Posted on 12/05/2007 10:40:32 AM PST by Clintonfatigued
The first negative ads in the race for Colorado's open U.S. Senate seat did not come from candidates Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer but from an independent group with ties to Republicans.
Common Sense Issues Inc. targeted Democratic Rep. Mark Udall on national security and his pro-environment record. Udall, a Democrat, and Schaffer, a former Republican congressman, are running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard.
One ad criticizes Udall for co-sponsoring a 2001 bill to establish an $8 billion Cabinet-level Department of Peace. It features a dialogue with one man saying, "Radical Islam wants Americans dead" before asking, "What part of dead doesn't Mark Udall understand?".
The other ad has Udall receiving a mock "Cuban hero award" from Fidel Castro to criticize a Udall bill to allow American companies to drill for oil off Cuba despite the current trade embargo. The ad notes Udall's opposition to drilling on Colorado's Roan Plateau.
Udall was one of 44 co-sponsors on Dennis Kucinich's Department of Peace bill in a move his campaign said he now regrets. Udall did not support a similar 2003 bill, according to campaign manager Mike Melanson.
(Excerpt) Read more at aspentimes.com ...
If Salazar lost in 2004, he would have ran for Governor in 2006. Strickland may have decided that 3 times the charm for Allard’s seat.
The WH wanted OK City Mayor Tom Humphreys. All polls indicated that if he had been the nominee, he would’ve lost to Democrat Brad Carson. Dr. Coburn, who had been Carson’s predecessor, didn’t let the WH support of the Mayor deter him and he beat Humphreys like a rented mule, 61-25% (with another prominent GOP candidate in the race, Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony, taking 12%), and saved us that Senate seat by thumping Carson, 53%-41%.
Salazar vs. Tancredo?
I guess Colorado was destined to have a split Senate delegation.
Which is good news for us in 2008.
It is interesting, by using the instructions of my tagline and seeing just exactly who on FR the truth angers.
It tells you a lot about people.
You might be right about his pursuit of the Governorship, but I think he preferred the Senate. That might’ve been a really vicious and brutal primary between Ritter and Salazar, had both run. I seriously doubt the Dems would’ve allowed Tom Strickland to run uncontested a 3rd time. A rematch is one thing, but not 3 times. A Senate seat is too important to risk on a perennial loser.
That showdown may still occur... in 2010. If a Dem wins the Presidency, this seat will especially jump to the top of the list of most vulnerable in the country. Ritter will be up again, too, and I don’t think he’ll be in great shape by then. Salazar and Ritter are no moderates.
“Also Bush/Rove wanted someone lame to run in Oklahoma.”
Actually, that candidate, Kirk Humphreys, had been an excellent Mayor of Oklahoma City. And he had the integrity to resign to campaign full-time. His problem was that he was too urbane for most rural voters, and many citizens from outside OKC harbored some resentment over its dominance of state affairs.
But I’m also glad that Tom Coburn won the election. We need more like him.
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