Looking West, more hints of Democratic struggles in November

Primaries were held last night in several states and it was a mixed bag politically for Republicans and Democrats.  Both parties saw some of their stronger candidates prevail — and also saw some upsets.

For me, the big early take-away was a glimpse of the passion problem the Dems face this year.

In Colorado’s fiercely contested primaries, nearly 390,000 voters turned out to vote for the GOP’s candidates, Ken Buck and Jane Norton.

But on the Democratic side — despite a hot, fierce primary battle between Michael Bennett and Andrew Romanoff — only about 330,000 voters turned out.

That 60,000-vote gap echoes polls and opinion surveys taken through the summer, suggesting that conservative voters are far more zealous about getting to the polls this year.

This is just one quick snapshot.

But my guess is that unless Democrats can energize their base, that kind of sluggishness will be tough to overcome in November.

New York’s primaries come in September.

Tags: election10