Shares in Denmark's Vestas -- the world's #1 wind turbine maker -- shot up 8 percent last Friday on news that the company had an order backlog worth $10.7 billion. The backlog grew 67 percent since a year ago -- a strong indication of continued robust growth.

The company also announced it was investing $120 million  in a new factory in Colorado -- on top of $200 million it's already sinking into another factory -- which will bring 1350 new jobs to the state. That is going to put a total of 2450 people on the Vestas payroll in Colorado.

They sure have to do a lot of clarifying in the McCain campaign, don't they?

McCain set off a firestorm last week when he suggested that the 86 year old agreement that allocates the scarce resource of the Colorado River among the seven states of the Colorado Basin "obviously needs to be renegotiated" because of "new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource," he didn't mean it should, you know, be renegotiated, really, to make sure that the high growth states of California, Nevada, and Arizona got more of that scarce resource. But that's sure how it sounded to the people of Colorado.

So here comes the McCain campaign with what he "really" meant:

Tom Kise, the McCain campaign's Colorado spokesman, said McCain was not proposing that the 2007 agreement be reopened or any immediate talks on the compact.

"He's talking about ongoing conversations, conversations that happen this year, next year, 10, 20, 30 years down the road," Kise said.

Kise said McCain knows global warming is changing water conditions in the West, and that means the states need to talk. "As long as water is going to be an issue in the West, there should be an open conversation among all parties," Kise said.

Ah, so the states need to talk, that's all he was saying. Only problem is: they have been.

Considering he's a Senator from one of those seven states in the compact, you think he'd have somewhat of a better grasp of the actual policy making on the issue in his state. See, the seven states' governors came together last year to address current changing water conditions. In fact, they came up with an agreement:

The agreement was signed April 23 in Las Vegas by representatives of the Colorado River basin states of Colorado, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The agreement proposes reducing deliveries of Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada when storage in Lake Mead drops below certain set levels, thus reducing the risk of shortages in Colorado. The agreement would reduce the risk of shortages in the lower Colorado River by coordinating Hoover and Glen Canyon dam operations. The agreement also proposes a system for storing in Lake Mead water saved through conservation efforts or the development of new water sources.

In addition to resolving current Colorado River disputes, the agreement reduces the likelihood of future litigation among the seven Colorado River basin states by encouraging cooperation and consultation between the states. "Litigation pitting state against state over the Colorado River would cost taxpayers millions, and the likely result would not please anyone," said Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. "Thanks to the hard work of the parties involved, we can now work with - not against - other states to resolve our water disputes."

Into the middle of all this stumbles McCain, ignoring--or completely ignorant of--the fact that the seven governors (including California's, Nevada's, and Arizona's) decided that those states needed to work on how to find some of their own water, ignoring the fact that this was a complex and difficult set of negotiations.

Between this and his long support of using Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump, McCain's shown that he's pretty much completely out of touch with what is going on in the West. He's just not much of a westerner anymore.

Some of us can remember when you could hitch a ride with a sign that read Yipee and it was pretty easy to predict that the LHHCRF that was about to pick you up would offer you some weed, turn the protest songs playing on the radio up loud and know where to drop you off so you could get to the demonstration.

Who would pick you up if you were out there next week hitching rides to Colorado with Obama signs.

Maybe the topic of conversation would be the war, maybe another issue, like single payer healthcare. It doesn't seem to matter if you do it in a barbershop or in front of vets in a primary care facility, or at the farmers market or hitching a ride. The response is always "Do you think Obama can pull it off against all those !@#$%^& lobbiests?".

Somehow there is just something about knowing another person has their head the exact same place yours is that gets you feeling all is right with the world.

The Washington Post ran an article today discussing the passing of a 2004 ballot initiative in Colorado requiring that energy companies produce 10% of their electricity from renewable sources.  The largest utility in the state, Xcel Energy, fought the initiative tooth and nail as you might expect, but they lost.  Then, when they turned around and actually got to work on meeting the goal, they met it 8 years ahead of schedule and later agreed to double the goal.  Musings below the fold on the incredible power of government policy to change incentives for energy producers for the better, and lessons the rest of the nation can take from this.

