Udall-Schaffer race is now a dead heat, new poll contends
By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published July 24, 2008 at 11:35 a.m.
Updated July 25, 2008 at 12:43 a.m.
Bob Schaffer
Mark Udall
Soaring gas prices appear to be influencing Colorado's U.S. Senate race, analysts say, citing a poll released Thursday showing the race between Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer in a dead heat.
The poll - one of three this week - shows Udall and Schaffer tied 44-44 percent, compared to a 48-38 percent lead for Udall in June.
The poll is jointly run by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com.
"By a 50-39 percent margin, Colorado voters say a candidate's position on energy policy is more important than their position on the war in Iraq," the poll found.
Colorado pollster Floyd Ciruli said the energy issue helps Republicans who have been hobbled by an unpopular president and a lengthy war.
He pointed out that Democrats dubbed Schaffer, a former oil and gas executive, "Big Oil Bob," but that moniker might not be the insult Democrats intended.
"This energy issue has finally given Republicans some traction. They have credibility on this," Ciruli said. "Remember, he is 'Big Oil Bob.' That's OK today. He's the guy that can get oil for you."
'People want drilling'
Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, has been saying for weeks that voters are livid about gas prices.
"People want drilling. They want more oil production," Wadhams said. "The trouble for Udall is that he is on the wrong side of the issue and there is nothing he can do about it."
Not so, said Udall spokeswoman,Tara Trujillo.
"Udall has spent 12 years working to make Colorado the nation's leader in renewable energy development, while his opponent, Bob Schaffer, has been working for the oil and gas industry that is making record-breaking profits while Coloradans pay more than four bucks for a gallon of gas," she said.
The race between Schaffer, a former three-term congressman from Fort Collins, and Udall, a five-term congressman from Eldorado Springs, is one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country.
Republicans and Democrats agreed that the way polls are conducted impact the findings and early polling numbers don't always match Election Day results.
Close race expected
Udall's campaign said as much in June, showing restraint when a Quinnipiac poll released that month showed the Democrat had a 10-point lead.
"We've always known this was going to be a close race," Trujillo said Thursday. "You can never take a Colorado voter for granted."
Another poll released Thursday by FrederickPolls in Virginia showed Udall leading Schaffer 48 percent to 38 percent.
And a poll from Rasmussen Reports released this week shows Udall's lead slipped, with him leading 47 percent to 43 percent. In its June poll, Udall led Schaffer 49 to 40 percent.
Wadhams said polls - especially those taken in the early summer - often don't reflect what eventually happens in an election.
He pointed to the 1996 GOP primary for U.S. Senate. In early July, Attorney General Gale Norton led U.S. Rep. Wayne Allard 46 percent to 32 percent. Allard went on to win the primary and the general election.
bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327
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July 24, 2008
12:14 p.m.
Suggest removal
BurgandyWine writes:
I fail to see how Mr. Wadhams thinks that more drilling is going to have any impact on gas prices in the short term. It's nothing more than a cheap political trick. Oil from new wells won't hit the market for years.
It is even more insulting to suggest the pushing for renewable energy is somehow "on the wrong side" of the issue.
I guess when your campaign is bought and paid for by Oil and Gas interests, the truth can be inconvenient.
July 24, 2008
12:32 p.m.
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danirobi writes:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080723/t...
July 24, 2008
12:49 p.m.
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danirobi writes:
I find it funny how liberals don't want to drill in ANWR or the OCS. We are drilling at Podo Bay which is near ANWR and has the same landscape as ANWR. Podo Bay actually has more caribou and bears visit the site than ANWR does and they don't seem to mind. Why? Because the "evil" oil companies have been good to the environment.
July 24, 2008
1:19 p.m.
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squeakywheel writes:
If Congress would just *talk* about drilling, then gas prices would start to come down immediately.
The speculators would see their time has come.
This could be the single issue that gives the White House to McCain and the Senate back to the GOP.
I fully expect the Dems to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, once again.
July 24, 2008
1:21 p.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
"The trouble for Udall (and the democratic party as a whole) is that he is on the wrong side of the (energy) issue and there is nothing he can do about it."
