LOVELAND — As expected, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders scored 10 national convention delegates from Colorado in a series of contests Friday night, besting the six claimed by rival Hillary Clinton.
The latest wins at three congressional district meetings in Loveland boosted the Vermont senator’s delegate total in Colorado to 26 ahead of , where another 23 slots are decided. Clinton now sits at 17 delegates.
Sanders took 59 percent in the state’s March 1, compared to 40 percent for Clinton, and the delegate totals at the congressional and state levels are expected to match the statewide ratio.
But it’s not a guarantee. At each step in the process, Democrats hold another straw poll — making it important for the candidates’ supporters to turnout.
The hitting the state this weekend is complicating the state convention calculations, but so far not affecting the results.
The biggest concern: the 3rd Congressional District, which covers the Western Slope and mountain towns, requiring the delegates to cross snowy mountain passes. Given the weather, the party considered holding a conference call at one point. But the district convention managed to draw about 380 of the more than 500 delegates.
“We encouraged people to get here early,” said Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio, who said he was not concerned that the storm would shift the delegate results. “An act of God I think is going to apply to both candidates.”
Each national delegate candidate had the opportunity to say their name and one quick line that inspired plenty of political slogans.
“Fracking is 100 percent wrong,” one said.
“If you elect me, I’ll go to Philadelphia and bark like a junkyard dog for Bernie,” another said.
Not all made it. Shauna Palmer’s name appeared on the ballot as a Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, but the Norwood resident didn’t hear it read aloud.
Instead, she sat in a hotel in Avon on the west side of the Vail Pass, which the state transportation department closed earlier in the day after multiple car crashes.
“I am furious,” she said in a telephone interview.
The 66-year-old also is an alternate at the state convention and spent hours debating whether to try to make it to Loveland. “My choice is I either try to make it tonight, or I have to get up at four o’clock in the morning,” she said, as she waited for better news on when the pass would open to traffic. “I’m going to try to get there.”
The straw poll at the 3rd District convention gave Sanders four delegates and he took another two at each of the 5th District and 4th District votes. Clinton won two delegates at each of the three.
The remaining congressional delegates were awarded at four earlier conventions. And the allocations matched Super Tuesday projections from The Denver Post, Associated Press and others.
The 43 congressional delegates represent the bulk of the state’s 78-member delegation. Another 14 at-large delegates and nine assigned based on the Colorado’s number of elected Democrats are at stake at the state convention. The final 12 are superdelegates.
Colorado’s delegate math shifted a week ago, when Sanders picked up a national seat in the 1st Congressional District. The Democratic Party later admitted that it and shorted Sanders about 4 percentage points in Denver County.
The mistake — first reported by The Denver Post — , who are skeptical of the state’s system and about the presidential race.
John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
