Thanks to Denver hosting [2] the last Democratic National Convention, Colorado was the trailhead of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign—and the president appears intent on keeping our battleground state at the center of his 2012 re-election map. Vice President Joe Biden and senior advisor David Plouffe will swoop into the Denver Athletic Club on Friday for a "big-money event," and you may have already noticed the Obama for America campaign shop downtown (Politico [3]).

As the GOP continues to struggle in uniting behind a 2012 contender, Obama faces early campaign problems of his own: a lack of high-profile surrogates to help make his case, particularly in unfriendly territory. "Obama faces the reality that almost every White House incumbent must eventually deal with: Politicians in his own party in vast swaths of battleground territory simply don’t want him around next year," writes Politico [4] (in a separate article). That's not the case with Mark Udall, Colorado's senior U.S. senator, who is reportedly a "rising star" in Obama's campaign circle. 

The prez is also counting on Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio, who paid a visit to Washington, D.C., recently to meet with the party's new national chair, Debbie Wasserman Schulz. At 36, Palacio is the youngest-elected chairman his respective state party, a distinction he shares with 35-year-old Republican counterpart Ryan Call. The two sat down with the Colorado Statesman [5] earlier this month to talk about the road to 2012.