Front-Ranger - how's about if we just encourage Colorado Springs to secede from the state, join Texas or something?
(Man, the Texans are all gonna kill me for suggesting that.
)
(I would say that, area-wise, Colorado is mostly old-school red with patches of blue around Denver, Boulder, and some ski towns. The damn state elected Wayne f****in' Allard, one of the most incoherent anti-gay voices in the US Senate, for cryin' out loud. Elected and re-elected, and we can't even throw him out this year. And CO passed Amendment 2 back in the day. And... well, I'm in a swing district for both legislative and US House races, and I get to see the red/blue clashes acted out in the local paper and in the grocery store aisles every day. It ain't pretty. A few years back, I saw how homophobia brought out the worst in a very liberal state like Vermont, and I trust Coloradans much less than I trusted Vermonters.)
I would say that Florida is more "swing" than Colorado is. But, Barb, my sense is that a lot of Florida's
"northern-ness" comes from retirees from the Northeast (and other Northeasterners who couldn't take the winters). And it strikes me that that's a demographic that could be economically liberal but could have pretty entrenched homophobia. (Like Hollywood, actually.
) But I don't live there, so my stereotypes could be all a-skew.