Our Own Jefferson County Once Again a National Political Battleground

Fort Collins blogger Andrew Boucher caught my attention by reprinting this snippet of an observation from the learned political guru Michael Barone:

Jefferson County, Colo. Suburbs west of Denver. The inner Denver suburbs have been trending Democratic in recent years, and I expect Jefferson County will trend more that way this year. It voted 63 percent to 36 percent for Obama over Hillary Clinton in the caucus this year, but only 14,000 participated—far fewer than the 271,000 that voted in the 2004 general election. My impression is that this county, like many inner suburbs, is becoming more downscale; the big population growth of young affluent families is to the south, in Douglas County. One problem for Barack Obama is that he may not do well with an expanding Hispanic population.

It seems as though I live in one of five counties nationwide that may decide the Presidential election. There’s no doubt that Jefferson County (mostly the northern and eastern parts) have been trending Democratic during this decade. However, it will be interesting to see how well Barack Obama does among the area’s Hispanic population, and how that support will translate down ticket.