President Barack Obama held a campaign rally in Colorado in the 2012 campaign. (Getty Images)
Colorado lawmakers want a bigger piece of the 2016 presidential campaign spotlight.
Democratic and Republican legislators are drafting a measure to create a presidential primary in Colorado, The Denver Post has learned, a significant shift one of the last dozen or so states that operates on a caucus system.
Most of the legislation’s details are still being negotiated, but the tentative plan would put the primary in a prominent spot and make the swing state a top prize in the nominating process.
“The main point is that we bring more attention to Colorado,” said Rep. Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat who plans to sponsor the bill. “Right now, Colorado is just so completely overlooked because our caucus comes too late in the process. And Colorado should be more at the forefront because we are a bellwether state.”
As anticipated, the legislation would maintain for all other races, such as U.S. Senate and governor, and keep the June primary election for those contests. But it would add the presidential primary.
The bill would require the governor to set the date in accordance with national and party nominating rules — so it won’t jump the much-protected early status of states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
The chairmen of the Colorado Democratic and Republican parties are on board with the move to a primary.
“It provides more Coloradans the opportunity to have their voices heard in the process,” said Rick Palacio, the Democratic chairman.
The state’s large bloc of unaffiliated voters, who are now shut out of the caucus process, would be able to vote for a candidate in either party’s presidential primary.
“Giving voters a choice of who represents them in the general election through a presidential primary will be good for Colorado across the board,” said GOP Chairman Steve House in a statement. “It will give this critical swing state more attention during the primaries, and it will make it easier for voters to get involved in the nomination process.”
The parties have not yet set their dates for the 2016 precinct caucuses. State law puts them on the first Tuesday in March but it allows the parties move it up to the first Tuesday in February for presidential election years.
The current caucus process draws less attention on the presidential campaign circuit because it entails only a preference vote, or straw poll, making it little more than a show of momentum.
Colorado’s delegates to the national nominating conventions are not actually apportioned until the state parties hold their confabs in late spring.
In 2008, the last open presidential contest, both parties . Then-candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney . Rick Santorum won the 2012 GOP caucus.
If the same timeline is used in 2016, Colorado’s caucuses would fall on Feb. 2 — third on the calendar but still with less importance because of its nonbinding nature.
The same day the first details of the bill came to light, a state House committee delayed a vote to create an open primary system. Senate Republicans also Wednesday to allow voters to opt-out of a mail ballot.
It’s not certain when the presidential primary bill would get introduced, but Moreno said, “it’s happening.”
