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September 2008
McCain campaign bets on coal
Coal could offer an opening for Republican presidential candidate John McCain to make up some ground in Pueblo and rural areas, two of the senator’s Colorado surrogates said today.
State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, told reporters that Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden’s comments about the construction of coal power plants will allow McCain to make inroad in Pueblo, in particular.
“Pueblo is coal country,” Penry said. “There are Not only are there a lot of workers, but a lot of retirees whose family through the generations have paid their bills and made a living converting cola into power. It’s part of the culture. It’s embedded down there.
“It’s a significant strategic opportunity for Sen. McCain to pick up ground in an area where Democrat usually perform well.” (emphasis added)
McCain, who has an ad going up on radio stations across the state on this issue, could use the boost: He is polling behind Democrat Barack Obama in some regions of the state according to the cross-tabs from one recent poll.
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McCain’s radio ad emerges as the same time as one from the Obama camp confronting water issues. Which of the ads do you think is more effective?
*McCain photo from the Associated Press. Penry photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Bradford discusses highway-funding solutions, taxes for roads
Asked if Colorado can confront its transportation-funding shortfall without a tax increase, Republican House District 55 candidate Laura Bradford said she was unsure.
“I’m not sure,” she said during a meeting with The Daily Sentinel’s editorial board. “I believe the people will … look at voting themselves a tax increase if they were convinced that is was absolutely necessary and there was nowhere else to find anything.”
A bipartisan blue ribbon commission set up to study Colorado’s transportation-funding situation said this year that it could take $500 million or more a year to maintain the state’s existing transportation network.
Pressed about ideas she plans to bring to the transportation-funding discussion, Bradford said she supports state Sen. Josh Penry’s Amendment 52, which prioritizes severance tax revenues for “reducing congestion” along Interstate 70.
“I’m not certain what particular piece of legislation I might be able to offer that those that are already being considered,” Bradford said. “There’s things that have been tried in other states that I think we need to look at.”
Bradford said she favors building new toll roads and leasing them out to private companies for “cash up front” to use for road improvements.
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Bradford and her opponent, state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, have discussed transportation issues before, most noticeably at a Redlands Rotary Club meeting last month. As you can see in the video posted below, Buescher said he is opposed to introducing tolling along Interstate 70.
*Traffic photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Freedom’s Watch enlists elk in its advertising against Udall
Remember that nearly $660,000 Freedom’s Watch has invested in Colorado? And remember the latest edition of Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer’s Elk Wars: Episode I?
Well the two converged today when the conservative political committee put out this advertisement:
In all fairness, Freedom’s Watch didn’t mention was that the man Schaffer and Udall are running to replace, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., cosponsored the earmark along with Udall.
*Elk photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Bradford supports using private prisons, efficiencies to trim costs
Asked today about what role private prisons should play in confronting Colorado’s growing prison population, Republican House District 55 candidate Laura Bradford said she is in favor of outsourcing state services when they can achieve a high quality of service at lower cost.
“As a capitalist I certainly see the opportunity for the private sector to be a part of the solution,” she said. “I believe the government should be involved to the level of (setting) certain standards and regulations that they have to adhere to.”
Alongside seeking private-sector solutions, Bradford also endorsed cost-savings within the Colorado Department of Corrections.
“There are probably opportunities in prisons to release or parole some criminals who have either served their time or the offense is minor or there’s really a worse guy that should be in there than this guy (or) creating a program of getting them back into the community when they’re ready to be productive,” Bradford said. “I’m not a real fan of locking up somebody who’s smoking marijuana. Those seats need to be reserved for the robbers or the rapists.”
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Prisons, as you probably know, represent one of the few areas of the state budget where the Legislature cannot exactly cut “demand” in any direct way. Expect prison funding, just as it was this year, to be a major issue as the Joint Budget Committee reconvenes later this year and early next year to build the 2009-2010 budget.
*Bradford photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Schaffer’s Abramoff ties resurface as activists visit Colorado
Allegations that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer was an ally of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff resurfaced Monday when a series of activists parachuted into Colorado — and into Schaffer’s campaign headquarters.
