Election 2016: How important is Colorado this year?

Maybe not as important as we like to think. Or maybe very important.

The Washington Post didn’t even include us in this list of “8 states that will tell you everything you need to know on election night.”

On the other hand, we’re one of eight states that Votecastr is monitoring with its real-time vote projections.

Whether Colorado matters this year really depends on what happens on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

The earliest vote results show North Carolina leaning red and Florida leaning blue and both races very tight. This is going to be a moving target throughout the night.

FiveThirtyEight has New Hampshire as the “tipping point” state, with Colorado and Pennsylvania safely on the Clinton side of the line.

North Carolina and Florida are leaning blue but not at all a sure thing for Democrats. If either one of those states — but especially Florida — goes for Clinton, Colorado might not matter that much.

On the other hand, if states considered relatively safe for Democrats like Michigan or Wisconsin go for Trump, then Colorado becomes more important to getting Clinton over the line to 270 electoral votes.