DENVER // When Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, appeared before a crowd of more than 100,000 in the Colorado state capital on Sunday, he immediately made his priorities clear.
"How many people here have early-voted?" Mr Obama asked supporters, who responded with a loud cheer and a show of hands.
"Those of you who haven't early-voted, find someone next to you who has," he said, "and find out what you need to do."
With a week until the US presidential election, it is crunch time in this key swing state, where mail-in voting is transforming the race.
Almost 20 per cent of the 1.6 million Coloradans who received their ballot by post have already mailed them back, according to the secretary of state's office. More than 85,000 others have voted at polling centres, which opened on Saturday.
By election day on Nov 4, as many as 60 per cent of Coloradans will have already cast their ballot.
"It requires the candidates to treat the entire month of October as election day," said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver-based pollster and political analyst. "There are constant campaign events, visits by the candidates, and a heavy dose of political ads."
State officials hope mail-in voting will alleviate the four-hour queues that plagued polls in 2004 and 2006. In addition, some voters who chose to mail their ballots said they were nervous about the state's new voting machines, or simply wanted time to sit down and consider the many amendments on the four-page ballot.
"I would say, in our circle of friends, nearly everyone I know has early-voted," said Laura Lefkowits, a Denver resident. "We don't want to see any problems on November 4."
Colorado is not alone. Most US states offer voters the option to cast absentee ballots by mail, but the concept of mail-in voting has taken off in larger western states, including Oregon, Washington and California.
A recent Gallup study found that in this election as many as 30 per cent of citizens across the United States will have voted before election day on Nov 4.
Traditionally, mail-in voting has targeted rural voters in larger states where distances to the polling stations tended to reduce turnout.
That has tended to benefit Republicans. This year, the Colorado Republican Party dispatched an army of volunteers to hand out 35,000 information pamphlets in Weld County, a rural Republican stronghold where rates of mail-in voting are high.
But the Obama campaign has also embraced mail-in voting, targeting urban Hispanic and African-American voters, who traditionally tend to register in higher numbers than their actual turnout on election day reflects.
The Obama campaign, which earlier registered record numbers of new voters, now has thousands of volunteers making follow-up calls and visits to their homes to make sure these newly registered Democrats follow through in filling out their ballots and dropping them in the mail.
"It's called ballot-chasing, and it basically allows the parties to bug people to death," Mr Ciruli said. "My guess is that the majority of the huge audience Obama had on Sunday already voted. They will now be mobilised to help others to get out and vote."
Getting out the voters will be key in hotly contested Colorado, which George W Bush won in the past two elections. As recently as August, a survey by the Rocky Mountain News put John McCain in front by three percentage points.
Since then, economic turmoil appears to have shifted the state firmly into Mr Obama's camp. An Oct 24 survey, also by the newspaper, gave Mr Obama a 12-point advantage over his Republican opponent, and a devastating 2-1 lead among the state's sizeable pool of independent voters. Other polls put the Democratic candidate ahead by seven to 10 points.
Democratic Party officials, as well as Mr Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, a Delaware senator, are wary of complacency, however.
"Maybe I've been down this road too many times before, but we cannot afford to wait," Mr Biden told a crowd in Colorado Springs during a campaign visit on Friday. "So for those of you who have not voted yet? you have no excuse; go vote now."
The Republicans are also pulling out all the stops. Analysts said Colorado's nine electoral votes will be vital if Mr McCain is to pull off an 11th-hour upset to win the White House.
At a McCain rally in American football-crazed Denver on Friday, the Republicans brought out John Elway, a former Denver Broncos quarterback, who urged voters to cast a ballot at an early polling centre after leaving the arena.
"It's the fourth quarter," Mr Elway told the crowd.
So far, an equal percentage of Democrats and Republicans have voted early, indicating the Obama campaign is making headway in a vote sector the Republicans always dominated, Mr Ciruli said.
These next few days will see another flurry of visits to Colorado by the candidates and get-out-the-vote events, featuring celebrities and giveaway gimmicks.
With the past two US presidential elections decided by razor-thin margins, Mr Ciruli said, "early votes are like money in the bank".
gpeters@thenational.ae
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
The Specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 118hp
Torque: 149Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Price: From Dh61,500
On sale: Now
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The bio
Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
How do you relax?
Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
What is favourite book?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
What is your favourite Arabic film?
Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
What is favourite English film?
Mamma Mia
Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?
If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.
Director: Nag Ashwin
Starring: Prabhas, Saswata Chatterjee, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Shobhana
Rating: ★★★★
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
RESULTS
6.30pm: Handicap (rated 100+) US$175,000 1,200m
Winner: Baccarat, William Buick (jockey), Charlie Appleby (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (78-94) $60,000 1,800m
Winner: Baroot, Christophe Soumillon, Mike de Kock
7.40pm: Firebreak Stakes Group 3 $200,000 1,600m
Winner: Heavy Metal, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.15pm: Handicap (95-108) $125,000 1,200m
Winner: Yalta, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.50pm: Balanchine Group 2 $200,000 1,800m
Winner: Promising Run, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
9.25pm: Handicap (95-105) $125,000 1,800m
Winner: Blair House, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
10pm: Handicap (95-105) $125,000 1,400m
Winner: Oh This Is Us, Tom Marquand, Richard Hannon
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Company profile
Company name: Letswork
Started: 2018
Based: Dubai
Founders: Omar Almheiri, Hamza Khan
Sector: co-working spaces
Investment stage: $2.1 million in a seed round with investors including 500 Global, The Space, DTEC Ventures and other angel investors
Number of employees: about 20
SPEC SHEET: APPLE M3 MACBOOK AIR (13")
Processor: Apple M3, 8-core CPU, up to 10-core CPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Display: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 x 1664, 224ppi, 500 nits, True Tone, wide colour
Memory: 8/16/24GB
Storage: 256/512GB / 1/2TB
I/O: Thunderbolt 3/USB-4 (2), 3.5mm audio, Touch ID
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery: 52.6Wh lithium-polymer, up to 18 hours, MagSafe charging
Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD
Video: Support for Apple ProRes, HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10
Audio: 4-speaker system, wide stereo, support for Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio and dynamic head tracking (with AirPods)
Colours: Midnight, silver, space grey, starlight
In the box: MacBook Air, 30W/35W dual-port/70w power adapter, USB-C-to-MagSafe cable, 2 Apple stickers
Price: From Dh4,599
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
The biog
Name: Capt Shadia Khasif
Position: Head of the Criminal Registration Department at Hatta police
Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
Role Model: Father
She believes that there is a solution to every problem
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90+1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
‘FSO Safer’ - a ticking bomb
The Safer has been moored off the Yemeni coast of Ras Issa since 1988.
The Houthis have been blockading UN efforts to inspect and maintain the vessel since 2015, when the war between the group and the Yemen government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition began.
Since then, a handful of people acting as a skeleton crew, have performed rudimentary maintenance work to keep the Safer intact.
The Safer is connected to a pipeline from the oil-rich city of Marib, and was once a hub for the storage and export of crude oil.
The Safer’s environmental and humanitarian impact may extend well beyond Yemen, experts believe, into the surrounding waters of Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Eritrea, impacting marine-life and vital infrastructure like desalination plans and fishing ports.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Afro salons
For women:
Sisu Hair Salon, Jumeirah 1, Dubai
Boho Salon, Al Barsha South, Dubai
Moonlight, Al Falah Street, Abu Dhabi
For men:
MK Barbershop, Dar Al Wasl Mall, Dubai
Regency Saloon, Al Zahiyah, Abu Dhabi
Uptown Barbershop, Al Nasseriya, Sharjah