When Nate Silver, author of the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog, called Colorado the “swingiest of the swing states,” he captured the essence of the conversation at the University of Denver’s Spotlight Colorado event held Aug. 20 in Washington, D.C.
The event, featuring a panel of DU faculty and political experts, highlighted Colorado’s “purple” status, as well as issues surrounding the 2012 election.
Moderated by Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary, the event drew a variety of national and international media members and representatives from both sides of the aisle.
University of Denver professors Seth Masket, Lisa Martinez, Sam Kamin and Robert McGowan traveled to Washington for the event. They were joined by Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and former chief of staff for Sen. Michael Bennet; and Dick Wadhams, a Republican political strategist and former chair of the Colorado Republican Party.
The panelists discussed the importance of the Latino and female vote, the Colorado economy, the potential constitutional implications of Proposition 64 and other issues of importance to voters, including contraception and the death penalty.
The entire event can be seen on C-SPAN’s network’s website.
This panel discussion was one in a series of pre-debate events the University is hosting to explore Colorado’s purple-state status as well as issues around the upcoming presidential election. Visit debate2012.du.edu for a full listing of events.