The countdown to election night has started for Colorado’s candidates, and today is the final crunch before tomorrow’s elections.
What really goes on for candidates in the crucial last days of a campaign?
Democrat Bill Winter and Republican Tom Tancredo are running against each other in the 6th Congressional district. Their campaigns shared what their weekend and final two days entailed.
The Winter campaign had a hectic weekend. At 9 a.m. Saturday, Winter attended a rally with Joe Rice, the Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives in District 38, and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar. The event took place at the Le Peep restaurant on Broadway and Belleview in Aurora. The Winter campaign then stopped by campaign headquarters and worked at the phone banks.
The campaign worked on a promotion called Get Out the Vote. While at the phone bank, they called voters and reminded them to vote and also how important each vote was to them.
“With how wide some of races are getting, it’s important for us to remind every democrat and every unaffiliated voter to get out and vote,” said Berrick Abramson, Winter’s campaign manager.
At 11:30 a.m., the Winter campaign went to a kick-off event at 7140 South Depew Street with Sen. Salazar and Paula Noonan, who is running for state Senate in District 22.
There were no formal events today and Sunday. The campaign will spend the last hours at the headquarters, waving signs and making phone calls.
“Bill and I – and all of our volunteers – will be walking around the district, calling the supporters and working the phones,” said Abramson.
Tancredo’s campaign had a different agenda for the days leading up to the election.
“We are doing a big Get Out the Vote effort; we will be working on that all the way up to Election Day,” said Dustin Zvonek, Tancredo’s deputy campaign manager.
Within the district, Tancredo took part in various events this weekend: honk-and-waves at street corners, speaking to different phone banks, precinct walk rallies, ringing precinct doorbells and meeting with constituents.
Tomorrow, the campaign will continue with the same efforts. Tancredo will also be on telephones encouraging people to vote.
“We are very confident,” said Zvonek. “We are looking forward to getting to the election and moving on.”
Tomorrow night, both Winter and Tancredo will be in downtown Denver, awaiting the results.
The Winter campaign will be at the Adam’s Mark Hotel first, then at the Colorado Democrat State Party at the Hyatt Hotel.
“We are feeling very good about the race. This is going to be a down-to-the-wire race and possibly one of the closest in the state,” said Abramson. “This district could be the surprise of the state and even the nation. We may not know (the standings) early in the evening. It may come down to the last vote.”
Tancredo’s campaign will be joining the republicans at the Marriott Hotel, in the Denver Tech Center, for the Colorado Republican State Party.
Zvonek said the Tancredo campaign has been taking part in the democratic process and feels good about election night.
The 6th district candidates are only one example of the efforts candidates put in the last few days before the election. Nov. 8 will bring a new day for all candidates, taking them out of campaign mode and back to real life.
