"Boulder Liberal" Airbrush Only Reminds Why Tag Accurately Describes Mark Udall

When liberal columnist Jason Salzman covers for Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels' editorial decision to airbrush Dick Wadhams' "Boulder liberal" description from a quote to describe Mark Udall, it's our job to re-introduce a few relevant facts.

Though Mark Udall has never lived within the Boulder city limits, his official residence for years was listed as "Mark Udall (D-Boulder)", without protest. Within the last year, Udall has publicly referred to Boulder as his "touchstone."

This blog also did a months-long tally of references of Mark Udall's position on the political spectrum by Left-of-center bloggers and traditional press. "Liberal" is not only the most commonly used tag to describe Udall but also the most mainstream designation, with variations of "reliably Left wing" coming in second. Hence the name: "The Mark Udall is not a Moderate Scoreboard."

Finally, Mark Udall's spokesperson also has admitted the "Boulder liberal" tag will not hurt the candidate. We can only guess Udall may have changed his mind, that having Coloradans reminded he is a "Boulder liberal" is not helping the campaign at all.

Lynn Bartels' explanation for omitting both "Boulder" and "liberal" from Wadhams' quote to describe Democratic candidate Mark Udall has ignored some pertinent facts. The editorializing should be left to others.

Mark Udall Now Running from "Boulder Liberal" Tag and Debates? A Connection?

Mark Udall appears to be waffling in his relationship with the liberal city of Boulder he has represented for 9 years in Congress. Politicker's Jeremy Pelzer tried to track down the definition of exactly where Udall lives:

Udall, a U.S. Representative and the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, is regularly listed in the press as being from Eldorado Springs. That is what his congressional and campaign offices say, too.

Udall's home, however, is in unincorporated Boulder, about halfway between Eldorado Springs and the city of Boulder.

The Udalls purchased the home, about a mile and a half outside Eldorado Springs, in 2003; before that, they lived in the city of Boulder, said Udall campaign spokesperson Taylor West.

West said Udall's mailing address lists him in Boulder.

"But if you look at it on the map, it's pretty blatantly not in Boulder - it's Eldorado Springs," West said. "This is a Schaffer campaign attempt to distract what are extremely serious issues that people in Colorado are facing. If this is how they plan to run their campaign, that's fine. But we're going to spend time addressing issues that people in Colorado care about."

A pretty testy and defensive response from Ms. West, especially when just a few months ago she insisted the "Boulder liberal" tag would not hurt her candidate, and Mark Udall himself has insisted that Boulder is his "touchstone". So does Udall have a love-hate relationship with the "Boulder liberal" tag or what?

Further, West made a valiant but disingenuous attempt to accuse the other side of causing distractions. Yet only two days remain for Mark Udall's campaign to respond to Bob Schaffer's proposal for Lincoln-Douglas style debates to address the "extremely serious issues that people in Colorado are facing." And Udall accepted the debate idea before he was against it -- a real profile in "courage".

We at SvU hope that Mark Udall changes course, follows the lead of nonpartisan news and civic organizations and joins in Bob Schaffer's proposed summer debate series designed to discuss "extremely serious issues that people in Colorado are facing," or as Schaffer put it in his official proposal: "Let's give voters in every part of the state a chance to hear directly from us on issues important to them and to our state."

Mark Udall can give voters that chance, or maybe he's afraid that Coloradans will see there really is something to the "Boulder liberal" tag.

Providing Balance to Politico's Profile of Bob Schaffer-Mark Udall Race

University of Colorado law professor Scott Moss has penned an introductory column on the Bob Schaffer-Mark Udall Senate race for Politico. Despite its generally neutral tone and the author's credible job in capturing some of the race's larger themes, the article tends to distort Udall's positives and Schaffer's negatives - which may be an inadvertent product of the author's own biases.

So here's a response in the interest of fairness and balance.

At one point Moss writes:

Udall draws Republican fire as a Boulder liberal who votes against tax cuts and other Bush programs, but Udall’s mixed political persona draws liberal ire, as well. Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District includes the famously liberal college town Boulder, “the Berkeley of the Rockies.”

