It is this energy that Colorado Democrats up and down the ticket are counting on come Election Day to push them over the edge and complete this state’s political makeover, sending its nine electoral votes to a Democrat for the first time since 1992.

“There’s only one choice,” said C.B. Lorson, who is registered as unaffiliated. The Fort Collins resident said it was clear who won the debate. “If I were undecided and had an I.Q. above 70, I’d choose Obama.”

Unaffiliated voters like Lorson will be key in Colorado and in Larimer County, which encompasses Fort Collins. Independents outnumber Democrats both here and statewide and are nearly as numerous as those registered Republican.

Final registration numbers for 2008 aren’t available yet, but as of August, the Democratic Party had gained nearly 4,000 active voters in Larimer County since the 2004 election. The Republican rolls had decreased  by about 5,000 active voters during the same period.

Larimer  stretches from the Front Range of the Rockies to the western edge of the plainsand is the most populous county in the state’s hotly contested 4th Congressional District. The district traditionally has been solidly Republican, and the party’s voters still outnumber Democrats by a safe margin, but GOP incumbent Marilyn Musgrave nearly lost in 2006 and is in trouble again this year.

Her opponent, Democrat Betsy Markey, was leading by 7 points, according to an August poll commissioned by the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call.  The same poll, the most recent independent survey of the district, showed Markey with a 30-point lead among independents. That poll gave McCain 48 percent of the vote within the district, compared to 46 percent for Obama, with a 4-point margin of error.  A statewide poll released by the Denver Post last week found McCain and Obama tied at 44 percent.

Nathaniel Volckening, a student at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins is one of Larimer County’s new voters. The 19-year-old said the Democratic candidates in all the debates had spoken more directly to the questions while the Republicans seemed to talk around any challenges. Volckening went to a Democratic caucus in February and now thinks being in a swing town in a swing state is exactly the right place to be.

“You can have a positive impact on Obama’s campaign,” he said.