LAKEWOOD — Former President Bill Clinton pumped up a crowd of several hundred party loyalists at a political rally in Lakewood Tuesday afternoon by citing the records of fellow Democrats Gov. John Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall and wondering aloud how their races for re-election could be so tight.
“Why is this a race?” Clinton said of Hickenlooper’s neck-and-neck battle with former Congressman Bob Beauprez, after highlighting the governor’s efforts to get Colorado’s damaged roads reopened so soon after the devastating floods of 2013 swept through the Front Range.
Udall’s work on the Armed Services Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence got high praise from the former commander in chief, who noted the senator’s early criticism of the federal government’s eavesdropping efforts.
“He led the fight in the United State Congress against overreaching by the National Security Agency in listening to your phone calls and reading your emails,” Clinton said to loud applause.
But it’s not clear that the appearance at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel by Clinton, to get out the vote for his Democratic brethren, will be enough to shift the balance of the races one week before Election Day. Udall and Hickenlooper are locked into tight contests with GOP opponents U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner and Beauprez, respectively.
Polls in recent weeks have shown Gardner holding a steady lead over Udall, giving the Republican congressman a 46 percent-to-41 percent edge in the race.
The GOP sees Colorado as key to their efforts to gain six more seats and win control of the U.S. Senate.
“It’s no surprise that the Democrats would dispatch the former President to try to save the political careers of one of Obama’s most liberal and loyal supporters in the U.S. Senate and a governor that has shown his inability to lead,” Colorado Republican Committee chairman Ryan Call said Tuesday. “Despite Clinton’s desperate attempts to say otherwise, Udall’s record is far from bipartisan, and Hickenlooper has broken too many promises to the people of our state to believe that the next four years will be any different. Cory Gardner and Bob Beauprez will be the kind of independent and reform-minded leaders Coloradans deserve.”
The gubernatorial race between Hickenlooper and Beauprez is closer, with another recent Quinnipiac poll placing the Democratic governor one point ahead of Beauprez but well within the poll’s margin of error.
But for half an hour Tuesday, campaign volunteers and party enthusiasts put aside the difficulties facing their candidates and cheered on a former president who said Udall and Hickenlooper are exactly the kind of politicians “you say you want.”
“It would be hard to find a more apolitical politician than John Hickenooper,” he said.
Clinton expressed disbelief at the criticism Udall has received for his repeated emphasis on the issue of women’s reproductive rights.
“He didn’t ever say he was for a constitutional amendment — a personhood amendment — that would basically take away a woman’s right to choose,” Clinton said, taking a sideways swipe at Gardner .
Clinton said the first-term senator was right to support national healthcare legislation, which he credited for bringing insurance coverage at a lower cost to more Americans.
“This is not complicated,” he said. “If you want a progressive future where we can all share in the economy, you better vote for Mark Udall.”
U.S. Rep Ed Perlmutter, who represents Lakewood in the 7th Congressional District, also spoke at the rally as did Udall’s colleague, Sen. Michael Bennet.
Clinton’s dual appearances this week are not the first high-profile visits on behalf of the state’s Democratic candidates. and the , have come to Colorado in recent weeks to charge up the Democratic base.
Republicans, too, are bringing in big names as the campaign winds down, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush leading an event Wednesday in Douglas County, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to campaign for Beauprez on Thursday in Colorado Springs.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abuvthefold