But Boulder is not nearly large enough to fill a whole congressional district, so Udall also represents many conservative Coloradans in rural mountain towns and Denver-Boulder exurbs....

Note that the only criticism of Mark Udall is veiled in the language of "Republican fire." But the facts are clear: Udall himself claims Boulder as his "touchstone." And Udall has embraced the "Boulder liberal" tag.

Moss, who apparently teaches in Boulder, makes one of the biggest non-statements of the year by noting that Mark Udall is "Perhaps not as liberal as some Boulder constituents...." Perhaps. But even being a centrist in the context of "the Berkeley of the Rockies" puts the liberal Congressman outside the mainstream as a statewide candidate in Colorado. In other words, "perhaps" Udall is just a little bit out of the mainstream, as opposed to way outside the mainstream. Okay.

To the author's credit, he goes on to point out Udall's duplicity on the Department of Peace, though he missed that Udall had previously pandered to one side of the Pinon Canyon issue before his current stance.

As far as Bob Schaffer goes, Moss' article also might have balanced the critique to point out that the former Congressman demonstrated integrity by keeping a term limits pledge.

Boulder Democrat Assembly

Our friend at Liberal and Loving It live blogged the Boulder County Democrat Assembly. He has a lot of good stuff in his live blog. This is a Senatorial race blog, so we will let you meander through it.

Here is what he wrote about the Mark Udall reception:

Does Mark Udall exist? He sent his wife to speak for him - at the county that is his biggest base of support. Mark is apparently over at the JeffCo assembly. The speech is all about how we need a Dem as Senator. And how "we all need" to support Mark regardless of what is said. Interesting not a word about what Mark himself would do...

and...

We're over with the Udall presentation. Ow. The second half was 4 people with pretty generic items about Mark. The response to each was pretty perfunctory except for one presenter when he stated he was one of the lost boys of Sudan, and is now a US citizen. He got a strong emotional response - for him.

If this is the response Mark is getting from the Dems in Boulder who are delegates - he may be in a lot of trouble. We'll all vote for him, but I don't know if he is going to get much passion or effort. There were only 2 people waving Udall signs during the speech - out of several thousand here.

It appears that Mark Udall should have gone to the Boulder Assembly with his touchstone speech.

It is beginning to look as though Mark Udall has a lot of support from the checkbook liberals and not a lot of enthusiasm from the rank and file. Keep in mind that this was written by a Udall supporter.

Isn't it interesting that none of this got reported in any newspaper?

Is Calling Mark Udall a "Boulder Liberal" Namecalling?

Yesterday, Politicker reported that John Randall had called Mark Udall U-Turn Udall. That is unfortunate, but it should be noted that we are unaware of Randall ever before calling Udall a name.

It is interesting that only three folks have called Mark Udall a name, and all of them have called him U-Turn Udall. If a name could be made to stick, it is probably that one. So far, all of them have done it only once, and they each did it when speaking or writing on different subjects.

We hope it stops.

Today, the Longmont Times call has this very interesting quote:

For more than a year, [ Dick ] Wadhams and other Republicans have brandished the “Boulder liberal” label when talking about [ Mark ] Udall, but the Democrat’s campaign staff has dismissed the tag as narrow and misleading.

But [ Taylor ] West said [ Dick ] Wadhams and Schaffer “know that Bob Schaffer’s record is far out of the mainstream for Colorado. The only way they can deal with that is by calling names and making up labels.”

The problem is that "Boulder Liberal" is not a name, it is a label that liberal blogs and msm outlets have used in various forms for nearly a year to describe Mark Udall.

The Longmont Times Call itself reported that Mark Udall had said about himself and his connection to Boulder:

Said [ Mark ] Udall, who lives in Eldorado Springs: “It’s wonderful to be home.” He said Boulder County is “home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

It is hard to understand how the Times-Call could imply that the "Boulder Liberal" tag is a Republican invention when Mark Udall clearly applies it to himself and does it in their own paper.

It is also hard to see how Mark Udall can claim to have clean hands in the name calling arena when absurdicus is hard at work using name calling as a substitute for honest debate.

