Incumbent Gov. John Hickenloooper, at right, outraised Republican challenger Bob Beauprez during August. (The Denver Post)
Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball,” a highly respected arm of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, announced Thursday that they moved the Colorado’s governor’s race from leaning Democratic to a “toss-up.”
“Recently, Hickenlooper has taken heat for local issues — like to a convicted killer on death row and for gun restrictions passed last year that contributed to two Democratic state senators being recalled in 2013,” . “Also, President Obama is very weak in the Centennial State, which hurts Hickenlooper.”
Nevertheless, Sabato’s group reminds that “recent polling (in Colorado) has often underestimated Democratic performance, and the state now has an all-mail voting system that should help Democratic turnout.”
The new designation comes one day after Quinnipiac University showing Hickenlooper trailing Republican opponent Bob Beauprez by 10 points. While the poll has been cast as an outlier by political observers and the Crystal Ball alike, many political scientists and consultants told me Wednesday that at the very least it proves Colorado’s voters are open to the idea of unseating an elected governor for the first time in 52 years.
A showed the race as being neck and neck with Hickenlooper holding a slight advantage over Beauprez, but still within the margin of error.
The Crystal Ball says Hickenlooper “appears to be in some real trouble.”
