Colorado: getting weird

Perhaps someone who's lived here longer than I have can explain the following results of the 2008 election in Colorado:

• The state votes Democratic in a presidential election for the first time in 16 years, yet Republicans actually pick up House seats for the first time in 14 years.
• Colorado becomes the first state to reject Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action initiative, but at the same time it wouldn't pass a modest tax to benefit special needs children.
• A white Coloradan (Udall) wins statewide with a smaller vote share than a black Chicagoan (Obama).
• Bernie Buescher, the presumed next speaker of the state house, loses his reelection bid.

Weird. Meanwhile, Colorado has become the first state to have African Americans running both its state legislative chambers. Pretty cool.