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Colorado Remains A Top Priority For Presidential Candidates

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado remains a top priority for the presidential campaign as the candidates continue to visit the state to stump for votes.

It's setting up to be the tightest presidential election in the history of the United States. Based on current polls from Rasmussen and CBS News, if the election happened Sunday swing states New Hampshire would go to Mitt Romney and Pennsylvania would go to President Barack Obama. Virginia, Florida, Iowa and North Carolina would go to the Republican ticket. Wisconsin, Nevada and Ohio would go to the Democrats.

Under that scenario Obama would win the election with 271 electoral votes to Romney's 258 even before calling the Colorado vote. Colorado is currently trending toward Romney. There are dozens of other scenarios that could make Colorado the deciding vote, so right now the state is far from being written off.

Paul Ryan stumped in Colorado Springs on Sunday. It was his first stop on three straight days of campaigning in the state.

"If he can't change Washington, then I say we change presidents," Ryan told the crowd in Colorado Springs.

The campaigns are beginning to see if nearly a year of work will pay off.

"You've got a big choice to make. Coloradans can do this. You have the control, you have the choice, you have the opportunity, you have the responsibility," Ryan said.

At City Park, three Denver mayors spoke to Obama campaign staff. With triple the amount of campaign offices in the state, the Democrats have an event planned for every single day between now and Nov. 6.

"The president has always believed in the ground game," former Denver Mayor Federico Pena said. "That means people on the street, lots of offices all over the state, lots of volunteers, and we have that."

After months of speeches and unending political ads, it may be hard to believe anyone is undecided. But both campaigns believe there are still votes to be won.

"Here in Colorado we have a lot of unaffiliated voters and some of them haven't made up their mind," Pena said.

Most swing states are in the margin of error and could go either way. For Romney to win the White House he will have to create new momentum in a state where he's already trailing. That could be done during a western swing in Nevada. He trails there by three points.

Winning Nevada could give Romney the win, but then that makes winning Colorado more important. In this scenario losing Colorado would let Obama retain his presidency.

No state is going to be more important than Ohio. No Republican has ever won the White House without it. Its 18 electoral votes will likely decide the election.

Nearly 30 states already began voting on Monday.

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