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The next step in the race for the Presidency is Super Tuesday. This year's contest takes place on March 6th with 410 delegates up for grabs. 2012 Super Tuesday states include Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia, along with Alaska.All stories for Super Tuesday will be collected in this special section.

Will Colorado Make Another Move To A Primary Over Holding Caucuses?

Helen Dombalis
/
used with permission
The over-capacity crowd caucusing for the Democratic Party at Lincoln Middle School in Fort Collins, Colo., was pushed outside by the fire marshal for their Super Tuesday polling.

The Colorado Democratic and Republican parties recently wrapped up their caucuses on . The 2016 Democratic caucus was notable for the unexpected large turnout – while the GOP their presidential preference poll. Either way, there were gripes. Two lawmakers are planning to introduce a bill to change the state's caucus system and instead add a presidential primary.

Highlights from Capitol Conversation

On Public Support for Changing the Caucus System

Joey Bunch, The Denver Post: "It's an antiquated system. It goes back to the colonial days and most states have gone to a primary and there's momentum to go to a primary in Colorado."

Peter Marcus, Durango Herald: "This year [2016] the lawmakers pushing it believe they have the ground swell of support. They certainly have the emotion on their side."

On Legislative Hurdles

Marcus: "We've tried in the legislature several times to address this issue and transition away from a caucus system to a primary system and every time it always hits the same funding roadblocks."

Bunch: "It would be hard to carve out $6 million for this when you're looking at giving nearly $1 billion in refunds."

Bente Birkeland is an award-winning journalist who joined Colorado Public Radio in August 2018 after a decade of reporting on the Colorado state capitol for the Rocky Mountain Community Radio collaborative and KUNC. In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later.
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