DENVER—The first negative ads in the race for Colorado’s open U.S. Senate seat did not come from candidates Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer but from an independent group with ties to Republicans.
Common Sense Issues Inc. targeted Democratic Rep. Mark Udall on national security and his pro-environment record. Udall, a Democrat, and Schaffer, a former Republican congressman, are running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard.
One ad criticizes Udall for co-sponsoring a 2001 bill to establish an $8 billion Cabinet-level Department of Peace. It features a dialogue with one man saying, “Radical Islam wants Americans dead” before asking, “What part of dead doesn’t Mark Udall understand?”.
The other ad has Udall receiving a mock “Cuban hero award” from Fidel Castro to criticize a Udall bill to allow American companies to drill for oil off Cuba despite the current trade embargo. The ad notes Udall’s opposition to drilling on Colorado’s Roan Plateau.
Udall was one of 44 co-sponsors on Dennis Kucinich’s Department of Peace bill in a move his campaign said he now regrets. Udall did not support a similar 2003 bill, according to campaign manager Mike Melanson.
Melanson said Monday the criticism was aimed at areas where Udall is strong and Schaffer is weak: security and the environment.
“Because of the work Mark has done on the Armed Services Committee, Bob Schaffer is feeling very vulnerable, and he is trying to bolster his base,” Melanson said.
He said the ads are airing mostly in Republican-dominated Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, though they will run in the Democratic Denver market as well.
Common Sense Issues is associated with Republican operative Patrick Davis. Before opening a political consulting firm in Colorado Springs, Davis was the Western regional director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and then the committee’s national political director.
