DENVER—Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are sending their vice presidential candidates back to Colorado this week just as early voting gets under way.
Sarah Palin campaigns for the GOP ticket in Colorado Springs, Loveland and Grand Junction on Monday.
Joe Biden takes the Democratic campaign to Greeley and Commerce City on Tuesday and to Pueblo and the Colorado Springs area on Wednesday.
Palin, the governor of Alaska, has campaigned frequently in Colorado, whose nine electoral votes could tip a close election. She visited the Denver suburb of Englewood on Oct. 4.
Her first stop Monday will be in Colorado Springs for a rally at Security Service Field, home of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, a minor-league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
She’s scheduled to appear at noon at the Budweiser Events Center at the Larimer County Fairgrounds in Loveland.
Palin will then fly to Grand Junction to appear at Suplizio Field baseball stadium.
Her Colorado visit will come two days after she appeared on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and boosted the show to its highest ratings in 14 years, according to early estimates.
This will be Biden’s first appearance in Colorado since the Democratic convention in Denver in August. On Tuesday, the Delaware senator speaks at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and at Adams City High School in Commerce City.
In Commerce City, people who vote early and have an “I Voted” sticker will get the best seats. Tickets are required for that event and will be distributed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday at the campaign’s offices in Thornton and Commerce City or the campaign Web site. Tickets aren’t required for Biden’s Greeley appearance but an RSVP is encouraged through the Web site.
Locations for the Pueblo and Colorado Springs visits on Wednesday haven’t been announced.
A Quinnipiac University telephone poll released Oct. 14 gave Obama a 9-point lead over McCain in Colorado. The poll was done for The Wall Street Journal and the Web site of The Washington Post.
Colorado has about 3.1 million registered voters. It’s not known how many will take advantage of early voting at polling places, which gets under way Monday, but about 1.1 million have requested mail-in ballots.
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