As The Rocky Mountain News recapped: “Schaffer, who served three terms in Congress, took a trip to the Marianas in 1999 that was paid for and arranged by groups with ties to Abramoff. Schaffer’s campaign has said he wanted to see for himself if reports of atrocious working conditions at foreign-owned factories were true, but critics said the trip was part of Abramoff’s strategy to woo Republicans to his point of view on labor reforms.”
And, as The Denver Post noted in its coverage of the event: “Allen Stayman, who led a White House effort to reform immigration and labor on the Northern Mariana Islands, held a news conference and described Schaffer as ‘a leader’ in carrying out a plan hatched by jailed former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to shield sweatshops from U.S. immigration and labor laws.
“He pointed out that despite being a relatively low-ranking member of the House Resources Committee, Schaffer twice led hearings that Stayman said were largely aimed at discrediting reform efforts and attacking him — a strategy that was laid out by Abramoff in a secret memo nine months before the first hearing occurred in September 1999.”
This coverage, which comes as Schaffer has fallen behind his Democratic opponent, Congressman Mark Udall, cannot be good news for the Schaffer campaign, which has worked hard to reverse Udall’s momentum.
*Schaffer photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Report: King’s burn rate returns
Less than a month after his campaign finance reports showed net gains, state Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, slipped back into outspending his contributions, according to a disclosure his campaign filed Monday.
Between Sept. 11 and Sept. 24, King’s re-election campaign took in $200 from the Great-West Political Action Committee and spent $648 on assorted expenses, including a tuxedo.
While King’s burn rate undoubtedly is noteworthy, we would be remiss to not point out that King does not face a challenger at the polls this year.
*King photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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New Obama ad dings McCain for 1922 water compact comments
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has finally latched onto Republican John McCain’s comments to The Pueblo Chieftain earlier this year that it might be time to renegotiate the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which prevent downstream states from sucking up too much water from the river.
“Water always has been Colorado’s most precious resource,” the ad’s narrator says, “and for almost 100 years, the Colorado River Compact has helped protect our water rights. But just last month, John McCain said that we should renegotiate the compact, putting our water rights at risk.”
The ad then leads into audio from McCain’s interview with a reporter from the southern Colorado newspaper.
(You can listen to the ad by clicking here.)
Naturally, the ad does not mention McCain’s subsequent comments in a letter to U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., saying that he did not mean what he told the reporter.
It will be interesting to see what effect this ad has in Colorado where aggregate polling data shows Obama leading his Republican peer by roughly 3 to 4 percentage points.
*Obama, McCain photos from the Associated Press.
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Buescher fundraising skyrockets; Bradford outspends contributions
Two weeks after Republican House District 55 candidate Laura Bradford’s campaign bank account came within $3,000 of her opponent’s cash on-hand total, state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, has again pulled away from the pack.
According to the duo’s latest campaign finance reports, Buescher reported having $22,655 in the bank as of Sept. 24. Bradford, who doled out nearly $7,000 on radio advertising expenses, reported having $1,243 in the bank as of Sept. 24.
The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s decision to endorse Bradford did show in her latest report, which covered almost all of the first week after the Sept. 19 announcement. Of her $4,155 worth of contributions, all but $125 came in on or after Sept. 19.
Here are Buescher (in blue) and Bradford’s (in red) cash on-hand totals:
For our more astute readers, we did before print here that Bradford had gone into debt. When we made that mistake, we were relying on an early, erroneous version of the candidate’s campaign disclosure. Our apologies.
*Buescher, Bradford photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Blue Dogs split on bailout plan
The Blue Dogs, a group of conservative Democrats, split almost evenly in favor of and in opposition to a failed $700 billion bailout package the president requested of Congress.
A comparison of the vote tallies and the Blue Dogs’ membership listing shows that Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., and 21 of his caucus colleagues voted against the bill. Twenty-five of the Blue Dogs voted for the bailout plan.
Utah’s only Democratic federal lawmaker and one of the leaders of the Blue Dogs, Congressman Jim Matheson, voted against the bailout. The caucus’ other two leaders, Congressman Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., and Congressman John Tanner, D-Tenn., voted in favor of the bailout.
