, cherished independence, and common sense and fairness.

And while Obama should talk about hope and working together, and the critical national issues we all face together, he should also highlight the particular issues western Coloradans care about, because we can help win the state.  Grand Junction presents the perfect location to talk up a new energy economy and would be an ideal place for Sen. Obama to talk about his public lands legacy.

A strong showing on the West Slope–even short of a win–can really help ensure the margins in the suburbs of Denver, where everyone agrees the swing votes are decided.

A lot of folks in western Colorado get that things are heading badly off course, and that a few well-connected people and powerful corporations are doing well, but that everyday people find life an increasing struggle.  Sen. Obama’s speech tomorrow presents an ideal opportunity for the campaign to really put Colorado, and the election, over the top.  

 

Comments

81 thoughts on “Obama in Grand Jct. CO–Issues on the ground

  1. When he leaves Grand Junction, Obama will be in Pueblo at the State Fair Grounds. We’ve had calls from all over the state. Looks like another big event.

  2. Here is the key to this election:

    I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

    We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

      1. That sounds like the Union inspired economy, crush your right to choose and drive that business to put the plant somewhere else.

        I now see Bill Owens is backing Amendment 47.

        “And that amendment would simply say that you can’t force somebody to be in a union as part of their employment contract. I strongly support it. I’ve always been in favor of right to work. I think it’s almost an American issue. How on Earth can you tell somebody they have to be in a union in order to work and earn an honest living? So I’m strongly in favor of right to work.”

        – Governor Bill Owens

        http://www.abettercolorado.com

        1. of Trailhead, Western Skies, Ref. A, oil-and-gas lobbyists, Texan fame?  More reason to oppose.

          Are you actually blaming the economic crisis on unions?  Just wondering.

          1. As I recall Colorado has only 8 in 100 workers unionized, excluding of course the public sector. Our taxes have not risen nearly as much as those in MI, of course the state tax revenues have risen, but that is another matter. Certainly Colorados rural areas have boomed over the last decade with agri-business, tourism and oil/gas.

            Here is the Michigan forecast … home of free bargaining.

            DETROIT — Michigan will have to wait another year for its long-sought economic recovery… In May, U-M economists George Fulton and Joan Crary had expected the state to gain about 4,000 jobs next year after eight straight years of losses. Now they say the state won’t see job growth until 2010.

            Michigan will lose 51,300 jobs this year and another 37,800 next year before adding 33,300 jobs in 2010, according to the forecast.

            The Labor Department reported Friday the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, the highest level in five years.

            Michigan’s August jobless rate has not been released yet. But the state had the highest unemployment rate in the nation in July at 8.5 percent.

            … Comerica Bank’s Michigan Business Activity Index falling to its lowest level in 10 years in June, the bank said.

            “That’s huge,” he said. “This is causing real distress. It’s a big headwind for the state.”

                1. we’d have to add in the Government roles of Union members (@30-40-68% depending on your cut

                  That fans takes the U.S. workforce to @12.1% unionized. Just like France, low teens.

                  And to imagine government workers, who have the Right-to-Work, up to 68% stay as dues paying members.

                  What is to fear with Amendment 47, choice?

                  http://unionstats.gsu.edu/

        2. of unregulated capitalism Libertine.  We wouldn’t want to blame the meltdown of our economy on a failed philosophy of greed is good.  While your at it make sure you don’t mention the record deficits racked up by Bush and his buddies while they proclaimed how they could run government without tax revenue.  They have borrowed so much money (5 trillion during the last eight years) that they can’t absorb these bank failures without simply printing more money and making it worthless.

          But hey keep blaming the unions and the working man.  Good Republicans always protect the rich.

          1. The dude is a spend thrift. I agree we are headed for a rough patch of 2-3 years, maybe more. The 44th president has been dealt his hand.

            The union impact is seen state by state. MI is an abortion and failed experiment. One in which labor rules, taxes have been hiked and jobs have been lost.  

      2. That wasn’t John McCain, that was former Senator Graham, who is no longer part of McCain’s campaign.

        “Clingers” however was a comment directly from Senator Obama, who is still involved in Obama’s campaign.

        Not exactly apples to apples….  

        1. that Graham still advises the campaign. It’s just no longer “official”. Oh, and he repeated the whiners line a few days ago to a group of (…wait for it…) bankers.

          Karl Rove is advising McCain, too, and it shows.

          1. Or you have a link?  Because the last story I saw said he was no longer part of the campaign.

            Regardless….a comment from a former advisor vs. the candidate themself isn’t the same thing, right?