Sorry I don't have a lot of time.  I've been very busy lately.  But growing up in Colorado I just saw the following:

First.

Denver Post and Water

and

ColoradoPols and Water

This is the kind of things Republicans only say when they think they're not being recorded.

"But because prices are soaring, the reality is the federal government is raking in a bunch of cash right now on the backs of energy producers."

Those poor, poor energy producers. With all the money we're raking in from them, maybe the energy companies can just pay for that whole war in Iraq. Wasn't that how it was supposed to work, anyway?

All disasters are different. Some are sudden catastrophes: a bridge collapse, an earthquake, or the capsizing of a ferryboat. One moment everything is fine, the next, disaster. Other disasters seem to occur in slow motion: the Titanic scaping along the iceberg, the slow leak that fatally undermines a dam, or the gradual destruction of an environment through pollution.

John McCain suffered three slow motion disasters this past week, events that didn't look that bad as they happened, but in retrospect will hurt or even wreck his campaign for the presidency.

Follow me over the jump.

While DailyKos is a key stronghold in the netroots movement, it must be admitted that using the internet has certain, tangible limits in terms of voter outreach. Many demographics, primarily the higher age groups that vote strongly for McCain, still largely get their news from newspapers.

Given the amount of writing talent available in the blogging community, it seems logical that this would be a good place to find quality letter-writers. Many newspapers in key swing states have circulations in the hundreds of thousands.

Interested in helping the cause? Oodles of info below the fold.

On Thursday, Rasmussen reported a 2 point lead for McCain over Obama in Colorado, 47-45.

If they repolled today, chances are very good that slim gain would be gone. Because there's one thing you do not mess with in Colorado, and that's water.

In an interview yesterday with the Pueblo Chieftan, McCain committed what could amount political suicide in the state by saying that the 1922 water compact negotiated between seven western states should be renegotiated to give Arizona, Nevada, and California (the Lower Basin states) more water. That's unlikely to make Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico (the Upper Basin states) any happier than it's made Colorado.

There's nothing more controversial in the West than water, and the single water issue that is most pressing is what happens as the Colorado drainage continues to experience drought and demand continues to grow. California's water rapaciousness was the issue in 1922 that brought the seven states' governors to negotiate the compact, and California's huge thirst is still the problem. But massive population growth in and around Las Vegas and Phoenix have the Lower Basin states--and the Republican nominee for president--eyeing a greater share of the Colorado.

Reaction in Colorado has been swift and incensed. Here's Ken Salazar:

"Senator McCain's position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body," Salazar said. "It's an anathema to the fundamental principles of Colorado's water rights and our compacts."

The senator said that when the state's compacts with the lower basin states were negotiated, everyone knew at the time that those states would grow in population faster than Colorado. As a result, the upper basin states' water rights needed to be protected.

"We did not want California to gobble up all of the water supply on the Colorado River, and they would have done that under the doctrine of equitable apportionment," Salazar said. "In my view the compact is sacrosanct. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that it is not opened up."

Even Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer had to attack his party's standard bearer on this one:

"Over my cold, dead, political carcass," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said.

"The compact is the only protection Colorado has from several more politically powerful downstream states," Schaffer added. "Opening it for renegotiation would be the equivalent of a lamb discussing with a pack of wolves what should be on the dinner menu."

The Denver Post was particularly snarky:

Memo to: John McCain.

From: Five million thirst-crazed Coloradans.

Subject: Forget about winning our nine electoral votes next November. We don't vote for water rustlers in this state; we tar and feather them! ...

As a senator, McCain has long represented a state, Arizona, that would love to steal Colorado's water. But now, he wants our votes. Apparently, nobody bothered to brief the candidate who Paris Hilton called "that wrinkly, white-haired guy" that stealing Colorado's water to benefit Arizona, California and Nevada isn't as popular an idea in Colorado as it is in Arizona, California and Nevada.

And ColoradoPols says McCain just lost Colorado.