*Matheson photo from the Associated Press.
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Salazar: ‘The bill before the House today was not acceptable to me’
One of the $700 billion bailout package’s opponents, Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., sent out this statement about his “nay” vote and the Congress’ rejection of the bill:
“Our economic situation is serious. The greed and ‘anything goes’ attitude exhibited by both Wall Street and Washington regulators have led us to a point where action by Congress is necessary.
“The Bush Administration came to Congress with a $700 billion taxpayer bailout plan that not only failed to protect the American taxpayer, but also demanded complete discretion on any actions taken by the Treasury Secretary. It further demanded that those actions would not be reviewable by Congress or the Courts. This proposal was quickly discarded, as it should have been.
“Congress next began negotiations with the Administration to determine if a bill could be developed that provided a boost of confidence to the markets without exposing the American taxpayer to billions of dollars of losses. Some progress and improvements were achieved over the original Bush Administration proposal.
“Unfortunately, the bill before the House today was not acceptable to me. Rather than including a mandatory way to repay the taxpayer, the bill provides only discretionary authority to a future Treasury Secretary. The bill is also deficient in that it provides no relief to homeowners who desperately want to remain in their homes but need direct assistance.
“Congress must act, but it must not rush to judgment as it has in this case. Rather than adopting this bill, Congress should remain in Washington as long as it takes to craft legislation that restores confidence in the markets and helps Main Street, but doesn’t leave the American taxpayer holding the bag for the excesses of an out-of-control Wall Street.”
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Salazar always had reservations about the president’s preferred bailout package, as we detailed in a story Political Notebook broke nearly a week ago. It seems he made good on his promised opposition.
*Salazar photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Colorado lawmakers with rough races vote against bailout
Colorado congressional delegation seemingly split down unconventional lines when the U.S. House rejected a $700 billion financial-market bailout plan today:
Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., and Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., voted in favor of the bill. Reps. John Salazar, D-Colo., Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., voted against the bill.
However, when one looks at said lawmakers’ electoral bids, one trend shows through: The lawmakers with the most difficult elections ahead rejected the bill.
Musgrave, who at least one poll shows falling behind her opponent, and Udall, who is running close (depending on the poll you look at) in his U.S. Senate bid, both rejected the bill.
Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post reached the same conclusion in his own analysis: “With just over one month left before the November election, politicians of both partisan stripes are concerned primarily about one thing: their own political futures.”
*Musgrave photo from The Rocky Mountain News.
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Freedom’s Watch drops nearly $660,000 into Senate contest
In case you weren’t sick enough of groups from outside Colorado littering the airwaves with political ads, more are on the way.
According to The Washington Post, the group Freedom’s Watch are “seen by many Republicans as their best chance of holding down major losses in the House and Senate this fall, has begun spending in key races after months of relative inaction.”
“In the past 10 days, Freedom’s Watch has dropped more than $1.6 million on ads in six House races and two Senate contests. That spending comes after the group spent less than $40,000 on television ads between May and September, raising questions in many circles about whether the group would be a major factor in the fall election,” The Fix reports.
One of those races is Colorado’s U.S. Senate race. As The Rocky Mountain News reported last week, Freedom’s Watch’s latest ad against Democrat Mark Udall focuses on his votes on national security issues.
The group’s ad buy in Colorado, according to The Fix, totaled $659,212.
For those of you who love these sort of ads, you’re in luck. This is only the beginning of the final stretch in this year’s election cycle.
*Udall photo from The Rocky Mountain News.
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Senate hopefuls: Colorado’s presidential results will be close
Colorado’s U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer seem to agree on one thing: Either Barack Obama or John McCain will win Colorado by a narrow margin.
Asked by Tom Brokaw on this morning’s edition of “Meet the Press,” Udall said he could see Obama winning 50 percent to McCain’s 47 percent.
Schaffer said he sees McCain winning 51 percent to Obama’s 48 percent or 49 percent.
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As Political Notebook noted to himself during the debate, this morning’s event was like getting a two-for-one deal. Call it linguistic bipartisanship: A Republican and Democrat speaking at the same time. … Twice the politics in half the time!