Taylor West would like to believe that only her friends see Mark Udall fundraising letters. Mark Udall routinely calls Bob Schaffer an "extremist" and signs his name to those letters. Her feigned "shock" that someone would label Mark Udall something as mild as "Boulder Liberal" is nothing short of hypocritical.

Second Amendment Question for Mark Udall

Since the Second Amendment is in the news, it seems fair to ask Mark Udall what his position might be on that issue.

A few factoids:

The District of Columbia sought to regulate the possession of hand guns to the point that only retired police officers might own them.

If the purpose of that law was to cut down on deaths, it was a law that didn't work. In the late 1980's the District of Columbia the law was 15 years old. At that time, D.C. was recognized as the Murder Capital of the US. Only the criminals had guns.

The Second Amendment was written at a time when the total strength of the United States Army hovered in the neighborhood of 600 to 1,000 men. The US was so weak that the British refused to honor the peace treaty requirements to abandon their forts south of the Great Lakes and were inciting Indian tribes to attack settlements.

The attorney representing the District of Columbia claimed that he took a trigger lock off a weapon in three seconds in daylight. Presumably he had the key in his hand. How far can a burglar move in three seconds in the middle of the night? If guns are to be for self protection, which the majority of the Court seemed to be arguing, are trigger locks reasonable?

The Liberals on the court clearly did not want to recognize the language of the Second Amendment as a right to have a tool with which to protect one's life and property.

Where does Mark Udall stand on the issue of Second Amendment Gun Rights? If his touchstone is Boulder as he once said, he is clearly a liberal. Is he in lock step with the liberals on the court?

Big Blue Lie Machine - Huffington Post Version

The Huffington Post has always been a Big Blue Lie Machine outlet. Even so, you have to laugh when a lefty, Bob Burnett writes two back to back sentences that make no sense when taken together:

Maine Republican Susan Collins has an uphill fight for her third term in the Senate. Her Democratic opponent will likely to be Congressman Tom Allen. Early polls give Collins a double-digit lead over Allen, but political observers expect the gap to narrow.

In our own Colorado Senate contest Bob Burnett seems to forget that no poll has shown more than a one point separation between Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer, with the most recent poll showing Schaffer ahead. For reasons we don't understand, Republicans do better at the polls than polling would suggest, so if Schaffer can keep it this close, it is hard to see how self described Boulder Liberal Mark Udall can be favored:

Boulder-based Democratic Congressman Mark Udall is favored in a race against arch-conservative Republican Bob Schaffer. Representative Udall has the lead in money and public sentiment; however, Schaffer recently hired dirty tricks master Dick Wadhams, the architect of South Dakota Republican John Thunes' upset win over Tom Daschle in 2004.

Did you ever notice that any Republican operative who is successful must be employing "dirty tricks?" Tom Daschle was a high profile ultra liberal in a conservative state. The surprise shouldn't have been that John Thune beat him. The surprise should have been that it took so long.

Mark Udall, Confused About Where He Is From

Someone pointed out to us that before 2004 when Mark Udall issued a press release, it was always marked "Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO)." After 2004 it was "Congressman Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs)."

That suggests that in 2004 Mark Udall did decide to try to run from the Boulder Liberal tag that he had been happy to accept until then.

Excuse us! We had thought that he wasn't running from the "Boulder Liberal" tag, in part because he called Boulder his "touchstone" and because one of his staffers opined publicly that the Boulder Liberal tag wouldn't hurt him.

We've also been told that on his 2007 financial disclosure forms he listed 4346 Prado Drive, Boulder, CO as his home address. On his campaign web site, he claims:

He and his wife Maggie Fox have two children...they live in Eldorado Springs, CO.

Does anyone not see why we have a tag " [ Mark ] Udall as a Liar?"

Washington Post Gets It Wrong - Again

Today's "The Fix" shows exactly why people on the east coast shouldn't be writing about Colorado Politics. It also demonstrates one of the several reasons that Washington is called "foggy bottom."

