Watch CBS News

Colorado Senate Candidates Rally Bases Before Election Day

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. (AP) - In the final full day of the Colorado Senate campaign, both sides tried to rev up their base voters Monday as the election headed into its final hours.

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, slightly behind in the polls to Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, is depending on his party's historically strong turnout operation to get him re-elected. He made stops across the Front Range on Monday, including a rally at Metro State University with several Hispanic leaders aimed at persuading young and Hispanic voters to cast their ballots.

"We have to win," Udall told Democratic volunteers at his final rally of the day. "We are on offense. We are campaigning until the polls close. The other team is trying to run out the clock, sit on the ball."

Gardner, who has made relatively few public appearances, stopped at the GOP's campaign office in Greenwood Village to fire up volunteers, whom he urged to get out every last vote.

"Every ballot represents a voice, and every voice must be heard," Gardner said. "Make Harry Reid a footnote in history."

Colorado's Senate race is one of the closest and most expensive in the country, and its outcome could well determine which party controls the Senate next year. Republicans need to net six seats to win the chamber.

The race has pivoted on women's issues and the question of whether, as in Colorado's last senate contest, Democrats' advantage on social issues and strong field operation will enable them to defy the polls and survive a difficult midterm environment. In 2010, Sen. Michael Bennet eked out a narrow victory against his Republican challenger with that strategy, and as head of the Democratic Party group that helps Senate campaigns he's tried to take the model national. Udall's re-election campaign is the clearest example of Democrats' strategy.

Within weeks of Gardner jumping into the race in late February, Udall began hammering the challenger on his past support of measures to grant legal rights to fertilized eggs, which could ban all abortions and many forms of contraception. But Gardner's campaign felt it was ready for the attacks. Gardner is opposed to abortion, but he disavowed one of the so-called personhood measures and proposed providing birth control pills without a prescription. Republicans have taken to mocking Udall's focus on women's issues, and even some Democrats are nervous he overplayed his hand by dedicating more than half of his television commercials to the subject.

Gardner, meanwhile, has a conservative voting record but tried to paint himself as "a different kind of Republican" by appearing in backdrops more associated with Democrats, like wind farms and mountain trails. His campaign also played up his youth - he is 40 years old, Udall 64 - and optimistic demeanor.

Neither side has delved much into policy. Gardner touts his support for improving the economy, energy production, the environment and education but rarely goes into detail other than to stress his support for the Keystone XL pipeline, something Udall has voted against. Udall touted his support for increasing the minimum wage, protecting the environment and an immigration overhaul. But each candidate has spent most of his time hewing tightly to his script: Gardner attacked Udall for supporting President Obama; Udall attacked Gardner for being too conservative to represent such a politically diverse state as Colorado.

The contest, however, has enormous symbolic importance. Colorado has symbolized how Democrats in the Obama administration have been able to win in closely divided states through a coalition of young and minority voters backed by a strong get-out-the-vote program. Both sides agree the Senate race is a test of the endurance of that game plan in the fading days of Obama's presidency.

"Colorado is either going to be the model of how to defeat the (Democratic) blueprint or the model of why it's so effective," said Kelly Maher, a Denver GOP operative.

More Campaign 2014 Stories

- By Nicholas Riccardi, AP Writer

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.