arapahoe is the third largest of 64 counties in colorado. accounts for one-tenth of the state total electorate. this election, it's one of the key areas along with neighboring jefferson county in crucial battleground state. that went to barack obama by nine points in 2008. george w. bush by 4-1/2 points in 2004. we have been touring several of the 12 battleground states. as we count down to election day. we have identified more than 30 key swing counties inside those states. based on voting patterns, key issues and demographics. they're marked in yellow on this map. so all of that, that is why we're here. throughout the show tonight we'll bring you what some of the folks we talk with on arapahoe are saying about the race and the issues they care about. >> the national debt is just so overwhelming that we feel that our children, grandchildren are never going to have the opportunity to have lifestyle that we currently have. that is one of the big things. >> you worry about it. it's a concern. >> i own a small business. we had to lay off people

this is sigg's classmate at arapahoe community college.hank you for being with us, miss miller. >> thank you for having me. >> jacqueline, how did you know sigg and what was he like in class? particularly when you did a paper on ted bundy. >> i can tell you that i didn't speak to him like outor before class. we only spoke in class discussion. last week we were discussing our papers and i wrote mine about anti-social personality disorder and i used ted bundy to help define what this kind of character is. and he was extremely intrigued by it. his eyes were nailed to me. hindsight, 20/20, it's kind of scary. >> isn't it true that during certain of the comments you recite that ted bundy had made, sigg would sit back and chuckle? >> he did. because when in, i wrote about anti-social, i said and i used ted bundy to help define. he did chuckle. and i did at first i thought he was maybe making fun of me playfully because he engaged the class and he was highly intelligent. he was very charming. but things are starting to turn around because of busi

the second resort to colorado and joint arapahoe basin which opened its slopes last week. >> my onlyunted is it's not be as pleasant as last winter. this weather is pleasant as can be. finished withe this pattern. look at that. picture is worth a thousand words. i'll be quiet for a minute. the sun goes down in about seven minutes, but a evening and high clouds. this will help keep temperatures mild overnight. at these temperatures -- 75 in arlington. 73 in the district. these were the highs today into the lower 80s. officials that reagan national 66 and 48. the temperature of 70 degrees represent a high well above average. then charleston, cooler to north and '60s in southern england. 77 today, well above average, above average. going to change when you trot and temperatures over the next several days. high pressure in the south is these west bringing that southwesterly winds. slowly as we head toward the weekend and beyond, all of this around as the storm develops and publishes a front out ahead of it which whateverract with to the tropical storm now. e caribbean right ifs and circu

guest: jefferson and arapaho, west of downtown denver. and then i-25, which is our main interstate going north and south, down to the south, pueblo, larry, adams cannot -- adams, and then one of them except the big 11 and that is grand junction. that is essentially 85% of our state's population in those 11 counties. host: kevin in houston, texas, in europe next. -- you are up next. caller: i am a young man and a live in texas. i went to college in 2001. i had to go through a bunch of banks. it took much of my time in college to go through all of these banks just so i could go to school. my mother has a loan through countrywide. i'm noticing the the republican party keep saying things like, we are going to keep the government out of this and that, but at the same time, talking about gay marriage and women's rights. why is it that banks can do whatever they want, lenders can do whatever they want, and the republican party thinks that is ok, but if somebody decides they want to be in a same-sex marriage or if a woman decides that she cannot

arapahoe county with 53% of the voters.ney is trailing by 15 points in the recent of several surveys among women. today we went to find out what women in colorado are saying about the issues and about this race. >> obama's policies are making it harder on women. the poverty rate for women, highest in 17 years. >> when it comes to environment, it's a clear choice. i'm voter for president obama. >> it's a clear choice. no secret, one day before the first debate, both campaigns are focusing op women voters. especially here in colorado. >> we want to know that america is going to be okay. >> diana is a hair stylist who will soon own her own business. she says she is still not sure who will get her vote. >> i'm still trying to figure it out. i do a lot of research. i read a lot. i want to make sure i pick the best candidate. i don't want to go by hearsay or what everybody else is doing. >> she see dark economic clouds on the horizon. >> people are afraid of losing social security, and benefits. it's hard. it's hard to feel safe