The Washington Post describes the Colorado race not as it is, but as it would like it to be. There is a big difference:

[ Dick ] Wadhams, a Colorado native, has been nearly perfect in the campaigns with which he has been associated in his home state. Can he keep the streak alive in Schaffer's up hill fight against Rep. Mark Udall (D)? Expect the phrase "Boulder liberal" to become a staple of Wadhams' vocabulary between now and November.

It is difficult to see how this race can be described as "up hill." There have been three polls that we know of, and all three showed a separation between the two of one percentage point. The first two showed Mark Udall to be ahead and the last one showed a slight Bob Schaffer lead.

This is still a conservative state, admittedly with a well gerrymandered left wing legislature and a chameleon governor, Bill Ritter who ran as a pro business moderate and is governing as an anti-business liberal. The Denver Post, which supported him in the 2006 election with comments designed to make him appear moderate has opined that he may be a one term governor.

In November Cillizza himself wrote: "a state that looks like it could stay in the GOP column if the right sort of race is run," so we want to know what has changed to make it "up hill."

As for whether Mark Udall can fairly be described as a "Boulder Liberal," The Fix would do well to note that Mark Udall is a self described Boulder Liberal. His campaign spokesperson, Taylor West, opined publicly that being called a Boulder Liberal wouldn't hurt him. The Denver Post recently called Mark Udall "solidly liberal" There is no evidence either that Mark Udall is running as anything but a liberal or that he can run as anything but a liberal. His friends in the msm and the liberal blogs have routinely called him "liberal," "reliably left wing/progressive," and "extremist." It has happened so often that we keep a scoreboard.

Given all of this data, it is hard to see how Dick Wadhams could avoid noting the obvious. He doesn't have to call Mark Udall a Boulder Liberal. All he has to do is restate the information here.

It is also hard to see how Chris Cillizza could have suggested that it would be wrong or inaccurate to call Mark Udall what he calls himself, a Boulder Liberal. Is this another example of the Big Blue Lie Machine in action? It wouldn't be the first time that the Washington Post was a big cog in that machine.

McCain and Udall Compared and Contrasted

This is in response to the Lynn Bartels article in today's Rocky Mountain News. We left a comment promising to explain why Bob Schaffer will not have a problem if Mark Udall tries to cozy up to John McCain.

We promised links. Many of the links we provide are links to other blog essays, here and elsewhere, which zero in on the issue and themselves have links to the original source. Even better than links are the "labels" at the bottom of the essay which you might want to follow.

Here goes:

Mark Udall and John McCain are two different people.

1. John McCain prides himself on running the "straight talk express." We have caught Mark Udall and his staff in lies so often that we developed a "Udall as a liar" label. We also have a "Big Blue Lie Machine" label for those less closely tied to Udall who are less than truthful. See below.

2. John McCain is a self described conservative though many moderates like him because he isn't an orthodox conservative. Mark Udall is a liberal's liberal. He calls Boulder his "touchstone" and his spokesperson has opined that being tagged as a "Boulder liberal" won't hurt him. Liberals and the msm routinely call him "liberal," reliably left wing, progressive, and twice extremist. We have documented over 40 examples of that happening. To see the documentation and our methodology, follow the bread crumbs backwards.

3. John McCain is a war hero and the son and grandson of Navy Admirals. Mark Udall has so little understanding of the apolitical traditions of the military and how they keep our democracy free from a military coup that he once sponsored a resolution that would have encouraged the politicization of military officers. Not content with politicizing the military, it would have encouraged officers to make political complaints to the congress and exhorted congress to pay heed to those complaints.

4. John McCain promoted the surge. Mark Udall promoted a Department of Peace.

5. Once John McCain learned his lesson with the Keating Five, he never again allowed the source of his political fund raising to cloud his judgement or compromise his integrity. The NY Times tried to claim that he more recently had helped a lobbyist, but that help was limited to two letters asking a regulatory commission to vote on a two year old issue while carefully telling them he was not telling them how to vote. Seems reasonable, though the NYT didn't think so.

Mark Udall is taking big bucks from labor unions and has publicly admitted that he had co-sponsored a labor bill that he doesn't like. He is taking even bigger bucks from the environmentalists who don't give a damn if the whole state burns to the ground so long as no forest roads are built that might allow the beetle killed trees to be removed, even dead trees adjacent to mountain towns.