  3. is winning enough states to win enough electoral votes, including winning places like Colorado.  Throw all the mud you want, parrot the talking points, attack, attack, attack.  

    Both Obama and Udall are ahead in Colorado, and nationally McShameful is back on the decline, while Obama’s far superior ground game is picking up steam.

  4. Washington Post:

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Republican presidential nominee John McCain held his first rally without running mate Sarah Palin today, and let’s just say there were seats available.

    The McCain “Road to Victory” rally was originally scheduled to be a pancake breakfast, but the campaign said there was such an outpouring of enthusiasm the event was shifted to the 15,000-seat Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

    The may not have been the best idea: There were almost no supporters in any of the cavernous arena’s 24 upper-level seating sections, and only eight of the 21 sections downstairs held fans. Only four of those were filled, though some supporters crowded around the stage on the arena floor.

    Who’s your candidate again Laughing Boy?

    1. I passed the JeffCo fairgrounds this morning, and I’m guessing she pulled better attendance than McCain.  However, she isn’t pulling nearly the crowd that Obama pulls here in Colorado.  The traffic wasn’t backed up beyond the deceleration “lane” on I-25.

  5. The Sentinel is reporting that:

    Some walking a mile to hear Obama speak

    Published September 15, 2008 @ 8:51 am by Sentinel staff

    As of 8:15 a.m., people attending Barack Obama’s speech at Cross Orchards Living History Farm were walking nearly a mile after finding parking in the Fruitvale area.

    Keep checking GJSentinel.com as we bring you up to the minute coverage of the Obama’s visit to Grand Junction.

  6. Most of you probably already know this, but after gaming every possible electoral vote scenario, here’s the simple math:

    Assuming the Democrats hold Michigan and carry New Hampshire, they must win one of 3 toss-up states to win the election and the GOP must win all three (barring major swings in the electorate, the other states either can’t swing the outcome or are pretty much accounted for):

    Ohio, Colorado and Virginia.

    (If the GOP holds New Hampshire, we’re facing a likely 269-269 tie!)

    And, frankly, it appears that Obama’s best chance is in Colorado.  I’d like to think that someone was bright enough to have gamed this a long time ago when the Democrats chose Denver as their convention site.  But I doubt it.

    (FYI – So yesterday Broncos beat their second West Coast team in as many weeks…and this one actually knew how to play!  Have to admit I chose against them in my pool.  And I suffered the consequences.  Looks like they and Buffalo may be the sleeper teams of the season.)

    1. The latest polls in the Granite State show McCain ahead. They like him a lot there, as shown by the fact that his campaign gained the resurgence he needed after Iowa.

      1. I’m not sure what polling you are referring to, but I think most of the polls that may show McCain ahead are polling “likely voters”.  The Dems have made great headway registering independent and first-time voters in NH and the polls of REGISTERED voters almost uniformly show Obama leading McCain by pretty substantial margins.

        See, for example, CNN/TIME poll of registered voters on 9/10 showing Obama ahead by 6 points:

        http://www.time.com/time/polit

        1. But this is not a good trend for Sen. Obama.  18 points lower than he was in NY.

          This is NEW YORK we’re talking about.

          From the Sienna poll – link later – server is too busy at the moment.

          Seven weeks until Election Day, the race for President has tightened in New York, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) leading Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 46-41 percent among likely voters, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll released today.  Obama’s five point lead is down from eight points in August, 13 points in July and 18 points in June, when he led 51-33 percent.

                1. Listen to the LIES told by the left about….

                  Ok, just kidding.

                  No biggie, and it may turn out to be real, but I’m guessing Romney is smarter than that.

          1. After reading the dumb troll comments of Nancy this weekend, I can appreciate an honest conservative even though a lot of my tribe consider that term an oxymoron.  I’ve also noticed some cracks in that closed mind so who knows maybe one day we can openly discuss the issues in a good natured way.

            1. is probably one of my favorite views of the Continental Divide.  You can see from Longs down to Pikes from that crows nest above the 1st buttress.  It is like Panorama Point in Golden Gate Park but 1,000 feet higher and no tourists.  The old CCC trail on the north side is also a gem.

              Better get your hikes in while you can because all the old trails are going to get obliterated with down timber.  The beetle epidemic exploded in Gilpin this summer.  I’ll be cutting down fresh infected in my subdivision all fall.

              1. But I assume threadjacking about trails and beetle kill is better than shrieking at each other.  So kiss it if anyone’s upset. 🙂

                The old firetower was on Thorodin, right?

