The party, which had been rocking all evening to Elvis and the Beatles, started to thin. The mood dipped. This year is definitely getting the bad end of the stick. Republicans screamed and hugged one another when the first Senate numbers appeared on TV screens, showing Gardner with a lead over Udall.
Lily Nunez, a member of the Republican National Committee, said it was about time Republicans had something to cheer about. Over and over again, Republicans talked about the angst of previous elections — Mitt Romney in , narrowly losing the Senate race in , the blowouts in and and the Democratic takeover of the legislature in Glenn Scott.
Obamacare and the battle over ballot measures to limit fracking by oil and gas companies were expected to drive the Senate race. But the health care law fell off the ad-play list , in part, Democrats say, because the new program showed early signs of success. The fracking measures were pulled after marathon behind-the-scenes negotiations engineered by Democratic Gov.
When Gardner announced in March he was wrong to have supported the personhood measures , Democrats were incredulous. I hated losing and felt like I let people down. It was a tough time for me personally. Udall moved back to Eldorado Springs, south of Boulder, after nearly 18 years in D. Those skills come easily to some politicians, but never to Udall who often needed to push himself to glad-hand and work a crowd.
He cites, for example, an encounter a few years ago with a man in North Boulder convinced he had thrown his re-election bid to keep his second family from being exposed. Udall also is relieved to be rid of the drudge work required to stay in office.
Monday nights. As he tells it, most senators have no time to talk with their colleagues. You get caught up in a downward spiral that makes it more difficult to work with people. He tried telling himself those efforts were worth it so he could serve again and work on climate change, health care, energy reform. Udall has retreated from most of the public events — the party conventions, annual banquets, MLK Day marches, Veterans Day parades — he previously attended.
Bill Owens and former U. He also serves on the boards of former U. Fellow members on three of those boards say his involvement is limited and that he often misses meetings. And what has interested him most after leaving politics is what most interested him before it as an accomplished mountaineer, course instructor and executive director of Colorado Outward Bound.
Every day entailed a long walk to water — a quest made more challenging by four consecutive years of extreme drought conditions in that area. And I want water to still be there for them along the way. A certain element of risk, he says, floats his boat. Udall comes from a family not only of risk takers, but also high achievers. His father, Mo Udall, served 30 years as a congressman from Arizona and ran for president in His uncle, Stewart Udall, was a three-term Arizona congressman before serving as U.
Lesser known, but perhaps most inspiring to him was his mother, Patricia, who despite debilitating arthritis became a pilot and then a flight instructor in Nepal during her years in the Peace Corps, which she joined in her 50s. The practicing Buddhist died in After years on the rubber chicken circuit, Udall has, like many his age, changed his diet and is trying to eat only plants. I feel liberated by that. Udall was one of 58 Congress members who opposed the Iraq invasion despite warnings that the stance would hurt him back home in what was then a red state.
His criticisms of U. And it puts our military personal at risk. That made him cringe. Recently unearthed arrest reports by the conservative blog Colorado Peak Politics show Udall had been caught with 3 ounces of marijuana and three tablets of amphetamines. Although charged with felonies, he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. At the age of 45, Udall, who had overseen Outward Bound, decided it was time for a change.
In , he narrowly won his state House race. Joel Hefley of Colorado Springs, dissenting. Hefley, a Republican, cited the damage the savings-and-loan scandal did to Colorado. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, two liberals who had talked about running for president, voted for the measure. Udall did not, despite some advice from Democratic political consultant Steve Welchert of Denver. Udall did run for the Senate, in , in what might be the briefest contest in Colorado history.
He blinked in a game of political chicken, dropping out less than 24 hours later to make way for Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar. In , Udall ran for an open Senate seat held by retiring U. Wayne Allard. Although the national political mood favored Democrats and his opponent, former Congressman Bob Schaffer, came off as prickly, the polls were tied that summer. Everything changed that September when the stock market crashed. Alan Salazar, who now works for Gov. House, said Udall has never been able to conduct himself in a personally aggressive manner.
0コメント