Colorado Senate: Udall (D) 42%, Gardner (R) 41%

rasmussenreports.com ^ | 3/10/14

[cotton1706]

The first Rasmussen Reports look at Colorado’s likely 2014 U.S. Senate race finds that it's a dead heat.

A statewide telephone survey of Likely Colorado Voters shows incumbent Democrat Mark Udall with 42% of the vote, while his leading Republican challenger Cory Gardner earns 41%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and 13% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Colorado was conducted on March 5-6, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research,

[Impy]

Nearly all democrats are far left, even Republican states have elected far left democrat Senators.

[Morgan in Denver]

Getting into the weeds a bit, there are reasons Colorado turned blue from red so quickly. None of the state GOP saw it coming and few have figured out how to respond; other than replaying past political tactics. Arapahoe County Republicans have done a good job, as has a few other areas, but the state party has not.

Another star, besides Gardner, has been Scott Gessler who won the Secretary of State position. (He's running for governor in this election.)

To understand it all, it starts with Fred Barnes 2008 article on the Colorado Model. Here.

There's a quick read of how it happened from a 2010 Red State. Here.

The book mentioned is a good read, more in-depth, and shows how other states Democrats are working behind the scenes, here.

Colorado Progressive Democrats do have a good Get Out the Vote effort and it cannot be ignored.  Colorado Republicans can win but only if we are united behind a specific candidate, which hasn't happened in some of our past elections.  Democrats here work hard to depress the vote and split our tickets.

[Fightin Whitey]

few have figured out how to respond other than replaying past political tactics

They do it in Montana too. They smile and try to run as Not Too Conservative and then they lose.

[Morgan in Denver]

They do it in Montana too. They smile and try to run as Not Too Conservative and then they lose.

I'd only add, "they lose, and wonder why?"   I do understand Republicans cannot run radical candidates and it's up to the candidate to come across as nice and electable.  But I also agree with what you are saying, we too often lose because we are afraid to stand or defend conservative positions.

With any luck, Gardner will not fall into that trap in Colorado.

[catnipman]

Good comments, and you are correct about Gessler being in the same category as Gardner.

“Colorado Republicans can win but only if we are united behind a specific candidate”

And to do that, it first requires we have sterling candidates like Gardner and Gessler, instead ones like that nutjob, Dan Maes.

[Morgan in Denver]

Thanks. I was trying to be kind and not label Maes but you’re right. He proved to be a poor candidate who was in the right place at the right time to fool a bunch of people.
As time went on he was further exposed but by then it was too late to do anything different.

Vetting candidates is really important, whether they are Tea Party supported or not. Remembering that election, I think I remember Sarah Palin would not support Maes when asked.

[colorado tanker]

This isn't all on the Democrats as we've had some really bad candidates and at times a divided party. Maes barely polled the 10% needed to keep the Republicans a "major" party. Remember when Bill Owens sprang Pete Coors on Shaffer? I also remember thinking when Ken Buck announced for Senate that he was trying to go too far too fast from a small county with no name recognition. I wanted him to enter state politics trying for something more in his grasp. Unfortunately, I was right and he wasn't ready for prime time.

Where is Maes now? Back undercover copping in Liberal, Kansas?

[Morgan in Denver]

I actually received an email from Maes last week. I finally unsubscribed from his list but it was kind of interesting that he was still trying to use politics to get ahead.

I do agree with you on our having poor candidates and the so-called powers that be within the state party trying to force their candidates on us. It hasn’t worked well in the past. Bill Owens was a letdown towards the end.