Obama’s Strategy Pays Off Big in Colorado

Barack Obama campaigned for votes across the state, opening 12 offices in places often overlooked by presidential candidates. The strategy carried the Illinois senator to a resounding victory in Tuesday’s caucus.From the eastern plains to the Western Slope and all along the Front Range, Barack Obama won a decisive, two-to-one victory in Colorado’s Democratic caucus Tuesday.

Obama’s well-organized, far-reaching, grassroots strategy paid off big in Colorado, where he won 67 percent of caucus-goers’ support to Hillary Clinton’s 32 percent. Obama ran a high-profile campaign compared to his rival, opening 12 offices across the state, recruiting thousands of volunteers and drawing 18,000 people to hear him speak at the University of Denver last week.

“Obama has brought a huge number of new Coloradoans into the process,” said Josh Freed, spokesman for the Obama campaign in Colorado. “He has a message that resonates with not only the Democratic base in this state but with Independents and Republicans, who changed their registration so they could participate in the caucus.”

The Colorado Democratic Party estimates nearly 120,000 state Democrats attended caucuses last night.

Just 10 days ago, a poll commissioned by The Denver Post showed Obama and Clinton locked in a tight race, with respondents evenly split between the two candidates. Obama’s resounding win in Colorado is attributable not only to the campaign’s efforts in all corners of the state, but to Obama’s message, says Freed.

“Senator Obama has taken Colorado very seriously. He actually came to the state to campaign, and we worked very hard to appeal directly to voters. But Coloradoans are looking for change. They are looking for someone to bring Democrats and Republicans together, and they clearly saw that in Senator Obama.”

The Obama strategy also worked in Idaho, where he won nearly 80 percent of primary voters’ support. Clinton won primaries in California and Arizona last night, which may be partly attributable to her popularity among Latino voters, who make up significant shares of the electorate in both states. But in New Mexico, the state with the highest Hispanic population share and the largest Hispanic eligible-voter population, the results of last night’s Democratic primary are still too close to call.