Here is video of most of the debate:
*Schaffer, Udall photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Schaffer, Udall trade volleys over taxes on repatriated income
Colorado’s U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer, took the time Thursday to debate the tax the United States charges on repatriated income, i.e. money sent from foreign sources into U.S. banks.
Udall, fired off the first shot today following an article in The Rocky Mountain News, saying that Schaffer supports temporarily nixing or lowering the tax.
Udall held a press conference this afternoon, blasting such a policy as helping companies who ship jobs overseas: “When you give these companies a (tax) holiday, that rewards these companies for creating these jobs overseas and not here.”
In response, Schaffer told Political Notebook that lowering the repatriation tax injects actually will get “real dollars” into the economy: “What would be a more powerful boost to the economy is exploring multiple strategies to pump private capital, real dollars, into the economy.”
Turning the tables on Udall, Schaffer and his campaign quickly pointed out that Udall voted in favor of a 2004 bill to lower the repatriation tax during the 2005 tax year. (Udall voted against the bill in June and for it in October.)
Never one to let this sort of faux pas slip, Schaffer’s campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, wrote in a statement: “While trying to shoot down Bob Schaffer, Boulder Liberal Mark Udall turned the gun on himself in a blazing act of hypocrisy and contradiction.”
*Schaffer photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Palin to return to Colorado
Local conservatives, I have some good news and some bad news.
First the good news: Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin is coming back to Colorado. The bad news? She’s going to Centennial.
According to The Colorado Springs Gazette: “The Republican vice presidential candidate has an Oct. 4 fundraiser scheduled in Centennial. There were no immediate plans for a public event.”
Not to worry, though, there still is a good chance Palin will come to Grand Junction, according to her campaign.
*Palin photo from the Associated Press.
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White: Buescher-McGihon gavel tussle not unlike fight in 2001
An intra-party split in the race for the speaker of the House’s gavel between state Reps. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, and Anne McGihon, D-Denver, might seem an oddity, but it was only seven years ago that a similar split went down.
Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, told us this morning that in 2001 two House members, Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collin, and Doug Dean, R-Colorado Springs, both made plays for the gavel.
White said Johnson made a play for the support of the Democratic caucus and a faction of Republican lawmakers: “What Steve attempted to do was hold his Republican votes and hold the solid Democratic caucus behind him.”
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, has hinted that his caucus might not get behind Buescher next year — provided he gets re-elected. He told us earlier this week: “We’ll have something to say.”
White, who is running to replace outgoing Sen. Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs, said McGihon could offer the GOP caucus a chairmanship or other incentive to get behind her.
Dean eventually won, White said, but the recent history shows that an intra-party tussle for the speaker’s gavel is not a new phenomenon.
*White photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Colorado polling update
Poll results released today shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama substantially up over his GOP rival, John McCain. These results effectively mirror other polling out this week.
The Insider Advantage poll, which surveyed 505 likely voters on Sept. 23, has a 4.5 percentage point margin of error.
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New survey results from Rasmussen Reports, however, fly in the face of recent polls showing U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, significantly up over his rival, Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins.
According to the new poll results, Udall and Schaffer remain effectively tied in the race, with Udall leading 46 percent to 44 percent.
Udall’s lead among key demographics, however, does come across in the Rasmussen Reports poll: “Though his lead overall has slipped, Udall is still ahead 47 percent to 34 percent among unaffiliated voters. He also leads 50 percent to 39 percent among women.”
The poll, which surveyed 700 likely voters on Sept. 23, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
*Obama, McCain photo from the Associated Press. Schaffer, Udall photo from The Rocky Mountain News.
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Bradford’s latest radio ad seizes on Chamber endorsement
Republican House District 55 hopeful Laura Bradford has seized on the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of her candidacy and released a new radio ad, attacking state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, for his ties to Gov. Bill Ritter.
Click here to hear the ad, title, “Winds of Change.”
Bradford told us in an e-mail that the ad is slated to run for 10 days on Magic 93.1, KJYE 92.3, the Moose 100.7 and KEKB 99.9.
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In other House District 55 news, Bradford (via the Mesa County Republican Party’s Web site) has announced she will rally her supporters this coming weekend in … House District 54.
