SILVERTHORNE, Colo.—Ken Buck is returning to his tea party roots to reclaim the momentum as he tries to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.
After some televised missteps, and attacks from Democrats and some Republicans for his social conservatism, Buck has resumed the sort of small campaign events where his folksy style first made him a tea party favorite. He defeated a better-funded Republican in the primary and, several weeks ago, seemed to have Bennet on the ropes.
But recent polls show the contest’s a nail-biter. Bennet and Democrats have succeeded in highlighting Buck’s conservatism with a drumbeat of “too extreme” messages. Buck concedes he stumbled during televised debates with Bennet, joking that he can’t keep his boot out of his mouth.
So on a snowy evening this week, Buck wore blue jeans and his favorite boots as he chatted up a mostly Republican crowd at a ski-town steakhouse.
“Good to be here. I hear they have the best steak around,” Buck said, warming up the crowd. Diners nodded when he declared bluntly: “We’re on the road, on the road for votes. … We’ve got to win this election.”
Buck promised his listeners he’s returning the debate to criticism of ruling Democrats for federal spending. Bennet, he said, “wants to take this election into the weeds, but we are going to stay focused on jobs, focused on the economy.”
National political interests have thrown mounds of cash at Colorado’s back-and-forth Senate contest. The race has attracted more than $30 million in out-of-state campaign spending, more than any other Senate race. That sum includes more than $5 million from American Crossroads, the conservative advocacy group associated with Republican strategist Karl Rove.
Democrats have chipped away at Buck’s focus on pocketbook questions.
They attacked Buck for opposing abortion, even in cases of rape and incest; for saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that sexual orientation is a choice; for questioning the principle of separation of church and state in a 2009 forum; and for saying the Supreme Court wrongly cited privacy rights in its Roe v. Wade abortion decision.
Left-leaning groups also have decried Buck, the Weld County prosecutor, for declining to prosecute a 2005 rape allegation and telling a local newspaper that a jury could conclude the woman simply had “buyer’s remorse.”
In the race’s final week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee wrapped up the extremist allegations in a single television ad. The piece shows a series of voters saying they can’t vote for Buck. “He’s just too out there,” one woman concludes.
Even Buck fans are worried that their candidate’s far-right comments will cost him the seat.
“Mr. Buck has been stepping on himself, I’m sorry to say. He needs to shut up and quit talking,” said Steven Wind, a Colorado Springs Republican who cast an early vote for Buck.
While the airwaves are still jammed with attack ads, Bennet, like Buck, is taking his final campaign events back to his comfort zone. For the man appointed to the seat last year, that means talking to small groups, often in business chats where he defends the Democrats’ performance in Washington but makes such quips as, “There is so much about that place that is backward-looking.”
Bennet takes a wonkish approach, often dropping statistics and arguing that Democrats are better for the economy. In Fort Collins, he recently explained his view of the economy to a handful of small business owners. The senator even grabbed a marker to sketch a chart on a whiteboard.
At a children’s clothing shop in Aurora, Bennet answered questions about the health care overhaul. Asked how he’d help the economy, Bennet gave his most common answer: He wants to ease business lending.
“In my view the most critical ingredient to get out of this is to get you guys access to credit,” Bennet told shop owners.
After he left, the shop owners indicated why this Senate race is so close.
“I’m a less-government-is-better kind of guy,” said Jared Oz, who runs a consignment furniture store called Leta’s Loot.
Oz said he hadn’t decided who to vote for and gave Bennet’s job-creating idea only mild praise. “For being a Democrat, he has a good grip on what’s wrong with the economy, I guess,” Oz said.
Kris Ritter of Little Tykes Trading Post said she liked Bennet and applauded his credit idea—but wouldn’t say he has her vote.
“I guess it just seems like everything’s going for bailouts, but really, no one’s helping me out,” said Ritter, who’s not a member of either party. “I’m still making up my mind.”
