Wally Edge's blog

The Rothenberg Political Report has updated their ranking of Colorado's U.S. Senate race. They now list it as "likely takeover," meaning they expect Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Udall to win the open seat.

John King on CNN: "Most top people inside the McCain campaign now think Colorado is gone...that that is now beyond their reach. Colorado -- A red state, twice for George W Bush -- most likely will go Obama they think at the top of the McCain campaign."

Political insiders are already looking beyond Nov. 4 and towards 2010. If (and many say 'when') Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) loses in the 4th Congressional District, there are already plenty of names being mentioned as candidates in what could become a crowded Republican primary.

According to the Secretary of State, 7.9 percent of active voters in Colorado have already mailed in their ballots for this year's election. That's over 200,000 votes already cast.

A total of 59.7 percent of active voters have requested mail-in ballots.

This week's Winners & Losers. | CLICK HERE

A focus group of undecided Colorado voters (who "leaned towards McCain") organized by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg has good news for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) following Wednesday's night's presidential debate:

The most striking result came on the favorability ratings. Although the focus group was officially undecided, it leaned towards McCain. Here were the favorability-unfavorability ratings for each candidate at the start:

McCain: 54 favorable / 34 unfavorable

Obama: 42 favorable / 42 unfavorable

Here's what the ratings looked like after the debate:

McCain: 50 favorable / 48 unfavorable 

Obama: 72 favorable / 22 unfavorable

According to statistics obtained by The Fix, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) outspent U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the Republican National Committee by half a million dollars in television advertising in the last week.

Between Oct. 7 and 13, Obama spent $1.5 million on ads in Colorado, while McCain and the RNC combined spent $990,000.

A Politico/InsiderAdvantage survey of bellwether/battleground Jefferson County finds that John McCain (R-Ariz.) holds a 45.4 to 43.3 percent edge over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Independents back Obama over McCain by 47.7 to 29.9 percent.

The poll does have some mildly interesting internal numbers. Black voters choose McCain by 72 to 28 percent according to the poll, although with a subsample size of just 14 voters, the margin of error in these numbers is perhaps borderline astronomical. The majority of the black poll respondents were between 18 and 29 years old -- another demographic that tends to be favorable to Obama.

Quinnipiac's latest survey gives U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs) a whopping 54 to 40 percent lead over former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Fort Collins). That represents a 6 points improvement for Udall over their Sept. 23 poll in which the race was 48 to 40 percent.

Perhaps more importantly, this is the first public poll in which either candidate exceeds 50 percent support.

The Democratic presidential ticket has made more visits to battleground states than their Republican counterparts, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The presidential candidates, their wives and runningmates have made 150 total visits since the nominating conventions -- 95 by U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), his wife Michelle Obama and U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.); and 55 by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his wife Cindy McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska).

But in Colorado, there is no such disparity. Obama and McCain have each visited four times, while Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama have also visited the state once each since the conventions. Below is our map of their visits (excluding wives):