This mountain state is a battleground for the presidential candidates RIFLE, COLO.—Wendy Gutierrez is a small-town gift-shop owner, so she knows firsthand that many consumers aren't shopping as much as they were a year ago. "People are afraid—they are afraid to spend any money," she says as she enters one of her two stores in northwestern Colorado, a region that's now hopping with natural gas drilling. "You would think we're in a recession proof area, but my sales are down by more than 50 percent." Gutierrez is a registered Republican, but considers herself independent-minded and says she hasn't decided on a candidate yet. "I don't think either candidate knows what to do to solve the credit problem," she says. The Western Slope, as this part of Colorado is known, has long been considered a conservative stronghold, and...
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