At 8:00pm Eastern Time, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado announced that Barack Obama won the Presidential Election in the State of Colorado, taking key counties such as Arapahoe, Jefferson and Larimer by more than 10 percentage points.
On his coattails, Mark Udall is the winner in the hotly contested race for the state’s next U.S. Senator. His rival, Bob Schaffer, was losing his own home county of Larimer by 9 percentage points.
Colorado, seen as key in his bid to become that nation’s 44th president and its first African-American commander in chief, added to Obama’s growing lead nationwide at this hour.
Legions of volunteers for both Obama and McCain wait in Colorado as votes continue to be counted. At least 63 percent of Denver’s active voters cast their ballots before the polls opened on election day. According to Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O’Malley, nearly two-thirds of Denver’s 312,445 active voters cast their ballots by mail-in or at early voting centers.
Obama at this hour is winning a higher percentage of votes in Democratic-leaning counties, according to early reporting, than John Kerry won in 2004. Meanwhile, several of the state’s proposed constitutional amendments were showing lopsided vote counts at this hour.
Amendment 48, which sought to define a person, was failing 6-1 in Denver. But most other ballot initiatives were still neck and neck. Amendment 46, which would ban preferential treatment based on race or sex in public programs, is currently too close to call.
Coloradans saw a near-record number of initiatives on the ballot this year. Some 18 proposed constitutional amendments and referendums were printed on most voters’ ballots. Last-minute political maneuvering between labor and business leaders left 14 proposed amendments and referendums on most voters’ ballots.
Source: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/