Pollster: Colorado ain’t blue yet

Colorado Springs -- Colorado Democrats intent on redecorating the halls of power after sweeping election victories this November had better be careful about hanging too many pictures on the wall, local pollster-pundit extraordinaire Floyd Ciruli told a crowd of county commissioners Wednesday.

They don’t own the place yet.

“It’s a lease,” Ciruli told the commissioners at the last day of Colorado Counties Inc.’s winter meetings. “People are saying, ‘Go ahead, we’ll give you a year or two.’ And then they might pull the franchise if it doesn't work out.”

Ciruli, who gave a presentation to the commissioners discussing this year’s election results and forecasting what trends they prophesy, said Colorado will likely remain a battleground state for years to come. The shift toward Democrats doesn’t foretell a new age of Colorado liberalism, he said, but what could be a temporary swing of middle-of-the-road voters.

“There’s no ideological shift here to the left in my opinion,” Ciruli said. “There is a shift toward pragmatism.”

Democrats have been successful in the state by reaching out to those in-the-middle voters and pitching themselves as problem solvers, he said. While that revelation is not particularly new, Ciruli said it means Republicans will have to shift strategies. Just making sure they get their voters to the polls and letting the rest take care of itself won’t work anymore for Republicans, Ciruli said.

“Turn out the base, wedge issues, those things didn’t work this year,” he said. “... That is over now. You really have to be focused on swing voters.”

As a sign of how temporary things could be for Democrats, Ciruli said there are five or six Republicans who could potentially give Gov. Bill Ritter a hard run for re-election in 2010. Among Ritter’s vulnerabilities are his controversial executive order on employee partnerships and his support for tougher regulations and higher taxes on the oil and gas industry, Ciruli said.

“At the state level,” Ciruli said, “I think the Republicans have a very good chance to run a very competitive race. There is big money that is angry with him.”

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