Mark Udall's Deceitful Attack Ends Up Exposing His Own Wasteful Record

So Mark Udall is falsely slamming candidate Bob Schaffer by suggesting that he "voted against veterans." The facts? Schaffer opposed the bills cited in the commercial for their tens of millions of dollars in wasteful pork projects.

Money for the Institute for Software Research, the Anchorage Zoo, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Gorilla Forest Exhibition, Sacramento Urban League Workforce Development Center, a Las Vegas job training facility, St. Petersburg Sunken Gardens the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex, and projects to restore college libraries and historic property - to name a few. Schaffer voted against pet projects proposed by Democrats and by fellow Republicans. Perhaps this is why Citizens Against Government Waste has endorsed Bob Schaffer for U.S. Senate.

Not exactly the same as "voting against veterans." Mark Udall has shamelessly produced a misleading attack campaign ad in his own name. Hardly the stuff of a confident, allegedly bipartisan candidate on his way to victory.

Then again, maybe Mark Udall didn't notice because he was so busy voting for pork in Washington, and is only an election season convert to the cause of reducing wasteful government spending.

Pueblo Chieftain Backs Bob Schaffer

Having heard rumors that this decision was up in the air, and may even swing to Boulder liberal Mark Udall, it is good to see the Pueblo Chieftain has endorsed Bob Schaffer:

On the national scene, we believe Bob Schaffer would provide a rational, conservative voice to the Senate at a time when liberal Democrats hope to make greater inroads in growing government. Bob Schaffer is committed to limited government as the best way to assure our personal liberties.

A Sen. Schaffer would support nominees for the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, who are constitutional constructionists. He, like we, believes in the separation of powers in the federal government, with legislation being the sole province of Congress and constitutional review of legislation being the sole province - the sole role - of the judiciary.

Bob Schaffer has made it clear that he supports American victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have too much at stake in assuring our national security to let the terrorists claim victory in the Middle East.

The Chieftain's editors go on to make an argument also made by the Grand Junction Sentinel in their endorsement - namely, that a principled and articulate conservative like Bob Schaffer will be needed to provide balance in a U.S. Senate that looks to be much more liberal next session.

Interestingly, conservative commentator Mike Rosen makes the same argument in his unsurprising endorsement of Bob Schaffer.

With the Chieftain weighing in, that makes two major newspapers coming down for Mark Udall (the Left-leaning Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera) and two for Bob Schaffer.

Grand Junction Sentinel Gives Nod to GOP's Bob Schaffer on Energy, Taxes, Balance

Round 1 of the major newspaper endorsements in Colorado's U.S. Senate race goes to Bob Schaffer. The Republican candidate yesterday secured the support of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

We believe Schaffer’s staunchly conservative ideas are more in line with what Colorado and this country need right now than Udall’s liberal views.

Take energy development, for instance. Schaffer, who worked for an oil company immediately after retiring from Congress, has been a long-time supporter of opening up more areas for drilling along the U.S. coast, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the continental United States....

Similarly, on taxes, we believe Schaffer has the better approach. He would extend the tax cuts passed by Congress at the urging of President Bush early in this decade. He wants more tax relief for small businesses and seeks to maintain investment incentives. He also would like to eliminate the estate tax.

But here also is an argument that independent voters should strongly consider:

Finally, this is a year when there is a very good chance of Democrats winning the White House and maintaining control of both houses of Congress. But there is something to be said for a bit of gridlock, and for preventing either party from not only controlling both the executive and legislative branches, but from having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Critical in that effort this year will be maintaining GOP control of the Colorado seat in the Senate now held by Republican Wayne Allard, Doing that means voting for Bob Schaffer.

It's difficult to speculate how much impact newspaper endorsements have in major candidate races any more (though the longer they wait to weigh in, certainly the less impact they will have). But you can be sure Bob Schaffer won't look a gift horse in the mouth: He's happy to have the backing of the leading newspaper on the Western Slope - a region crucial to winning the statewide vote.

Influential ColoradoBiz Magazine Endorses Bob Schaffer for Colorado U.S. Senate Seat

Yesterday the influential ColoradoBiz magazine made its endorsement for U.S. Senate:

Examining the U.S. Senate race solely through the lens of business, we view Republican Bob Schaffer as a candidate better equipped to encourage economic growth, lure large employers to the state and create jobs than his Democratic counterpart, Mark Udall.

While the editors do give Mark Udall a little credit on renewable energy, the decision couldn't have been that difficult -- not with Udall's self-defeating U-turns on corporate taxes or his support of depriving workers of the secret ballot.

Udall Hints At Nomination Endorsement Timeline

Mark Udall has indicated that it will be the superdelegates' duty to make their feelings on the party's nominees known after the last primary, June 3.

We'll keep you posted.