but arapaho county which is just right there.ludes suburbs like aurora, it as purple as it gets. it is economically mixed with an increasingly hispanic population and in 2008, president obama won it by 12 points. but in 2004, bush won it by 4 points. you can see the change. early voting from the county is now showing in arapaho. it is extremely tight. slight lead for mitt romney. so as nancy pelosi said right here on "the war room," don't agonize, organize, get out there and vote you coloradans. joining me now is molly ball, the political staff writer for atlantic magazine coming to us from washington, d.c. she's written a great article. she's visited all three of these counties that we just talked about and the article came out yesterday. molly, thank you so much for coming inside "the war room" to tell us what you found. >> thanks for having so many of the counties went for president bush in 2004 but for president obama in 2008. how is the obama campaign trying to hang on to those voters? >> well, like you were just saying, it

. >>> all right, now to the rockies where colorado skiers kicked off ski season at arapahoe basin. the resort is traditionally one of the first in the nation to open their slopes. colorado resorts are hoping to rebound from last season's drab winter. >>> and finally, artistic undergarments are now being used to fight against breast cancer. that's because an elaborate array of unique bras are scheduled to hit the auction block in new york. these unique designs will be sold next month, all to raise money for breast cancer awareness. getting creative. >>> and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins, who is not getting creative about the weather out there. that will tell its own story. >> and speaking of trying to wear as little clothes as possible, l.a. yesterday, 97 degrees. >> they could have used those bras. >> yes. bikinis and bathing suits, if you can get away with it. yeah, it was a beach day yesterday in a few spots, and warm temperatures. i mean, pretty incredible stuff. it wasn't record highs. the record high in downtown l.a

there are two big ones in colorado, arapaho and jefferson.talked to folks all around the past couple of days. there is truly a big split, anecdotally not talking about polls but just talking to folks on the sidewalk. obviously you can imagine that the economy and jobs is really a big factor here. the unemployment rate is a little bit higher than it is in the state-wide unemployment rate. and when they want to hear from the president and frankly from governor romney is how they can turn everything around. they want to hear how the country is going to be better in the next four years. most of them have talked about looking forward not looking back. i think both candidates probably could take some pointers from those folks. you're going to hear a lot of them on special report tonight. jenna: just really quick here, bret how specific do they want each candidate to get. we hear back and forth, they want real specifics, no they want great personality and leadership, the specifics are not that important. what are you hearing from voters. >> the peop

rockies, colorado skiers kicked off ski season at arapaho basin. the resort is traditionally one of the first in the nation to open their slopes. colorado resorts are hoping to rebound from last season's drab winter. how nice does that look. >>> artistic undergarments are now being used in the fight against breast cancer. getting creative there. an elaborate array of bras will be sold to raise money for breast cancer awareness. >>> your national weather. we turn to bill karins capturing busy weather headlines. >> huge storm that spawned severe storms last night. the state of mississippi got hit the worst. the storms as far as the official tallies go about 77 storm reports, the blue dots are the damaging wind reports, the red is the tornado reports. we had three of them. it appears the one near yazoo city and to the south of meridian did the most damage. a couple thousand without people in central mississippi and the storms have weakened. a look at that storm that did cause the issues. here it was as it went through the meridian, mississippi, area.

