Cashier Cathy Seitz, a worker at Lucky’s Market in Longmont, takes a selfie with Sen. Mark Udall, left, and Jill Biden, right, wife of vice president Joe Biden. Udall’s campaign made a surprise visit to the grocery store. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)
Ten minutes after Niwot couple Kathy and Jim Faulk dropped off their ballots Saturday, they walked into Lucky’s Market in Longmont and looked at each other in disbelief. Standing in the produce aisle was the guy they had just voted for: U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.
Earlier that morning at the breakfast table, Jim turned to his wife and jokingly said, “We’re voting for Cory Gardner, right?” — referring to the Republican Senate candidate.
“If you vote for you-know-who, you can walk out that front door and not come back,” Kathy said, getting a huge grin from Udall when she retold the story.
Udall and Gardner, a Republican congressman, are engaged in what is one of the hottest U.S. Senate battles in the country and one that could decide which party controls the Senate after November. Udall, , has a packed calendar over the next four days; Gardner had only one public event today.
Kathy Faulk was equally excited to run into Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president, who accompanied Udall on campaign stops in Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins, where the faithful were urged to get out the vote.
Kathy and Jim Faulk of Niwot greet Jill Biden, wife of vice president Joe Biden, and Sen. Mark Udall, right, during a campaign stop.
“I didn’t go gaga. I contained myself,” Kathy said. “But I admire Jill Biden so much and there she was in front of me. She was just as gracious as can be.”
Other shoppers and store workers were just as stunned to see the Udall entourage, which also included U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Congressman Jared Polis. Mike Reid took a break from pushing his shopping cart to point out his hat, which said “Obama.” He said it was from 2008. Andrew Apperson told Udall that when he had trouble getting his birth certificate in 2000 he enlisted then Congressman Udall’s office for help — and got the document from Frankfurt. Yes, he told Udall, he was a military brat.
Forrest Wold-McGimsey, who was sacking groceries, got his picture taken with the senators and Biden but did offer one lament. “I’m only 17,” he said. “I can’t vote.”
The stop wasn’t planned but Udall’s campaign bus arrived in Longmont early after a campaign event in Boulder. The campaign already had ordered sandwiches at Lucky’s to eat before the next stop, in Loveland, so everybody decided to go inside.
That’s the same market where Gardner as part of “government in the grocery,” an idea Gardner’s Democratic colleague, Congressman Ed Perlmutter of Golden, has perfected in the 7th Congressional District.
