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Colorado Politics and Policy: Governing a Purple State. By Thomas E. Cronin and Robert D. Loevy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012. xvi + 417 pp. Maps, tables, notes, bibliography, index. $40.00 paper.
In the past 10 years, Colorado has undergone a transition from a fairly reliable red state to a decidedly purple one. Between i960 and 2008, Colorado voters preferred the Republican candidate for president in every election but two-1964 and 1992. In 2008 and 2012, however, President Obama, a Democrat, won the state both times. Colorado's governor is presently a Democrat, the Democrats are in the majority in the state's House of Representatives and Senate, and both United States senators are Democrats. You would not call the state "blue" because nearly a third of the electorate is registered as independent, and even among registered Democrats there...