DENVER -- While appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Gov. Bill Ritter said Sen. Barack Obama has a "great opportunity to win in Colorado."

Ritter appeared on the program with Wyoming Gov. Dave Freundenthal. Both discussed the upcoming presidential race and a number of other issues facing the west.

When asked about Obama's chances in Colorado, Ritter said, "The people of Colorado are independent thinkers, they're future looking and they're also optimistic and I think he's captured that language in his campaign."

The governors emphasized the need for bipartisan cooperation to solve issues including oil and natural gas exploration.

Host Tom Brokaw asked Ritter if there would be nuclear power plants in Colorado.

"It's going to be part of our future as a country. It already provides about 20 percent of the energy to this country. But I think the thing that we both are saying is we have to have a national energy policy, and it has to be a combination of how we produce traditional resources and how we do it in a clean way," said Ritter.

Ritter also said the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver will be the greenest convention since the invention of electricity.