Mark Udall is so deep in the grasp of his environmentalist paymasters that last year he proposed an amendment that would close existing roads which makes the problem worse. Even his heavily self promoted and under financed bill to remove dead trees around mountain towns didn't prompt him to speak out when the environmentalists objected to the road building that would be necessary.

6. Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson dislike John McCain. Daily Kos held a fundraiser for Mark Udall.

7. In 1971, John McCain was in a POW camp in North Vietnam and had been for years. In 1971, Mark Udall was in an Arizona court having his car confiscated and being placed on a year's probation for drugs.

8. John McCain is a man of proven courage, personal and political. We recently wrote that an appropriate bumper sticker for Mark Udall would be "Vote Udall: A Coward For Today In Every Way."

Lynn Bartels would do well to note that John McCain was praising and quoting Mo Udall, not Mark Udall. It isn't uncommon in congress to refer to one's mortal enemy as "my friend."

In the end, the election in Colorado will be about character. Udall lacks moral courage and says what he believes will get him elected. Schaffer just says what he believes.

If the subject comes up in a debate, Bob Schaffer can truthfully say "I know John McCain, John McCain is a friend of mine. You're no John McCain!"

Out-of-Touch: CU Democrat Regents and Boulder Liberal Mark Udall

On a slow news day for the U.S. Senate campaign, attention turns to Rep. Mark Udall's hometown of Boulder, where partisan Democrat regents followed the lead of Left-wing smear groups and voted to deny Bruce Benson the job of University of Colorado president. Fortunately for common sense and the university's fiscal situation, the 6 Republican regents overrode their votes and confirmed Benson.

With this story emerging to show us once again just how out of touch the students and faculty (and the Democrat regents) on the Boulder campus are with mainstream Colorado, we're reminded of Udall's Boulder roots and affinity. After all, his campaign has pretty much resigned itself to the "Boulder liberal" moniker.

If he were really comfortable with the label, though, we might expect Udall to open his mouth to answer any questions about Bruce Benson and the University of Colorado. But we don't see that happening for awhile.

Mark Udall Criticized by Fellow Liberal for His Sellout to "Ambition"

Green Party blogger Dave Chandler has a message for Colorado Lefties who have observed Boulder liberal Mark Udall selling out his core principles in a calculated election year cosmetic political makeover:

The thing about Mark Udall as a Colorado Congressman and as a candidate of the Dimocrat Party for the U.S. Senate in 2008, is that his moves to the right -- for the purpose of fulfilling his ambition for higher office -- are so transparent that they further the cynicism and contempt people have for politicians and government.

At a time when Americans are giving voice to a desire for change, Udall sadly represents the kind of dynastic, risk-averse politics that have gotten our country into the current mess -- endless military occupation of another nation, economic malaise, abridgment of our liberties, corrupt corporatized political campaigns, and on and on....

My prediction is the Udall will not suddenly begin to display the kind of bold leadership that the people of Colorado and the United States are now calling for ... because you can't teach a sway-backed old dog new tricks.

That is why the Green Party has a candidate, Bob Kinsey, seeking our party's nomination for the U.S. Senate to run against Udall. For principled, conscientious voters who just don't want to play the "lesser of two evils" game anymore, a real, substantive alternative is available.

It takes courage to begin the process of rejecting the politics of the past for a 'politics of the future' ... the establishment will hurl all kinds of invective at you for "throwing away your vote." But any vote cast out of conviction and principle is more valuable for you and the fate of the Republic than those corporate politicians will ever be able to comprehend.

More proof that it's hard for Udall to be all things to all voters. Imagining that his very liberal voting record in Congress will sew up his support among his Boulder friends, Udall is desperately trying to recast his image as a political centrist. Not only does his recent "rightward" (about the only direction he could move after being so far Left) shift lack credibility with anyone who has observed his record, but the pandering has given rise to increasingly credible opposition on his Left.

Notice the words used by someone closely aligned with Udall's Boulder Left-liberal ideology: saying he is motivated by "fulfilling his ambition for higher office," that he represents a "kind of dynastic, risk-averse politics," and that he is "a sway-backed old dog" who can't be taught "new tricks." Alienating those who should be his natural allies, Udall is slowly pinning himself into a corner. Which way should he go?