There's nine electoral votes in Colorado (the state's unofficial motto: "Whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting) that are a lot less likely to be swinging in November. It's probably safe to say New Mexico's five aren't going to be up for grabs now, either. It sure as hell isn't going to give McCain California, though it might shore up his chances in his home state. Maybe that's what this was all about after all, trying to make sure he doesn't lose Arizona. Because there isn't any other way to explain it.

Greetings from a rainy Denver. Anyway, I had intended originally to post this as a comment to Admiral Naismith's Redistricting series, but on his recommendation, I am giving it it's own diary.

So, in honor of the Democratic National Convention's home state, let's redistrict Colorado:

Every State. Every race. Right here.

This is number 30 in a planned series of 50 entries between now and November, looking at each of the 50 states in terms of every race on that state's ticket--Presidential, Gubernatorial, Senate, House, State legislatures--the whole Mile High Club! Special attention paid to identifying and promoting the most important contests per state.

Today, we celebrate reaching the 3/5 milestone by highlighting the Democratic Convention host state—COLORADO!

I've decided to start running some analysis for the presidential race.  I'm going to cover races that Pollster.com rates as "tossup".  Tonight: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Indiana.

UPDATE

I just realized that I forgot to include dots for McCain.  The lines are correct, and the blue dots are also correct

I'll add the red dots for McCain next time

So, last night’s election results for Congressional District 2 are in--a seat being vacated by US House of Representatives Mark Udall, who is running for the Senate--and the winner is Jared Polis, former Colorado State Board of Education Director, business owner, and first openly gay man to serve in Congress.

News from tonight's primaries:

In Connecticut's Fourth District, Orange to Blue candidate Jim Himes administered a severe electoral beating to his primary opponent, Lee Whitnum.

How severe?

Himes won 87% to 13%. Granted, Whitnum was an exceptionally weak opponent, but still, a 74-point win is not bad.

In Colorado's Second District - perhaps the one of most interest to Democrats, as the Democratic primary here will determine the next Representative from a safe Democratic district - Jared Polis leads Joan Fitz-Gerald by just under 1,400 votes, with just 30% of the vote counted. Polis has 43% of the vote, to Fitz-Gerald's 39%.

The third candidate, Will Shafroth, trails with 18% and is pretty much done.

In the Fifth District, widely loathed GOP incumbent Doug Lamborn has apparently lived to fight another year. Lamborn picked up 46% of the vote in his reelection bid (it's an R+16 district, so the Republican primary usually is the election here).

His two rivals, Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn, have 29% and 26%, respectively, with 58% of the vote in.

Meanwhile in the Sixth District, Tom Tancredo's old stomping grounds, 93% of the vote is in, and it appears that Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has fended off fellow Republican Wil Armstrong (son of former Sen. Bill Armstrong) to win the nomination (and almost certainly win election).

This has two side effects. First, the next Colorado Secretary of State will be a Democrat, appointed by Democratic Governor Bill Ritter.

Second, Coffman has been mentioned as a potential U.S. Senate candidate for 2010, against Democratic incumbent Sen. Ken Salazar. A loss here would have neatly ended such talk, but Coffman's victory makes a future Senate run a bit more likely. With a statewide electoral pedigree, it would seem the GOP could come up with worse candidates than Coffman.

One of the biggest mistakes I feel we in the national netroots (state blogs have been more into it) have made this cycle  (and every cycle, for that matter) is our lack of involvement in primaries for open House seats.

In my opinion, getting involved in open-seat races is probably the easiest way to ensure a progressive House of Representatives. If we get in early, we can help provide a major cash advantage for our preferred candidate, because there is no incumbent with a massive war chest to take down.

It's also far, far easier to win an open-seat primary than it is to take down an entrenched incumbent (granted, it's still worth it in cases like Wynn and Lieberman and Cuellar and Lipinski, but there's only a handful of other districts where it's worth the resources). Furthermore, if we don't get involved, a bad candidate might get through.

Of course, it's too late for that in tonight's race in CO-2, and Jared Polis and Joan Fitz-Gerald both seem to be fine candidates.