Udall, Obama, and the other Dems are going to wind up watching their campaigns crash and burn while they are enthralled to their own special interest groups. That's too bad. There are some Dem candidates I actually could get behind if they weren't so terrified about getting on the bad side of the environmentalists.
All McCain has to do is keep bringing up the price of gas and asking Obama what he is going to do about it NOW and McCain wins with ease. Of course, that all depends on whether McCain will be smart enough to stick to the energy issue. That's all he needs.
July 24, 2008
1:22 p.m.
Suggest removal
squeakywheel writes:
Udall is a rabid pro-abortion advocate who will continue to fight for the woman's "constituional" right to kill her unborn baby.
Reason enough to vote for the other guy.
July 24, 2008
1:30 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
Conservatives will say anything. But this is what conservatives always deliver:
1. War
2. Unemployment
3. Wage slavery
4. Exploding national debt
5. Religious intolerance
6. Racism
7. Economic failure
8. Poverty
9. Corruption in corporate and government executive offices
10. Higher crime despite the trampling of human rights
11. Discrimination on the job
12. Unsafe working conditions
13. Increased pollution
14. Higher cost of living without higher salaries and wages
And now you can add gas prices to the list.
Are oil companies run by liberals? Don't think so. Check your facts. If you want to point the finger for the big jump in gas prices, level it at the conservatives who run the oil companies. It's called price fixing and it's illegal.
July 24, 2008
1:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
Alaska's oil pipeline is well beyond its design life. It's falling apart. A drunk with a rifle can shut it down. It can also be easily bombed by terrorists. Still want to depend on ANWR to bring down the price of gas?
It's a red herring. The real blame for the price of oil belongs to the people who sell it to you. The oil companies are run by and for the sole benefit of conservatives. Instead of letting them run for office we should put them on the docket, try them for high treason, and sentence them to brave punishments befitting such traitors.
July 24, 2008
1:52 p.m.
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squeakywheel writes:
I'm embarrassed because Obummer just delivered a speech in Germany and he spoke in English.
July 24, 2008
2:08 p.m.
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danirobi writes:
Oh yes it's all the oil companies fault! I've said this before, oil companies only make 8 cents per gallon. You want to know who makes the big bucks on gas prices being so high??? Congress ie. Democrats in control of Congress.
July 24, 2008
2:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
With all the talk about declaring a gas-tax holiday, the state and federal governments must've forgotten to raise the tax in the past ten or so years.
So, reality is once again in conflict with the conservative line of hooey.
Oil barons control the price of gasoline, pure and simple. It's like heroin. If you don't like the price of the stuff then quit shooting so much of it up your veins and pushing it on the neighborhood kids.
July 24, 2008
3 p.m.
Suggest removal
HankRearden writes:
Can't them there wind mills make more gas in my car? That's what Udall and Polis seem to think. Use renewable wind energy to stop our reliance on foreign oil. These bone head don't know we don't get oil from will power we get electricity. And we got plenty of that if we use coal.
If you needed oil to live who would you rely on Bob "I worked for a company that actually produced a needed commodity" or Mark "I'm an environmenatl lawyer that stops any and all progress" Udall?
July 24, 2008
4:11 p.m.
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bwforaccuracy writes:
Holier than Thou,
I could only wish it was American businessman who are responsible for high oil prices. Unfortuantely, Democratic anti-business policies have driven them all Overseas to get the oil and gasoline we need in the US. Sorry, if you want to blame someone, blame Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, the Saudi Royal Family, and the Iranian Ayatollahs. Don't worry, they have all demonstrated that they don't care what you think. heck, they don't even care what the citizens in their own country think. They gladly take your money to the tune of $100+ a barrel every day. The oil companies you so vehemently complain about are just Middlemen who do the actual work. Let's see who was the US President every time one of them came to power. (Answer - Clinton, Clinton, Truman, and Carter ) Wouldn't you prefer that oil exploration was controlled by your elected respresentative, instead of a foreign dictator that is stealing from you $4 for every gallon? Get your head out of the conspiracy theories, and start seeing how the real world works.
July 24, 2008
8:39 p.m.
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jacka writes:
This one will be a great battle.
July 25, 2008
10:20 a.m.
