"Vote Mark Udall for Even Higher Energy Prices"

Highlighting Mark Udall's out-of-touch energy policy has become a recent staple of this site. In that light, it was interesting to read these comments from new blogger "Civil Sense" about Mark Udall's acceptance speech at the Democratic assembly in Colorado Springs:

It sounds more like American energy dependence on government subsidies, not energy independence. This is more like the broken windows fallacy. In this scenario, breaking a window appears to increase economic activity since the window needs replacement. However, the money that the owner uses to replace the window could have been used for a multitude of other items. Fixing the window is just displaced economic activity.

The subsidies to “green” energy work the same way. For the government to spend millions of dollars to subsidize more expensive wind, solar, and biofuel energy, it first must displace this money from the taxpayers. Due to the market distortion, the “green” energy sources become more competitive with traditional energy sources than they would without the subsidies.

The statement that a renewable standard for electricity would save money for Colorado families is ludicrous on its face. For the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will provide the cheapest, most reliable energy source. Nuclear power is another low-cost power option. Forcing utilities to utilize 15 percent as renewable energy means that 15 percent of the energy will be is actually forcing utilities to buy more expensive energy from Mark Udall’s friends and campaign supporters in the “green” movement.

This speech suggests another campaign slogan: Vote Mark Udall for even higher energy prices.

Of course, it was the slogan that elicited attention: "Vote Mark Udall for Even Higher Energy Prices." There's reason to believe that's just what Udall wants: strain the budgets of middle-class Coloradans to impose a new lifestyle on them. Sorry, those aren't Western values.

Mark Udall's Superdelegate Decision Dilemma Looking as Sticky as Ever

If there's any credence to this report on the New York Times blog, it looks like superdelegate Mark Udall will be waiting to declare his preference for a Presidential candidate until the Democratic National Convention in August.

Four weeks ago we wrote about the dilemma Mark Udall was facing:

Go with the guy who won big majorities at the Colorado caucus and still kind of looks like the frontrunner despite nagging scandals and incompetent advisers. -OR- Pick the wildly unpopular and shrill former First Lady who suddenly has campaign momentum and who could make your life miserable if she ends up the nominee, especially if you wait too long to back her.

The dynamics of the race have shifted once or twice since then, but the New York Times blog still sees the two-candidate showdown dragging on until Denver:

Hillary has no incentive to bow out early, and every incentive to stay in until Obama is officially the nominee -­ something that won’t happen until the convention.

Does Mark Udall want to take the Convention stage with far Left Barack Obama, whom some might say fits more closely as his "touchstone" candidate? Or does Mark Udall want to take the Convention stage with Hillary Clinton, wildly unpopular in Colorado (44 percent favorable, 55 percent unfavorable) and probably even more so after eking out the nomination with the pragmatic but undemocratic intervention of the superdelegates?

It could even get messier and more confusing: political guru Michael Barone sees a plausible scenario where Barack Obama wins the delegate count but Hillary Clinton wins the popular vote.

What to do then? Udall probably wants to put this decision off as long as possible.

A Profile in Courage, Not

The Denver Post humorously observed that Mark Udall and Ken Salazar can't seem to screw up the courage to tell the public who they will vote for as a Democrat super delegate.

Mark Udall operates on pure fear, but Ken Salazar has well thought reasons for not going public. After all, Barak lives in the same builing as Salazar does and Hillary was polite to Salazar's mother for a few minutes:

Colorado's soon-to-be-senior-senator makes this assessment of the candidates: He lived in the same Washington, D.C., building as Obama, with whom he works out. And he is grateful to Clinton for having chatted with his elderly mom at a reception.

"Picking between the two would be akin to choosing between family members," said [ Ken ]Salazar, who was willing to campaign for Joe Lieberman after the Connecticut senator defected from the Democratic Party.

As for Udall:

Udall also is loath to alienate voters as he vies to replace Republican Sen. Wayne Allard.

Udall has mustered the political courage to oppose bark beetles. Yet on the question of who should run the free world, he remains uncommitted.

But, is this true? Mark Udall has not had the courage to oppose the Sierra Club's and the Wilderness Society's do nothing, let 'em die, let Colorado burn attitude.

We do admit that Mark Udall did have the courage to co-sponsor a Department of Peace - that is until he decided to run for the Senate, when he lost even that level of courage and withdrew as a co-sponsor.

Susan Greene sums it up best:

But officials who try to be everything to everyone risk winding up as nothing to anyone. In politics, guts matter.

Ohhh, So Much Material, So Little Need For Taste

Bill Ritter and Mark Udall have expressed interest in ass judging this summer. We kid you not.

We'd bet that Gary Hart, Ted Kennedy, and Bill Clinton will also have an interest in judging this contest, given their history and interests.

A warning to Ted: It will be much harder to escape from a car that you drive into the Colorado river, so try to stay sober here. If you can't stay sober, try to drive alone.

And for Gary: We understand that Monkey Business III is moored at Dillon reservoir. Bring your own babe, but you knew that. Thank Mark Udall and the Sierra Club for the beautiful and romantic brown pine trees surrounding that lake.

Bill: Hillary won't much appreciate you issuing Presidential knee pads while she is giving her acceptance speech, though she might be too busy to notice. If you ignore this advice, just don't give her a standing ovation. Please! If you do give her a standing ovation while being compromised, you needn't worry about being charged as a sex offender. Bill Ritter will be quite willing to see that it is plea bargained down to agricultural trespass so that Hillary can let you stay in the White House without the need to notify the neighbors.

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.

Mark Udall, A Sure Winner

Once again, we are getting a recommendation from the left that people thinking about donating to Mark Udall consider putting their money on more competitive races:

In Colorado, Wayne Allard is retiring, and the seat is all but Mark Udall's to take (he's the son of Democratic icon Mo Udall). To boot, the Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver, so Udall's campaign will get an immediate jump-start by being seen with the next President early and often.

Mark Udall Fears Top of Ticket

The Mark Udall campaign admitted in the Rocky Mountain News today that some Democrat Presidential candidates would be a "hard-sell" in Colorado:

Alan Salazar, Udall's longtime chief of staff, won't talk about the specific presidential candidates. But he admits he does worry that the person at the top of the ticket might be a hard-sell in independent-minded Colorado, prompting Udall to work that much harder to distinguish himself.

The choice of the word "distinguish" is very interesting. It is politic speak for "distance," or "run away from."