It takes two to tango: attack ads already dominate Colorado Senate race

Just over a week ago, conservative PAC Americans for Prosperity released an ad slamming incumbent U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall for his support of the Affordable Care Act. Today, Udall’s campaign responded in kind.

The AFP bit, which aired in tight races across the country, acknowledged that “no one likes political ads” but begged voters to reach out to Udall and tell him that “ObamaCare doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work.”

The “Team Udall” rejoinder mirrors the AFP slot’s quiet, forlorn tune as it takes on Udall’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, for flip flopping on the highly contentious personhood issue. It concludes, “Cory Gardner: His beliefs haven’t changed. Just his ambitions.” 

Gardner has been in the headlines on this issue since last Friday when he told the Denver Post’s Lynn Bartels that he could no longer support personhood, this after co-sponsoring federal life-begins-at-conception-legislation in 2012. While it clearly opens him to exactly the criticisms the Udall campaign just made, Gardner’s decision to back off on personhood makes sense now that he is a candidate in a state-wide race. Coloradans have regularly rejected personhood measures at a rate of more than two to one.