When it comes to tea party support, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck has more or less maintained his popularity along the campaign trail. But "the race for the open governor's seat is a different matter," writes The Wall Street Journal. That's largely due to Republican candidate Dan Maes' fall from grace and the rise of the American Constitution Party's Tom Tancredo, causing a rift between tea party activists. While in April Rasmussen Reports found the rate of tea party participation in Colorado to be the highest in the United States (33 percent of voters), those numbers have dropped to 23 percent in this critical last stretch of the election.

As of Sunday, a Survey USA poll for The Denver Post and 9News put Democrat John Hickenlooper with an almost insurmountable 10-point lead over Tancredo. But how accurate is that data? It's hard to know for sure, with another new poll, this one from Public Policy Polling, showing Tancredo trailing by a mere three points (via The Huffington Post). PPP shows Hickenlooper was picked by 47 percent of voters surveyed and Tancredo by 44 percent, with Maes posting a pathetic five percent. PPP even calls the governor's race a "toss up"—as close as the U.S. Senate race between Michael Bennet and Buck—adding that "voters in the state have warmed up to Tancredo on a personal level as the campaign has progressed."