Rasmussen Poll: Schaffer 44, Udall 43 ... The Dead Heat Continues

The highly-reliable Rasmussen tracking poll has released fresh results for Colorado:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that former Republican Congressman Bob Schaffer holds a statistically insignificant lead over Democratic Congressman Mark Udall 44% to 43%.

Following the last Rasmussen release in late November, when Schaffer led Udall by an equally narrow and insignificant 42-to-41 edge, the race remains unmoved.

Based on the new Rasmussen survey, we now see one more reason why the Left is orchestrating a campaign to smear Schaffer early - their own candidate lags slightly in favorable opinion:

The two Congressmen have very similar favorability ratings. Schaffer is viewed favorably by 48% and unfavorably by 35%. Udall is viewed favorably by 46% and unfavorably by 39%.

Get ready for the liberal slime and distortions to begin pouring in soon to try and bring down public opinion of the Republican candidate, as a way to make Boulder-based Udall seem less unappealing by comparison. But don't expect their expensive attacks to change the fundamental dynamic of the race: a closely-contested dead heat between candidates with clearly distinct records.

Another Udall Staffer Tells a Fib

According to the Longmont Times-Call:

Speaker after speaker at a Tuesday night Boulder County Republican dinner emphasized the importance of electing GOP candidate Bob Schaffer to the U.S. Senate.

In the interest of balance, the Times-Call got a quote from a Mark Udall spokesman:

Udall campaign spokeswoman Taylor West dismissed “that whole Boulder-liberal thing” during an interview later Tuesday night.

This a very curious quote as on October 6, 2007, the Times-Call found Mark Udall at a similar Boulder gathering and reported:

Said [ Mark ] Udall, who lives in Eldorado Springs: “It’s wonderful to be home.” He said Boulder County is “home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

We're not Colorado Media Matters and we are not trying to emulate that ethics challenged site, but it is fair to ask why the Times-Call didn't match these two quotes up as we just did. Mark Udall wasn't running from his Boulder liberal roots then. Indeed, he was embracing them.

Today's Chuckle

We're not going to link to this, but Mark Udall put out a fund raising email that had among it's many curious statements this most curious statement:

Act for change. Contribute today and give me the advantage I'll need to defeat Bob Schaffer -- and keep this seat out of extremist hands!

That's strong stuff. It seems to us that the msm was calling Mark Udall an extremist, but we don't recall any such label attached to Bob Schaffer. So many people, msm and bloggers alike have called Mark Udall a progressive or reliably left wing that it is hard to keep up, but we try.

Apparently Mark Udall's campaign strategy is to freely admit that he is a flaming (as in forest fire) Boulder liberal but to call Bob Schaffer an extremist.

We're laughing at Mark Udall.

Some Days are Diamonds

Today was stone. It started when we thought, mistakenly, that today was the second Monday in the new year. We got up early and went on a 150 mile wild goose chase of our own making.

Then we chanced to take our once weekly or so trip to Liberal and Loving It. Some days he is on solid ground, and some days he is in a swamp. His suggestion that...

We need to power cars from electricity (which in practice probably means hydrogen). Not existing ones but set a plan where all new cars starting in 1 - 2 years will be hydrogen powered instead of oil or biofuels.

...is not on solid ground. Electric cars, other than ones covered with solar panels, have no range. Today's trip would have been impossible. Hydrogen powered cars actually put out more pollution than today's vehicles.

We know that Mark Udall is always on the lookout for new and fine sounding green fuel mandates. Hopefully, he won't be reading Boulder blog LALI anytime soon. Unfortunately, Mark Udall has previously admitted that Boulder is

“home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

The Alternate Universe That Is Boulder

Does anyone recall the Mark Udall quote about Boulder County being:

“home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

We have found a new Boulder based blog that is part of the alternate universe that is Boulder. It is Rant from Boulder and Bellview. It is an entertaining read and we learn so much. We would have never guessed that Karl Rove was so effective that:

They have had years to paint Senator Clinton as a looney liberal. She isn't. She is right of center just like her husband. but the truth never got in the way during a campaign cycle.