arapahoe. as jefferson county goes, so goes the nation. again, president bush won in 2004 by 9,000 votes. obama won there by more than 34,000 votes. but in 2010 again with a much tighter race. romney's strategy depends on winning the suburbs as well as driving up margins with social conservatives and active military and veterans in colorado springs and the rural areas of the state and doing well with voters here. the swing county like the state as a whole has become more hispan hispanic. colorado is 18% latino. that's up from 11.8% in 2000. the question is whether they cast ballots this time around. so how do voters in denver's swing suburbs known for being independent thinkers feel about the candidates? tom bro ka talked with a bunch of undecided voters in the great swing county, jefferson county. the county seen there is golden, colorado. and asked what will make the difference in their vote. >> i feel like i have to make a decision on the progress of my family and moving them forward versus all of women's rights out there. because i don

by the way skiers, some of the spots like arapahoe basin are opening today out in colorado. so they're getting ready for the -- to start their ski season. we're 54 with gaithersburg 49 and the same in la plata. i'll be back in a few minutes talking about the rest of the week into the weekend. >>> medical emergency on the northbound side of the fairfax county parkway between popes head road. watch out for that activity. the beltway is doing fine. northbound 95 not so good. there's an accident at the prince william parkway. there's only one vehicle involved as far as they can see but take a look at the activity live from sky 9 right side of the road and left side of the road there affected and thre le solid backup right now as you head northbound on 95. you can see the authorities trying to move around at the incident scene as well. so a tough situation here. right now all traffic is stopped as you can see as the accident vehicles are moved from the roadway. so again watch out for that. it looks like traffic is now being set free but again 3 to four-mile, damage is done, north

troopers could never capture the young cheyenne and arapahoe warriors. they knew the country well. so sheridan elected to strike the indians in their winter camps, where they had previously been laughed. there they would be most vulnerable and least expect the net attack. an attack in indian village, sheridan was acting with responsibility. another words, civilian were culpable too. shared and had just one man might to lead the team succeed winter expedition. george armstrong custer. the union might calvary. custer had served under sheridan achille tavern in the shenandoah valley, had five forks of sailors creek and appomattox. sheridan raced custer through the ranks, just as grant had raised sheridan. custer and sheridan work hinders spirits, both energetic, aggressive, bold and aspiring commanders who led from the front. as sheridan had become grants go to commander, so had custer become sheridan's most dependable hard hitter. custer and 800 men from the seventh calvary hit cheyenne chief black kettle is camped in present-day oklahoma, at daybreak november 27, 1868 comest no wait

now in this poll we have romney ahead in the denver suburbs, arapaho, skwlefrson county, 51-46 and basically the only reason the president doesn't trail when you usually if you lose in the denver suburbs you don't win the state it's this massive lead he has among latinos. >> not getting his marker among suburban voters, among women voters. when you compare it to last time where he won the state handily so doesn't have to do it this time but it is the latino voters and it is the strength he has at his base, not in these swing voters and the question is, how many are there and what's the early vote? colorado is a huge early vote state. three-quarters will vote before election day and right now they are also within one point of each other in terms of their preferences, so this just is, you know, if it comes down to colorado, not only will the time zone make it really late for us to tally, but, boy, it may well keep us push us into extra innings. >> i want to just point out the job approval ratings in both states for the president because among likely voters we know job approval and incumbent's

route to that state, we heard kevin madden with the romney campaign talking about swing counties, arapahoe and jefferson county. you can be sure they're doing the same thing in ohio, looking at swing counties across the state of ohio, ones they can flip to mitt romney's column. but there's something else going on with the state of ohio. and that is this op-ed that mitt romney wrote about letting detroit go bankrupt in the "new york times." that has come back to haunt him big-time in that state because it's so heavily dependent on the auto industry, the romney campaign is now in the process of trying to explain to voters that mitt romney, this is what they're saying, would have supported some kind of government assistance to the car companies coming out of the bankruptcy process. now, that is not the story that we have heard throughout the course of this campaign. rick santorum went after mitt romney for opposing the car bailout back during the primaries but mitt romney was able to close the gap with the senator and win in ohio in the primary process. the question is whether or not he can d

