Udall Speaks To A Home Crowd

With An Eye On His Senate Race, Colorado Rep. Mark Udall Carefully Works Convention

by Richard E. Cohen

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008


As Rep. Mark Udall campaigns for the Senate, he has found it useful for his home state to be hosting the convention. But only to a point.

Tonight, Udall will appear before the largest crowd of his campaign when he speaks for a few minutes at Invesco Field. Close to half of the audience will likely be Coloradoans eligible to vote in what looms as a close contest in November against Republican nominee Bob Schaffer to succeed GOP Sen. Wayne Allard. Udall said his message will center on the need to get things done, which he called "a useful reminder to all voters."

Udall kept busy earlier this week with convention events including a press conference with other Democratic Senate candidates, meetings with the Colorado delegation, and numerous media interviews. But on Wednesday, he deliberately left town to campaign more than 300 miles away in Ouray and Telluride in southwest Colorado.

"This is a nice contrast for me to get around the state," Udall explained. "I have to raise votes, and I have to raise money. Votes are more important."

Still, his convention schedule revealed several themes that he has invoked in his campaign. In three broadcast interviews from the Pepsi Center on Tuesday afternoon, he joined his cousin from New Mexico, Rep. Tom Udall, who is also running for the Senate as the Democratic nominee to succeed GOP Sen. Pete Domenici. Their "all in the family" news peg has been a big draw for the media.

"The opportunity for me here is to highlight what Western Democrats have done in solving problems," Mark Udall told Tom Brokaw on MSNBC. A few minutes later, he said to PBS's Gwen Ifill that pragmatic Democratic officials "really have been doing in the West what Barack Obama wants to do."

Also on Tuesday, Udall joined Gov. Bill Ritter to focus on their state's growing production of wind- and solar-energy facilities. "It's wonderful to have people here in the heart of the new-energy economy," said Udall, who has been promoting renewable fuels for more than a decade. Between these events, Udall also did several brief interviews with local reporters, who mostly asked about his campaign.

Although he did not schedule fundraising events here this week, Udall said that one indirect benefit of the convention was that numerous Democratic contributors mentioned that they had seen some of this month's $5 million in ads attacking him that have blanketed local television stations.

A recent Denver Post poll gave Udall a lead of 47 percent to 37 percent over Schaffer, but both sides expect a tight finish. And Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams, who also serves as the state GOP chairman, predicted this week that the Denver convention will backfire on Udall.

"They are putting forth the most liberal face for Colorado Democrats," Wadhams said. He contended that despite Udall's attempts to wrap himself in nonpartisanship, his "10-year House voting record puts him to the far left of Colorado Democrats. He can't run from that record, though it's comical to watch."

Udall, however, is talking the talk. He even had nice things to say about Republican John McCain, whom he called a friend. And he voiced double-barreled confidence about January, declaring, "I look forward to continuing my relationship with McCain when he comes back to the Senate."

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