Indeed, Bradford will join Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, Saturday afternoon on a Fruita farm in a bid to rally her supporters and, perhaps, raise some money.
Bradford photo shot by Political Notebook.
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‘The die has already been cast’
Republican congressional candidate Wayne Wolf departed with a number of his party colleagues, saying that Congress has to act to bailout Wall Street.
“The system as it is built right now is inherently flawed in that it … encouraged people to make bad loans with the ultimate out being the federal government,” Wolf said.
Following up on our posting yesterday of Congressman John Salazar’s thoughts on the bailout, here are Wolf’s comments on the proposed $700 billion bailout package:
*Wolf photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Salazar, Wolf plan two debates
Provided Congress adjourns on time, Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo., said he and his opponent, Delta County Republican Wayne Wolf, have agreed to two debates, one in Hotchkiss and another in Pueblo.
“We’ll have the Western Slope covered and the Eastern Slope covered,” he said.
Salazar said the debates’ times and exact locations are still in flux, but they will happen.
These debates will be the pair’s first public confrontations after Salazar opted not to attend the Club 20 debate series earlier this month. Salazar was at a veterans event in Monte Vista, which left Wolf time to give a speech at the Sept. 6 event.
*Debate photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Home state advantage?
It’s been said that where you come from says a lot about you.
Well, in the case of our presidential and vice presidential hopefuls, that could make for some interesting executive branch dynamics, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal.
According to the report, John McCain — assuming he not only represents, but is federal representative of Arizona — is more likely to be conscientious than most Americans.
And Sarah Palin? Well, Alaskans rank in the bottom four of all states for its residents’ extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.
On the Democratic side, Barack Obama, Illinois’ junior senator, is more extroverted than the residents of all but 42 other states and the District of Columbia.
Obama’s running mate, Connecticut’s longtime senator, Joe Biden, is from one of the more disagreeable states in the country.
*McCain, Palin, Obama, Biden photos from the Associated Press.
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King: Keep the peace, drop amendments, executive order
State Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said he is hopeful Colorado’s business and union leaders will work out a solution to drop their numerous ballot measures from the overloaded November ballot.
However, King — who has announced his support for Amendment 47 — said for any deal to meet his expectations, Gov. Bill Ritter should agree to nullify his 2007 executive order that allowed state employees to form associations.
“I don’t think it’s the best use of funds, the best use of time,” King said of the resources that will go into fighting both the pro- and anti-union ballot questions.
King’s preferred outcome, however, is unlikely to come true. Ritter this week rebuffed an offer from Jon Caldara to drop the executive order and have Amendment 49 fall off the ballot.
“For this offer, I would simply say I decline,” Ritter recently told The Pueblo Chieftain.
*King photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Salazar: The White House bailout plan is fiscally irresponsible
The $700 billion bailout package the White House is seeking to help the financial markets stabilize and improve has not yet garnered the support of Congressman John Salazar, D-Colo.
Salazar said the plan, under Congress’ pay-go rules, would require some sort of massive tax increase or new borrowing from foreign nations. Neither of those prospects, he said appeals to him.
“A bailout package of this magnitude is going to have to have a tax increase somewhere or another,” Salazar said. “That is something we as Blue Dogs have been against. … This country is borrowing way too much. This could translate to a bill to every man, woman and child of about $3,700. And I think that is wrong, totally wrong.”
Here is Political Notebook’s exclusive interview with the second-term congressman:
*Salazar photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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Poll: Udall leads among key blocs
Hispanic and female voters have helped Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall secure an eight-point lead over his rival, Republican Bob Schaffer, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
According to the poll of 1,418 likely voters, conducted between Sept. 14 and Sept. 21, Udall is leading Schaffer 48 percent to 40 percent. (The poll has a 2.6 percentage point margin or error.)
As we noted above, Udall’s lead is most marked among Hispanic and female voters: Among women he leads Schaffer 53 percent to 34 percent. Among Hispanic voters, Udall leads Schaffer 64 percent to 21 percent.
In a year when Hispanic voters in the West are more important than ever, that second statistics cannot be welcome news to the GOP camp.
