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Where Will The Third GOP Debate Be Held?

by Elizabeth King

The latest GOP bonanza of the party's top contenders debating for the presidential nomination will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and is being hosted by CNBC. And where will the third GOP debate be held? The Republicans will gather in a place where few Republicans dare or care to assemble en mass: Boulder, Colorado, at the University of Colorado. What seems to be one of the most liberal states in the U.S. will be the temporary landing place of some of the most conservative politicians in the U.S. But the good news (at least for Jeb Bush) is that weed is 100 percent legal in the Centennial State! This also means that audience members can potentially have a better time than has ever been had at a GOP debate. Which is to say it could actually be fun(ny).

If it seems odd to you that the GOPers are heading to Colorado, you're not alone. The New York Times just ran an article on Sunday discussing the inherent strangeness of hosting a Republican debate in Boulder. The state of Colorado is considered to be quite liberal. The Times pointed out the bountiful number of yoga studios that have found a home in Boulder, and also the group of demonstrators who have already begun protesting next week's debate. The Times reported further that protesters are planning to include protest clowns to create what protesters called a "peaceful, out of the box, Boulder-style reception." Alrighty then.

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However left-leaning the state may appear to be, Colorado has actually voted Republican for president many times times in the last handful of elections. According to The Denver Post, Colorado went for President Reagan twice, and even voted for Bob Dole in 1996 (which might be the most conservative sentence ever written about the state). When Kennedy ran against Nixon, Kennedy only won by 151 votes in Denver. When the state's electoral votes went for President Obama in 2008, it was only the sixth time the state swung blue since 1920, according to The Post.

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So who knows? It could be that all the secret Republicans who are apparently quite active in Colorado will come out of the cracks and fill the seats at the next GOP debate, weed edibles and "Sorry Mom" cards in hand.