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Schaffer, Udall harp on bipartisan credentials in debate

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 16, 2008 at 11:35 a.m.
Updated October 16, 2008 at 1:35 p.m.

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A protester holds up a sign blasting the Democrats outside today's debate.

Photo by Ed Sealover

A protester holds up a sign blasting the Democrats outside today's debate.

Firefighters in an antique firetruck show their support for Mark Udall before today's debate.

Photo by Ed Sealover

Firefighters in an antique firetruck show their support for Mark Udall before today's debate.

Bob Schaffer, left, and Mark Udall wave to the crowd before beginning a debate last week.

Bob Schaffer, left, and Mark Udall wave to the crowd before beginning a debate last week.

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The long road to winning Colorado's U.S. Senate seat is actually nearing its end.

Republican Bob Schaffer and Democrat Mark Udall squared off in a debate sponsored by Channel 7, the League of Women Voters and the Colorado Bar Association at noon at 7News studios at 123 Speer Boulevard. The half-hour debate will be aired on Channel 7 at 4:30 p.m. and at 10:35 p.m and will loop continuously on Comcast News Channel 247 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday night, both were scheduled to speak to the Jewish Community Relations Council in Denver.

The Rocky's Ed Sealover blogged live from the noon event, which started more than an hour late.

1:32 p.m.

The debate ends on a topic that hasn't come up a lot this campaign: Immigration.

Schaffer says the feds need to rely more on local governments through block grants to take care of the problem. And then he lambasts "sanctuary cities" that don't enforce immigration laws, saying Udall does support them.

Udall says America needs to add additional border-patrol agents and physical barriers on the borders where they work. And the country needs a plan to streamline the U.S. citizenship process. And, he says, he doesn't support sanctuary cities.

Schaffer concludes by saying: "I am your low-tax, pro-economic growth, anti-illegal immigration candidate."

Udall says that the current administration has led to high unemployment, an economic meltdown and troops who come home from war and don't get enough support. He will work to change that with bipartisan ideas, he says

1:25 p.m.

Politics make strange bedfellows.

First in this debate, we heard Udall reference his work with Tom Tancredo on funding a bus rapid transit project.

Now Schaffer responds to a question about partisanship by noting that he worked with the Clinton administration on welfare reform.

Still, Udall insists the two men are discussing policy differences, not partisan differences.

Speaking of policy, the question turns to economic stimulus.

Udall says we need help for the unemployed, a focus on those who are in danger of losing their homes and a break for senior citizens near retirement so that they can draw down some of their IRAs and pension plans without penalty. And we need to invest in infrastructure, he adds.

"Clearly what's happened is that the combination of greed and Bush missing-in-action" policies have led us to where we are, Udall says.

Schaffer says a second stimulus package "might be advisable" if it's designed to put additional private capital into the market. And the country needs to focus on gaining energy independence by increasing energy production, he says.

1:19 p.m.

Udall's new favorite phrase? "We need to throw the kitchen sink" at energy and use all possible strategies to achieve energy independence.

Schaffer, in a more generic term, just goes with "We need to broaden our energy approach."

While energy seemed to be a key difference between the candidates at the beginning of this campaign, the answers they give on how to map the country's energy policy now are remarkably similar. Both say they support nuclear power, wind energy, solar energy and at least some increase in offshore drilling.

Yet, this is the subject that still causes the most caustic bickering

1:14 p.m

So far, this is a debate about image, not about ideas.

Example: Question number three is about how the candidates can represent all of Colorado, not just people in their own party. Cue standard responses.

Udall has repeated the statement that he works with people across the state so often that it's become the keynote of his campaign.

Schaffer, whose record was judged by one study to be the 14th-most conservative this century in Congress, just notes that he had to represent a 4th Congressional District with both Rs and Ds.

Eleven minutes in, we get a new and more specific topic: Easing the burden of paying for college education.

Schaffer says Congress needs to allow more companies to lend money to college students, which will drive down loan rates through competition.

Udall, after jabbing Schaffer about not supporting the Department of Education, says that we should raise the level of funding for the Pell Grant program. He then manages to work this back around to the environment - his signature issue - by saying that students will be needed to work in green technologies.

Schaffer: "What Congressman Udall just advocated is essentially a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac type proposition." Udall wants to consolidate loans in a few providers that could topple, he said.

Udall defends his plan as one that will lighten the debt on graduating students. Schaffer's plan makes it more difficult to generate low-interest loans to poor students, he says.

1:06 p.m.

The debate begins with a question about why voters should trust these candidates. The answers that follow are the boilerplate answers both candidates have given all year.

Udall says that he is known as a guy who works across the aisle with Republicans and who works with everyone else in the Colorado delegation to help the state.

