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Udall leads in Senate race poll

Lead may make it harder for Schaffer to attract funding

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 26, 2008 at 10:26 p.m.
Updated June 26, 2008 at 11:53 p.m.

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Mark Udall

Mark Udall

Bob Schaffer

Bob Schaffer

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A new poll showing U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall with a 10-point lead over Republican Bob Schaffer is bad news for the GOP, coming at a time when national parties have to decide which races to throw money at, a political analyst said Thursday.

The Quinnipiac University/Washington Post/Wall Street Journal poll showed likely Colorado voters preferring Democrat Udall by 48 percent to 38 percent.

Udall has an even stronger lead among independents - 54 percent to 27 percent.

"It looks like the race is trending away from Schaffer," said Floyd Ciruli of Ciruli & Associates of Denver. "That's a real problem, because he slips down on the national targeting list, and it's harder to get money. It makes everything about campaigning more difficult."

Schaffer campaign chief Dick Wadhams responded to the numbers, and to another set showing Barack Obama with a lead over John McCain in the presidential race, by noting that there is no President John Kerry and never was a U.S. Sen. Tom Strickland from Colorado, despite those two Democrats enjoying leads in June of their election years. He said June polls often don't hold through the summer.

To Pat Waak, who heads the state Democratic party, Udall's lead is no mystery.

"He's a better candidate," she said. "He has a good, solid record addressing issues Coloradans care about - health care, the environment, alternative energy, the economy, education.

"Voters here like people who fill out that Western profile - and Mark does that."

No surprise

Political consultant Katy Atkinson said it's no surprise that Udall has a 10-point lead over Schaffer.

She noted the ubiquitous TV ad from the League of Conservation Voters linking Schaffer with the excesses of Big Oil.

"I can't turn on the TV without seeing it," she said. "When negative ads are running without anything contradicting them, and when there are no negatives against Udall . . . I wouldn't have been surprised if Udall's lead was 15."

Ciruli said Schaffer has been thrown on the defensive by ads connecting him to Big Oil and to the lobbyist scandals centered on Jack Abramoff.

He said Udall gets a bump because the issue with which he is most strongly identified, an economy based on new sources of energy, has become "the strongest issue nationwide."

"It's always nice when the issue you are known for turns out to be the topic du jour," Ciruli added.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897

Comments

  • June 27, 2008

    1:49 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    AlanAardvark writes:

    It's nice to see that Coloradans understand the importance of keeping gas prices climbing ever higher. Like Mark Udall, they don't want us to tap the vast additional oil reserves in Alaska if doing that would mean that even one single moose might be inconvenienced. And they don't want us to begin developing the technology for extracting oil from shale, even if we're sitting on reserves bigger than the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.

    No, Coloradans want to feel the pain, ride their bikes to work, and attach sidecars to their bikes for picking up their kids after school. Mark Udall is their guy. They certainly don't want Bob Schaffer, who has oil industry experience and understands something about the laws of supply and demand.

  • June 27, 2008

    7:05 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ecoscience writes:

    The irony is, when it comes to energy technology and policy, Schaffer is far more knowledgeable than Udall. But the money matters, and all the Udall ads showing him standing under wind turbines would lead most people to the opposite conclusion.

    I think we need more science and technology education in this country.

  • June 30, 2008

    12:17 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    YellowCatRedCat writes:

    "The irony is, when it comes to energy technology and policy, Schaffer is far more knowledgeable than Udall."

    I'm not so sure that that's an accurate statement. Udall's been a pioneer in the energy field since his earliest days in the state legislature. Remember the renewable electricity standard that Coloradans passed?

    Just because Schaffer worked as a war-profiteering oil exec doesn't make him qualified to pioneer new energy options as a legislator. Coloradans want more than band-aid fixes to our energy problems.

    Oh--AlanAardvark, way to regurgitate Wadhams' tripe without actually saying anything.