Udall also has amassed the support of unaffiliated voters, leading Schaffer by a 49 percent to 31 percent margin.
These demographic trends cannot be good news for the Schaffer camp. The good news, however, is that Schaffer still has more than 40 days to shore up his support and turn back the recent pro-Udall trend.
*Udall photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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May: GOP has cards to play in race to succeed Romanoff
In the race between state Reps. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, and Anne McGihon, D-Denver, to replace outgoing Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, the House Republican Caucus will have a say — and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, doesn’t want anyone to forget that.
“We’ll have something to say,” May said. “As a bloc, we haven’t made up our minds between McGihon and Bernie.”
Unlike the majority and minority leader, the whole House votes on who will receive the speaker’s gavel.
May said his caucus would have issues voting for someone who could be effectively splitting his time between pleasing his district and running the House.
“It’s pretty rare that a speaker comes from … such a competitive district,” May said. “Leadership on both sides comes from people in safer seats.”
*Capitol photo shot by Political Notebook. May photo from the General Assembly Web site.
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‘Well, well, well’
Apprised of the news that state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, is not a sure-shot successor for outgoing Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, Republican House District 55 candidate Laura Bradford remarked, “Well, well, well.”
“Mr. Buescher doesn’t have his seat locked up yet,” Bradford added.
Buescher’s position as a probable successor to Romanoff has figured large into his re-election narrative.
*Bradford photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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‘Brucing’ up a fundraising appeal
If outgoing state Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, says something is bad — or worse yet, “slavery” — it’s probably a good thing.
That seems to be the philosophy behind a pro-Amendment 59 missive that landed in Political Notebook’s inbox this week.
The e-mail contrasts Bruce’s comments about the constitutional amendment and what its endorsers say.
We aksed the amendment’s prime mover, Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, if he hoped Bruce (who is highly unpopular in some circles for his antics at the Capitol) would prove to be an asset.
Romanoff declined to comment, but did say that responding to Bruce could be considered a full-time job — one he does not want.
*Romanoff photo shot by Political Notebook.
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Pollster: Obama bounces back after McCain’s RNC/Palin surge
The analysts over at Pollster.com believe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has largely survived John McCain’s bouncing coming off his vice presidential nominee announcement and the Republican National Convention.
“Obama has now recovered his lead in national polling, rising at or above his post-DNC, pre-RNC level. This sharp turnaround erases the very sharp pro-McCain/Palin convention bounce we saw in early September,” pollster Charles Franklin reports.
Obama’s lead, however, is slim, according to Franklin: “The states we have classified as tossup or leans … have also seen a significant Obama recovery. The range of movement is rather modest, but the roughly three point McCain gain has now been balanced by a 3+ point Obama recovery in these most contested states, putting Obama up by just over a point.”
Indeed, this is going to be close.
*Obama photo from the Associated Press.
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Schaffer, Udall disagree over how to fix the country’s markets
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer told The Denver Post that he plans to continue in the vein of the man he is hoping to replace, Wayne Allard, at least on economic issues.
He told the newspaper that he favors nonintervention in the current economic meltdown: “The dead hand of government is the biggest problem in general.”
(Recall, during the Club 20 debates, Schaffer said: “I think Sen. Allard has done a heroic job as a member of the United States Senate.”)
Allard, in a recent press release, decried government intervention in the ongoing meltdown on Wall Street: “While it is reasonable for the government to take steps to mitigate widespread damage to our economy, the functions of the free market are based on risk and reward. Only the rarest of circumstances warrant the federal government or taxpayers simply absorbing the risk in the investing equation. … Rough times in the financial markets are not necessarily the result of bad government and Congress should resist the temptation of sweeping reactionary legislation, which generally has a poor track record of actually addressing underlying problems.”
Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall, on the other hand, has advocated for government intervention and oversight: “We need a new approach that will re-establish some ground rules in the marketplace to protect Americans’ investments in the economy and restore their confidence in the financial markets.”
In a race between two candidates with stark policy contrasts Schaffer and Udall have provided the voters with yet another instance where they differ.
*Schaffer, Udall photo from The Rocky Mountain News. Allard photo shot by Political Notebook.
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