Results below or from The Denver Post

Colorado's slightly schizo political profile is in stark relief today, where the three competitive primaries are in stark contrast. You've got CO-02, the extremely safe seat Mark Udall is leaving for his Senate run and on the other end of the spectrum are the R+16 CO-05 and the R+10 seat CO-06. CO-06 is the seat being vacated by the immigrant-hating Tom Tancredo, and CO-05 is represented by freshman wingnut Doug Lamborn. Swing State gives the basics on those races.

The winner of these primary races are almost certainly going to be the general election winners, so it's no suprise that so many candidates are vying for them. Of particular interest for us is who is going to be filling Mark Udall's seat in D.C. next January. In what has been one of the most expensive primary races in the nation, and is expected to bring out lots of voters.

The contest pitting former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, conservationist Will Shafroth and wealthy entrepreneur Jared Polis is expected to generate turnout surpassing the high of the past 10 years and perhaps even that of the big campaigns in the 1990s.

This time, the big turnout will be linked to the race for a U.S. House seat. The three biggest 2nd District Democratic primary turnouts of the past 20 years - in 1990, 1992 and 2004 - were tied to U.S. Senate races.

This year, 2nd District voters - residing in 10 counties stretching from the north metro area into the mountains - have been exposed to the costliest congressional primary in Colorado history, with the three candidates raising more than $9 million. The bulk of that is linked to Polis, who has devoted $5.3 million of his personal fortune to the effort.

The turnout will be interesting to see, and a potential indicator of who's going to come out in Colorado in November. This district will be key to Obama's and Udall's prospects in November--driving high turnout today and building that enthusiasm through the fall will be critical to flip the state to Blue in November.

For more background on the race--and one of the most ironic journalistic efforts to make a non-issue an issue by declaring it a non-issue (Polis's sexual orientation)--see this Time article.

A poll released today from Public Policy Polling shows Obama holding a slim lead in Colorado, and Udall's lead for the open Senate seat closing in a bit.

Public Policy Polling [pdf]. 8/5-8/7. Likely voters. MoE 3.2% (7/14 results)

McCain leads just 48-46 with white voters, while Obama has a 51-36 edge with Hispanics.  Both candidates are polling in the mid-80s among folks within their parties while Obama is leading 50-35 with independents.

Senate

It's Colorado week, with the primary tomorrow and the state taking such a prominent role in November's presidential election, from the upcoming convention to its unusual status as a swing state. Colorado has only voted for one Democrat for president in 40 years, for Clinton in 1992 (with Perot taking a whopping 23% of the vote).

There's a lot brewing in Colorado now that could affect who comes out to vote next November. The state is in the middle of the energy wars, where the pressure to drill more is butting up against another powerhouse economic force in the state--tourism. But it's not just the recreational industry that's energizing to oppose more drilling--it's the Coloradans who appreciate having public lands as their backyards to do some of that recreating. Environmental issues have played out in Democrats' favor in the last few elections in Colorado, but with industry putting on a full-court press, including a massive PR job, and with the country in a ginned up "energy crisis" mode, that could change.

An even more hot-button issue for the state will be on the ballot this fall. That's Amendment 48, which would confer constitutional rights on fertilized eggs--the whackjobs have spoken, and have managed to get on the ballot. Colorado Independent's Wendy Norris (you might better know her as Kossack em dash) has the scary backstory on the mastermind behind this initiative, including his links to the most violent anti-abortion groups. The problem for Democrats with this initiative on the ballot will be the mobilization of the hard-core Republicans and evangelicals who might have otherwised stayed home. Whether those folks would also mark their ballots for McCain and other Republicans is unclear, but their potential impact makes mobilizing votres against it even more critical.

With a right to work initiative also on the ballot, the right has done its best to stack the ballot for a mobilized Republican and evangelical vote, despite their flawed candidates. Obama's and Udall's best chance to keep Colorado on its blue streak will be in matching that mobilization effort and widening their advantage with the state's huge population of unaffiliated voters.

The SurveyUSA poll released today for VA shows Obama trailing by 1 point, 48-47%. This is fine for Obama, especially since AA votes seem to be undercounted and disproportionately for McCain. Still, it does represent a loss of lead in a state that could put him over the top.

On the other hand, PPP shows him holding the lead in Colorado. The margin is 4 points, 48-44%. This may be the most important state in Obama's winning coalition