factor in this election because we have 118,000 independent women voters in jefferson county and arapahoe county who will help make, make a break and as the counties go, the state will go. >> ifill: what are the issues they are drawn to? >> this election is not about social issues. this election is critical for our economy. and i think we're engaging more and more of our independent voters to see that it's about our economy, it's about our jobs. >> ifill: both candidates have become repeat visitors to jefferson county, making direct appeals to swing voters. >> i need you to commit to do something. i need you to each find one person who voted for barack obama last time. i want you to find them and talk to them and ask them if they can't vote for someone who will bring real change and strengthen america, and bring back good jobs. and i'll do it. i need your help to do it because this is the state that could decide it. >> i've got to say, colorado, after all we've been through, the idea that we would roll back regulations that we finally put in place on wall street to make sure they don't ac

guest: jefferson and arapaho, west of downtown denver. and then i-25, which is our main interstate going north and south, down to the south, pueblo, larry, adams cannot -- adams, and then one of them except the big 11 and that is grand junction. that is essentially 85% of our state's population in those 11 counties. host: kevin in houston, texas, in europe next. -- you are up next. caller: i am a young man and a live in texas. i went to college in 2001. i had to go through a bunch of banks. it took much of my time in college to go through all of these banks just so i could go to school. my mother has a loan through countrywide. i'm noticing the the republican party keep saying things like, we are going to keep the government out of this and that, but at the same time, talking about gay marriage and women's rights. why is it that banks can do whatever they want, lenders can do whatever they want, and the republican party thinks that is ok, but if somebody decides they want to be in a same-sex marriage or if a woman decides that she cannot

guest: jefferson and arapaho. if i-25, if you go from the wyoming border down to the new mexico border, of pueblo, a passive, douglas, adams, where may, well, and denver. those are your key other counties and there is one other that mix of the big 11 and that is grand junction. if you add those together that is 85% of our state. the population. in the 11 counties. that is where you are putting resources. caller: i have a question. i am a young man and i live in texas. i went to college in 2001. i had to go through a bunch of banks and i spent most of my time in college to go through these banks to get loans. my mother has along with countrywide. i have had money taken out of the banks from this predatory lending thing they're doing. the republican party keeps saying things like we're going to keep the government out of this and out of that. at the same time they're in our bedrooms talking about gay marriage and women's rights. my question is, what banks can do whatever they want, businesses can do whatever they wa

you will hear a lot of talk about arapaho and jefferson counties in terms of which ever candid it willse counties. they will have a much easier path to running the state of colorado. i will be looking closely at the number of republican votes coming in from el paso county, douglas county, mesa county. another swing county is a larimer, northern colorado, fort collins, colorado state university. we are going to see if they get the numbers the way they want to. they will pay considerable attention to the southwest corner of the state. durango, fort lewis, so we will see how they are doing in that corner of the state as well. host: off twitter. larry in colorado, democratic line. go ahead. caller: i just want to give a shout out for obama. i'm a pretty strong supporter of his and i think is a real no- brainer when you consider that he pretty much saved us from a depression. the american recovery act was obviously a success. of course, the auto bailout. i do not think anyone can vote against obama because he had not save that the auto industry would have been lost. and is 50 minutes. >> th

i guess he dropped out of stanley and went to arapaho community college or whatever.om has been over here. she's very quiet and to herself. they have always had cats they haven't taken very good care of and the cats would get out. i've always had big dogs and the cats would come in the yard to the point of making my dog fall and get hurt. so i asked him to come get his cat. he was polite, came and got the cat, no problem, said he'd keep the cats home. you know, that's kind of basically all the interaction i had with him. >> have you seen him? did he have friends? did you ever see him interacting with other people his age? >> caller: well, you know, yesterday they were kids on segways, i don't know, they were going up and down the streets. it's an irritating noise. there were two kids up and down the street yesterday and wen over to the house. i don't know if they were there to see parker or austin. >> anything else you can tell us about austin? you've had minimal interaction with him, sharon? >> he's always been polite, you know. it was usually animal related. >> did