The implications of this revelation are enormous! Hillary is a part of the vast right wing conspiracy and yet Karl Rove has painted her as a looney liberal!

That kind of thinking is what makes Boulder politicians look so far out of touch with reality:

Maybe it is true, in this alternate reality, that Mark Udall didn't really sponsor the Department of Peace. It was really to be a top secret renewable energy project that would have sent Saudia Arabia back to the era of scimitars and horses.

Observations

We've spent a number of hours doing what we should have done from the beginning - we are cross referencing the posts to make them more useful.

In doing so, we have been reminded of some ongoing and open themes:

1. Ken Salazar used to run interference for some of Mark Udall's wilder, more left wing schemes, and doesn't seem to be doing so as much at the current time.

2. The Denver Post went out of its way to lie to the public about Carolyn Bninski's sentence. Bninski seems to have disappeared from the news. That may be because Mark Udall has very publicly and counter intuitively moved his position on the war leftward at a time when the surge is working.

3. A few months ago, MoveOn.org was publicly threatening Mark Udall that it would cut off donations if Udall didn't move his war policy to the left. It remains to be seen if the move will result in additional money, and more importantly if the additional money it generates will be worth the cost to his chance to reposition himself on the political spectrum as a "moderate."

4. The out of state left wing blogs used to be giddy about Mark Udall's chances to take the Colorado Senate seat. Early in the summer, two days couldn't go by without some over confident comment about how Colorado was turning "Blue." That over confidence is gone.

5. No one is writing about how Hillary and the Democrat convention being in Denver will help Udall. Udall's staff never thought they would, and said so publicly.

6. The very best quote of the fall was from Mark Udall, himself:

Said [ Mark ] Udall, who lives in Eldorado Springs: “It’s wonderful to be home.” He said Boulder County is “home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

The cross referencing project is only about half done, and will doubtless generate more observations.

Udall Applies "Boulder Liberal" Label To Himself

Could this be more clear?

Said [ Mark ] Udall, who lives in Eldorado Springs: “It’s wonderful to be home.” He said Boulder County is “home base for me. This is the touchstone; this is where I take my inspiration.”

Boulderite Thinking

Did you know that Boulder has a "Climate Action Plan?" Neither did we. There is a hot race for city council in Boulder this year and all of the candidates were asked to comment on it by the Boulder paper. Our friend, Liberal and Loving it, graded the responses, and he didn't grade on the curve.

His comments are shorter than those of the candidates and provide a glimpse into the mind of Mark Udall and the future of Colorado and the nation if Mark Udall is elected to the US Senate.

Here is the standard he set and his first three comments, and grades:

My answers are predicated upon the economic consensus that the most effective approach is to tax carbon emissions and oil usage. However, I'm not sure any candidate can win in Boulder on that platform as the environmental group endorsements tend to select the winners and those groups generally prefer mandated actions over market pricing.

Matthew Applebaum D+ : Matt definitely takes the "we will force all of you to do these specific things" approach. Under that approach all of Matt's point are good, but the sum total is a significant intrusion into every building in the city (but no vehicles).

Philip Bradley B+ : A decent market oriented approach with the tax credit. And he keeps it simple which is also commendable.

Seth Brigham A- : Seth's comments are not a model of clarity but I think what he is proposing is people & companies (including the city government) are taxed based on their carbon emissions. Good answer.

You are getting an inside look at how Boulderites think, and thus how Mark Udall is forced to think. The hurdle Mark Udall has to overcome, and probably cannot, is that for 10 years he has represented Boulder and this kind of Boulderite thinking in Congress. Do you still question why he supports every hair brained scheme that the Sierra Club throws his way?

LALI gave Applebaum a D+ but as much as admits that he will get elected because the Sierra Club favors mandates.

Keep in mind that one of the reasons that we like LALI is because while he is a liberal, he is a market orientated liberal, which is quite unusual and refreshing. Yes, he has crackpot ideas (favors impeachment), but he is not totally loopy (favors nuclear power).