Ritter on 'Meet The Press': Obama will win Hispanic vote 'hands down'

Gov. Bill Ritter: Getty Images PhotoPresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has a "great opportunity" to win Colorado this November over John McCain and will win over Hispanic voters "hands down," Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said Sunday on "Meet The Press."

"The people of Colorado are independent thinkers, they're future looking and they're also optimistic," Ritter said on the political talk show, hosted by longtime NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw. "And I think he's captured that language in his campaign. The things that he's talked about are very much things that resonate with the people of the West and certainly the people in Colorado."

Asked if adding Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton to the ticket would help Obama in Colorado, Ritter said it didn't know if such a move would "help or hurt."

He did dismiss concerns among many Democrats that Obama won't fare well among Hispanic voters, given that Obama polled poorly among that demographic in many Democratic primaries and since McCain is moving to court Latino voters.

"Obama wins, I think, among Hispanics hands down, and he does that because he has a language about education that really is, again, it's about optimism but it's also about reforming the system, and I think Hispanic voters pay attention to that," Ritter said. "They care that the job creation happens across all kinds of lines, socioeconomic lines, and I think they're going to be excited about Barack Obama in a far bigger way once the spotlight is on him and on his, on his issues that really will matter to them."

Ritter also said nuclear power is "going to be part of our future as a country.

"It already provides about 20 percent of the energy to this country," he said, though he quickly added that a national energy policy was needed that also "load(s) up on research and development for clean coal" and "incentivize(s) conservation and efficiency."

Ritter appeared on "Meet The Press" with Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where the Western Governors' Association is meeting through Tuesday.

The show was hosted by veteran NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, who filled in following the death of longtime "Meet The Press" host Tim Russert earlier this month.

Colorado Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams retorted in an e-mail that "Ritter and Obama wrap themselves in feel-good moderate rhetoric that contradicts their extreme records.

"They're both are bought and paid for by unions," Wadhams wrote in the e-mail. "They both support higher taxes. They both want to continue to deny access to domestic energy sources thereby keeping gasoline prices high."