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jbowen43 writes:
Udall is a dull campaigner.
July 25, 2008
2:38 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
If Schaffer is elected, he'll have almost no power to implement drilling. This promises to be a big Democrat year. Udall, conversely will simply go along with the ethanol craze, driving food away from the third-world and into our gas tanks.
What's important in a campaign--Ms. Bartels, take note please--is what the candidates have for lunch, the brand of limo and if they were allowed to fly the airplane.
July 26, 2008
8:31 a.m.
Suggest removal
JohnSmith2 writes:
"trythinking" should try thinking. There's nothing true in what they said.
1. Udall does not believe wind power will replace oil. He's never said that it will because he knows that it won't. But what it will do (as Texas uber-Republican oil man T. Boone Pickens points out) is free up natural gas for other uses, including powering cars.
2. Burning coal is the worst possible alternative. It causes horrible pollution and is singularly responsible for the skyrocketing rate of asthma in children. However it can be refined into other fuels, including liquid fuels to replace gasoline and diesel.
3. Udall is not an environmental lawyer. He's not a lawyer at all. He was a teacher before he was a politician.
July 26, 2008
3:24 p.m.
Suggest removal
AlWest writes:
I love how out of touch Udall and his backers are. Just keep on badmouthing offshore drilling, ANWAR, and refinerys. Please, please, please!!!!
You have yourselves in such a bind it is laughable.
Oh, I'm sorry... The Democrats think gasoline is free... At least they get theirs free courtesy of City and County of Denver. The rest of us have to pay for it at the pump, not steal it from the taxpayers. I guess actually we are paying for it twice... The gas the DNC steals and our own.
August 1, 2008
8:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
MountainSkier writes:
Nearly 70% of oil in America is imported from foreign nations today.
This equates to over $700 billion leaving our economy and going overseas, particularly to the Middle East.
Bob Schaffer WANTS renewable energy & supports wind, solar, & biofuel research, but believes our energy crisis demands that we do everything listed and pursue domestic offshore energy exploration because gas prices are hurting working families and the price of diesel is the #1 reason for inflation of food and other goods. Our economy is 70% consumer & small businesses, which have created the most new jobs, are especially feeling the financial squeeze.
Rising international demand for oil will only get worse. You all want to save $0.25 on every product, so 'Made in China' it is! Now communist China's economy is growing at 12% GDP and 25,000 new cars are put on the road every day needing gas.
Foreign OPEC nations control enough oil supply that we're at their mercy. The idea that in only 12 months time wind & solar will be completely built & we'll be flying around in Toyota hydrogen-cell sportscars is ridiculous. EVERY strategy will require time to be implemented, but the concern is not just what source of energy, but how over $700 billion leaving our economy to the Middle East will severely devastate our economy and jeopardize our national security as well. This requires a comprehensive solution, not just a fragmented idea.
This really shouldn't be a partisan issue because this is the greatest nation, but unfortunately there are those like Udall who put political expediency over what's best for Colorado. Now he finds himself with less solutions to fix this impending economic distaster where I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to retract his position like others have lately. Ultimately, we need someone in touch with working people and willing to work with both sides of the aisle, not an extremely liberal Boulder party liner.
August 9, 2008
9:42 a.m.
Suggest removal
hielo writes:
Who are these people? Do they ever check the facts or do they just rely on the Republican deceptions? Every credible source confirms that the results of additional drilling will be miniscule and will not happen for many years. Someone said "it is like finding coins in your sofa to make your mortgage payment'. That, "my friends" (oh how that term makes me want to puke) is the truth of the matter.
One question: Who will drill and sell the oil? Will they make sure it goes to our U. S. refineries? Or will they just add it to the world market? Surely even the misinformed "drilling will lower our gas prices" crowd can figure this one out.
August 9, 2008
10:01 a.m.
Suggest removal
hielo writes:
Oh yeah danirobi. I read the article you cite in support of this:
"I find it funny how liberals don't want to drill in ANWR or the OCS". You cite:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080723/t...
That article talks about the USGS forecast for oil and gas in the "Arctic Circle". You need to know what the Arctic Circle actually is. So check this out:
http://energy.usgs.gov/arctic/