NAPLES - Senator Barack Obama is making his presence known in Collier County. His campaign opened an office in Naples on Tuesday. The Barack Obama campaign says its all part of their strategy to compete for votes in all 50 states, including every area of Florida, even if that means putting a drop of blue in a county that's been a sea of red for some time.

"We're welcoming everyone under our broad tent as we've always called it," said Steve Hemping, Chair of the Democratic Executive Committee of Collier County.

You wouldn't know it by the packed house welcoming Barack Obama's "Campaign for Change" office in Naples, but Democrats have been a rare breed around here.

"We actually have had people who are Democrats running as Republicans because they didn't feel they were getting the support," Hemping said.

The Collier County Supervisor of Elections office says Republicans have been the majority of registered voters since the 1970s, and its been more than two decades since any Democrat has won an election here.

"The last time a Democrat was elected in Collier was in 1984,. It was the sheriff, his name was Aubrey Rogers," said Dave Carpenter with the Supervisor of Elections office. "After the election, Aubrey then converted and changed his party representation to Republican."

But now, Democrats say they're seeing a change they're hopeful will become a trend.

"It's been Republican territory here for some time, but the Democratic party is out registering Republicans here lately," Hemping said.

"I'm not saying we can absolutely turn this area blue, but I'm optimistic we can at least come together have conversations," said Jan Eschauzier.