Both Parties Expect Smaller Crowds In Colorado Caucuses

DENVER (AP) — Colorado may provide Bernie Sanders his best chance yet to win in the West — but a sustained push by Hillary Clinton has Democrats unsure who will prevail in the state's caucuses Tuesday.

The Democratic presidential contest is the top draw, though both parties are holding caucuses.

That's because Colorado Republicans are not taking straw poll votes for president. They broke from recent tradition in response to national GOP rules that could have left their delegates voiceless at the party's national convention.

Twelve states cast votes for party nominees March 1, also known as Super Tuesday — the biggest single-day delegate haul of the nomination contests. Some states have contests for only one party. Republicans will vote in 11 states, with 595 delegates at stake. Democrats will vote in 11 states and American Samoa, with 865 delegates up for grabs.

But Colorado plays a relatively minor role in nomination contests in either party. Its caucuses are basically thousands of neighborhood straw polls, where small groups of party members start choosing delegates for county or congressional-district gatherings.

It's just the first step toward sending party members to the national conventions. State Democrats choose convention delegates in April.

Clinton organized early and lined up the backing of most state Democratic Party leaders, while Sanders intensified his campaign in the weeks leading to Colorado's nonbinding caucuses.

Elected Democrats in the state have generally supported Clinton, whose campaign has 10 field offices across the state.

But Sanders has cranked up his outreach in recent weeks, making two visits and sending volunteers to line up caucus supporters.

Sanders headlined a campaign rally Sunday at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, telling a young crowd he is unbowed by Clinton's large lead. The former secretary of state holds a huge advantage among African-Americans, a key Democratic constituency that will play a dominant role in several Super Tuesday states.

"I have been criticized for thinking too big," Sanders said in remarks reported by The Coloradoan newspaper. "I believe if you start your campaign calling for a full loaf, at worst, you're going to get a half loaf. ... People do not need crumbs! They need the whole loaf!"

It was at least the third Colorado campaign visit by the Democratic senator from Vermont.

The caucuses begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at thousands of locations across Colorado.

Democrats haven't predicted statewide attendance but have forecast that the total number of caucus-goers will dip from the last contested Democratic presidential primary contest, in 2008. That year, about 120,000 Coloradans showed up to caucus for the race featuring Clinton and then-candidate Barack Obama.

Republicans are expecting smaller crowds, too, about 20,000 to 60,000 people. Republican caucuses in Colorado drew about 70,000 in 2008.

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

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