          2. Again, likely voters.  And it’s pure comedy to suggest that a state like New York is even in play.

            Actually, if you look at (meaningless) national polling, McCain is ahead by LESS THAN 1 point on average when polling REGISTERED voters.  Dems really should settle down.  The panic is contrived.

            Think about that — even though the red states are getting redder (with the Palin pick), that is barely enough to overcome broad support of Obama nationally.

            1. you’d better pray they come out in unprecedented numbers, or the election is over.

              New York might not actually be in play, but an 18-point swing is not good news.

              Well, for me it is.  

              1. Washington Post reported today that the Dems had registered 222,000+ new voters in Virginia and the election commission had to order hundreds of thousands of more voter reg cards be printed because they had run out.  Somehow I don’t think that’s all the youth vote.  

                Still, even with an 18-point swing McCain doesn’t have a prayer of winning New York and you call that GOOD news for you?  

                Republicans are funny.  Not funny ha-ha.  But funny.

        1. They’re bitter, don’t you know.

          They like to GASP hunt and fish.  And go to church, even!!!

          I just hope The OneВ® was able to speak down to those rural folks enough to the point where they could understand the true nature of his omnipotence.

          1. that’s why folks were jazzed!  We like to hunt and fish.  McShameful wants to steal our water and turn over our best hunting lands to Big Oil.  We get it.  That’s why Colorado’s going blue this year, don’t you know?

            1. You know the rest of the Western US doesn’t give a crap about that compact except that it set a precedent to give them access to it. It may be the law, but it can be changed.

              We in Colorado better start getting smart about our water management, because at some point the rest of us (western US citizens) are going to start asking about our (Colorado) management skills.

              1. It is a compact by the seven states , i.e., a legal contract among them.  Congress must ratify interstate compacts, which they did in 1922. But congress can’t “change” the compact any more than it can abrogate any other legal contract.  The only way to change it is by unanimous agreement by the parties, i.e., all seven of the member states.  See, if you were a union member, Libertine, you’d know this!

                1. From 2001 to 2006, Right-to-Work states increased payrolls by 6.4 percent.

                  Non-right-to-work states increased payrolls by only 2.9 percent from 2001 to 2006.

                  Right-to-Work states also have lower unemployment rates and show faster income growth.

                  1. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that an average worker in the 22 states with right-to-work laws earns about

                    $7,131 a year less than workers in free bargaining states ($30,656

                    versus $37,787). Nationwide, union members earn $9,308 a year more

                    than non-union workers, $41,652 versus $32,344.

                    Now, go clear it with Sidney.

                    1. From 2001 to 2006, Right-to-Work states increased payrolls by 6.4 percent.

                      Non-right-to-work states increased payrolls by only 2.9 percent from 2001 to 2006.

                      Right-to-Work states also have lower unemployment rates and show faster income growth.

          2. but am I the only person on the Western Slope that gets tired of the “they want to steal our water” and “they want to destroy our rural way of life” mantras?  Caw caw.  If 10% of that crowd has ever been on a tractor, I’ll eat my straw hat. The  only thing missing were the banjos.  

      1. McCain seems genuinely unaware that the seven governors did recently review and modify the compact, obviously not to gut it, but they made some mutually agreed improvements. Gail Norton started that process when she was Secretary of Interior.  For a senator from a Compact state, McCain seems to know shockingly little about it.  

        1. I recall something where Nevada was considering taking the whole mess to federal court. The other states were so afraid that the compact would get thrown out that they finally hammered out some revisions to the agreement that kept NV happy and didn’t leave anyone too parched.  

          1. that California was using more than its allotment.  I didn’t follow it closely but maybe that is where the alleviation for Nevada came from. Of all the compact states, Nevada is the one that has grown the most beyond the original expectations of the compact.

            1. …I sort of recall that CA’s attitude for a long time was sort of, “Well, if no one is using this water running by at this time, I’ll just borrow some.” Of course, it was the Mexicans that were the losers on that.

              Now, of course, everyone’s scrabbling. I remember not too many years ago some flack for Las Vegas, the water wasting capital of the world, told Colorado that they really need more water to keep their development going. Boo hoo.  

      1. …and it ends with a 500 point drop in the market (bye bye mutual fund!…it was nice thinking about what could have been), McCain declaring the fundamentals of the economy ‘strong’ and record viewership for SNL’s Fall premier where Tina Fay skewers Sarah Palin.

        Ha!  Only Republicans…

        1. I work with inner city kids at a non-profit, and two other jobs that would rat out my identity.

          You’d actually be amazed that I’m a Republican if you met me.

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