Colorado is getting enough attention from this year's presidential candidates to maintain our swing state cred, but the numbers show where the campaigns see the real fight.
Donald Trump and his running mate Gov. Mike Pence managed to hit Colorado and all the other swing states at least once since the Republican National Convention ended July 21.
The Democratic National Convention wrapped up a week later, but Hillary Clinton and Sen. Tim Kaine aren't too far behind. Nine of the 12 states they've visited since July 28 are considered states that will decide the 2016 election.
Colorado keeps company with Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin as states to watch this election, according to Politico.
Trump and Pence have started off with a more ambitious schedule. Since the convention, they've visited 14 states a combined 32 times. That's compared to Clinton and Kaine visiting 12 states and Washington, D.C., 17 times, according to a Denverite analysis. Yes, Trump and Pence had a week's head start, but they're keeping an intense pace.
For the analysis, we looked at Hillary Clinton's official events schedule and the Trump ticket's social media feed. These are visits just since the conventions ended, so it doesn't include Clinton's visit in June to a co-working space in the Golden Triangle or Trump's visit in early July to the Western Conservative Summit.
Clinton, Trump and Pence each visited Colorado once, making the Centennial State the sixth most visited member of the union -- tied with Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But the visits also show where the campaigns view the real battlegrounds: states that are losing industrial jobs like Ohio and Pennsylvania and, of course, the ever fought over Florida.
The Trump ticket and Clinton made seven different stops in Colorado on July 29 and Aug. 3, hitting Denver, Colorado Springs, Commerce City and Weston.
Clinton vowed to be back to Colorado before the election is put to rest Nov. 8. That's despite recently cutting ad spending in Colorado, and some political experts claiming she has the state in the bag.
The Donald also told voters he'd be back when he came late last month. His state campaign chair, Robert Blaha, told CNN the state is still in play for Republicans.
| State | Clinton-Kaine | Trump-Pence | Both Campaigns |
| Ohio | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Florida | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| North Carolina | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Virginia | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Michigan | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Iowa | - | 3 | 3 |
| Colorado | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Nevada | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Indiana | - | 2 | 2 |
| Arizona | - | 1 | 1 |
| Washington D.C. | 1 | - | 1 |
| Texas | 1 | - | 1 |
| New Hampshire | - | 1 | 1 |
| Nebraska | 1 | - | 1 |
| Maryland | 1 | - | 1 |
| Maine | - | 1 | 1 |
| Total Visits | 17 | 32 | 49 |
Visits are counted as one stop by any member of the Republican or Democratic tickets in a state in a given day. For example, Donald Trump stopping in Colorado Springs and Denver on July 29 counts as one visit for Colorado. Source: Hillaryspeeches.com, Twitter.com/realdonaldtrump and Twitter.com/mike_pence.
Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
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