Supporters of affirmative action may have finally found a way to defeat state ballot measures that would ban such programs: Latch onto an inspirational presidential candidate with piles of cash and an unprecedented voter-turnout machine. Those activists won a narrow victory in Colorado this month, when 50.7 percent of voters made the state the first to reject a ban on preferences based on race, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. The victors have called the win an affirmation of affirmative action. Rather than signifying a shift in voter attitudes, the ballot measure's defeat may have largely reflected Barack Obama's ability to draw liberal voters to the polls. As one of a handful of battleground states, Colorado was hit with an avalanche of Obama money and volunteers. The candidate visited the state seven times in the campaign's final two months, more visits than to any other state but Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, according to "The Washington Post." According to Ward Connerly, an activist who has been the chief national advocate of bans on affirmative action, "Obama spent a ton of money working with progressives to turn out the vote for him in the state."