He's Got a Friend: 1970's pop music diva Carole King has been singing her way across small towns in Colorado this week, stumping for John Kerry. Friday afternoon she lit up the Butterhorn Bakery & Cafe in Frisco where 80 locals gathered to hear her speak. King's message was mainly for women:

"You don't have to vote the way of your husband, your brother, your boyfriend or your father. You have a mind of your own, and it's a secret ballot. Women could not have a better advocate than John Kerry," King said.

Kerry also is heading to Colorado. He'll be at a campaign rally Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. at the Pueblo Union Depot. Don't like Kerry? Then head to Grand Junction where Dick Cheney will be waving the flag at at the Grand Junction airport. How close are the two candidates? According to the latest Rocky Mountain News poll, they are in a statistical dead heat:

The most recent poll, however, shows the Democrat within striking distance of taking the state and its nine electoral votes. A Rocky Mountain News/News 4 poll shows 47 percent of likely voters choosing Bush and 42 percent choosing Kerry. The difference is well within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

The Pueblo Chieftan also has them tied but says that Bush's lead has dropped by half in the last month. Cirulli and Associates , which conducted the polls, says that 7 percent of those polled this week remain undecided while 13 percent of those who have a favorite pick said they might change their minds.

"That means one-fifth of the state's voters are not firm in their choice," pollster Floyd Ciruli said.

If the chance to sway twenty percent of nine electoral votes is enough to bring three of the four candidates to Colorado the week before the election, it must be a nail-biter in the big swing states like Pennyslvania and Ohio.