Democrats Establish a Base in the Mountain West

Barack Obama won the three mountain states of Colorado (4.7%), Nevada (6.6%) and New Mexico (9.9%).

Colorado and Nevada received toss-up status with massive advertising and candidate visits.  As the table shows, Colorado continues to be the state in the middle.  It was fifth closest in the country and most competitive in the west.

As expected, Romney won all the rest of Mountain West, including Montana (13.5%), which re-elected its Democratic Senator, Jon Tester (3.9%).  Not surprising, Utah was Romney’s best state, winning it by a 48 percent margin.  Although there was a tightening in the polls in Arizona the last month, Mitt Romney won it decisively (10.6%).  However, the senate race was much closer, with the Republican Jeff Flake barely winning (4.2%).

Obama cornered the Pacific States by margins of 12 percent in Oregon to 21 percent in California.

See The Buzz:  Western senate races could shift the Senate to Republicans