Trump, Palin to Headline Start of Western Conservative Summit in Colorado

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Sarah Palin will kick off the Western Conservative Summit on July 1 in Denver, Colorado, the organizers announced Wednesday. The major conservative convention claims to be the “largest gathering of conservatives outside of Washington, D.C.,” and is seen as a pivotal step in the grassroots effort to flip the once-reliably Republican state in November.

Former President George W. Bush carried the state twice before President Barack Obama flipped it in 2008. Gov. Mitt Romney failed to carry the state in 2012, despite fitting the Republican Party Establishment’s mold for a candidate who can win the state.

The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential candidate will speak, as will Trump on the first day of the summit. Organizers told The Denver Post that Gov. Palin’s speech will be a half hour and Mr. Trump is scheduled to speak for an hour.

Gov. Palin was among the first major conservative figures to endorse Mr. Trump in the Republican Primary, which he did ahead of the Iowa caucuses. In San Diego last month, she said that the the New York businessman “blew the lid off the corrupted and corroded machine.”

“He was like a golden wrecking ball. He wrecked what needed to be wrecked,” Palin said during the May 27 event.

Recent polling has been non-existent in Colorado. The most recent [content_tooltip id=”38038″ title=”Quinnipiac University (Q-Poll)”] conducted last November found Mr. Trump holding a commanding 11-point lead over Mrs. Clinton. However, Jefferson County was one of just two out of a total seven battleground counties tracking where Mrs. Clinton was leading Mr. Trump, albeit by just 40% to 26%.