Schaffer says that most Americans and Coloradans are fed up with what is happening in Washington D.C.: Climbing debt, bloated budgets, high tax rates for businesses. He notes that he served in Congress from 1997 to 2003, leaving to keep a term-limits pledge and showing that he can keep his word.

That segues well into a question about the deluge of negative ads and what voters should take from them.

Schaffer, who has been the beneficiary of $14 million in attack ads against Udall by third-party groups, says his own ads accentuate his record positively. "I'll take full credit for ads I've produced," he said.

Udall said the outside ads inaccurately portray him as a tax hiker when he's voted 65 times for tax cuts. He's responded with ads talking about what he wants to do rather than going negative.

Schaffer then gets in a jab about Udall backing campaign-finance reform laws that allowed for these ads and another about Udall's tax record.

Udall: "You'll see that my tax record is second to none." He then adds that the country needs additional reform on campaign-finance laws.

1:01 p.m.

Apparently, part of the reason for the delay has been because the candidates were debating the format of the debate. Schaffer brought notes to use - as he does for most of the debates - but the rules stated that he could not because this is supposed to be a fast-paced debate.

Udall offered to let Schaffer use notes if he wanted to, but the forum guidelines recently given out to media say: "Candidates may not bring notes or props." Gerry Cummins of the League of Women Voters said that the rules were sent out to both candidates about two weeks ago.

Apparently, Schaffer and his campaign did not sign the forum guidelines agreement. He will get to use his notes.

12:55 p.m.

The debate is nearly an hour past its scheduled starting time, and there is no sign that it will kick off anytime soon.

But Schaffer and Udall have been sitting at the 7News anchor desk for some 10 minutes, and they actually do look like they could be a news team.

With his gray-speckled hair, Udall looks more like the anchor, media gathered at the station have decided. And with his stout, fullback-like build, Schaffer could stand in ably for any sports anchor, they've said.

12:35 p.m.

The Udall campaign has engaged in a new strategy to portray Schaffer as an extremist.

Just before the candidates arrived for the debate, the campaign put out a news release reviving three statements that Schaffer made more than a decade ago. Those statements, made while he was in the U.S. House and in the state Senate, included the Republican referring to government-funded universal health care as "fascist," some aspects of Medicare and Medicaid as "socialist" and a public-education system without competition as reflecting Russia's "communist legacy."

Fourteen points up in a recent poll and 12 debates into this campaign (before today's two events), the Democratic Udall looks to be trying to put the nail in Schaffer's coffin. Udall himself has rarely delivered any harsh blows during debates, but his campaign seems to be stepping in as his surrogate pit bull.

Schaffer, for his part, told the Rocky Mountain News earlier this month that he has made some speeches and said some things earlier in his career that he regrets. But he has deflected efforts to paint him as an extremist by saying that he supports a free market and limited government, views that he says reflects the thoughts of mainstream Coloradans.

12:25 p.m.

Though U.S. Senate candidates Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall are still minutes away from beginning their debate (taping begins at 12:30), the streets outside Denver’s 7News studio are jammed with Udall and Schaffer supporters, as well as a few people waving signs about other issues.

One man dressed in a medieval archer’s outfit and wearing a Barack Obama mask is holding a sign that reads: “Obama Hood: Stealing from Taxpayers and Giving to Government.”

Another fellow is holding a campaign sign for former Republican congressman Schaffer in one hand and a hand-made sign in the other reading: “Chain of Fools: Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid.”

Several members of the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters Association are sitting in an antique firetruck and holding signs that encourage voters to oppose statewide Amendments 47, 49 and 54, all considered anti-union measures. They also are waving signs for Udall, the Democratic congressman from Eldorado Springs.

Comments

  • October 16, 2008

    12:05 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Outside_the_Box writes:

    This race is over. Udall will win by 10-15%. And despite the "tossup" label the Rocky Mountain News has given to the presidential contest, Obama is polling quite well in Colorado as well (9% lead in latest Wall Street Journal Poll). The only other race worth watching is whether Musgrave can fight off a strong challenge by Markey or not.

  • October 16, 2008

    2:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    Udall's supporters: "Several members of the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters Association are sitting in an antique firetruck and holding signs that encourage voters to oppose statewide Amendments 47, 49 and 54, all considered anti-union measures. They also are waving signs for Udall, the Democratic congressman from Eldorado Springs."

    Schaffer's supporters: "One man dressed in a medieval archer’s outfit and wearing a Barack Obama mask is holding a sign that reads: “Obama Hood: Stealing from Taxpayers and Giving to Government.”

    What a study in contrasts. I could not have come up with a better analogy of how one candidate represents normal American workers, while the other candidate represents the lunatic fringe.

  • October 16, 2008

    2:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    amaikovich writes:

    After his years in the Colorado legislature, it's difficult for Mr. Schaffer to argue that he gets along with the other side. Maybe he's changed, but that is just the opposite of what I remember.