Karl Rove

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama would win Colorado - and the presidency -- if the election were held today, GOP strategist Karl Rove stated Monday on his Web site.

If the election were held today, Obama would win every state John Kerry won in 2004, while adding New Mexico (5 EV), Iowa (7 EV), and Colorado (9 EV) to his coalition," Rove wrote, citing the latest wave of state polls to be released in the past few days.

As the Grand Junction Sentinel's Mike Saccone observed on his blog Political Notebook, "When Karl Rove says a Republican is doing poorly, well, that's not a good sign for conservatives."

Former Bush advisor Karl Rove: Getty Images PhotoMINNEAPOLIS--Along with Ohio and Virginia, Colorado will be the state to watch for the U.S. presidential election this November, said former Bush administration official and GOP strategist Karl Rove on Wednesday.

“I’m sorry to tell you you’re going to see an unending supply of television ads, and people are going to be knocking on your doors and ringing your phones,” Rove told the Colorado delegation to the Republican National Convention over breakfast at the Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis Hotel.

MINNEAPOLIS--Barack Obama will find it hard to win the rural voters he needs to capture Colorado's nine electoral votes this November, former Bush Administration official Karl Rove told reporters Wednesday morning.

Speaking outside the Republican National Convention Colorado delegation breakfast at the Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis Hotel, Rove said Colorado was "changing in a way that (John McCain) has the ability to win" the state.

"If you're a Democrat, you've got to do two things in Colorado. You've got to run really well in the rural part of the state - not win it, but eat at the Republican margins out on the plains and out on the Western Slope," Rove said. "And you've got to do well among suburban independents and suburban soft Republicans in Arapahoe, Jefferson, the conservative Republican suburbs of Denver."

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In the Wall Street Journal today, Karl Rove said Colorado is one of four battleground states in the 2008 presidential election.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, Rove said, will likely focus on picking up Virginia and -- especially -- Colorado, both of which have large numbers of white, college-educated voters -- a demographic that's been sympathetic to Obama.

Rove wrote that, of the two states, Obama is "best-positioned" to pick up Colorado. He noted that the Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver later this month, and alluded to the financial resources of Big Four Democratic donors Pat Stryker, Tim Gill, Rutt Bridges, and Jared Polis -- "mini-George Soroses," in Rove's words.