Joe O’Dea gambles big on Colorado’s independent voters in bid to oust Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.
November 1, 2012
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video
If I were Michael Bennet, I’d be thrilled.
The Independent senator from Colorado is up for re-election this year in what would be his to lose fight.
Bennet’s campaign is trying to paint himself as a man for Colorado, a realist about the state and his role in the national conversation. But he knows he’s losing support from the Democratic Party that backed him in 2000 and has chosen to support Colorado’s independent voters.
“I do believe strongly in being an independent voice and a voice for Colorado and I don’t see that changing much,” Bennet said. “I’m not going to be bullied by corporate Democrats.”
The campaign isn’t the only one trying to play the independent card.
The state’s other independent senator, Republican Cory Gardner, has launched the political arm of his Senate office, called the “Senate Conservatives PAC.”
“This year we’ve decided to make the next step in growing our grassroots army. This is not a one-off effort. This is about building an army of thousands of conservative grassroots activists across the state of Colorado,” Gardner said.
A new poll shows Sen. Michael Bennet struggling to win over independent voters to his side. Is he too moderate for Colorado? And what has Bennet done to win them over? That’s what Bob Anderson answers.
With the midterm elections days away, and voters considering Colorado’s ballot options for November, there has been a lot of talk about Colorado’s independent voters.
It has become a theme that runs through the campaigns, and through both the Democratic and Republican parties’ advertising.
“I think they are a lot of voters who have kind of decided they’re either sick and tired of the government, or they don’t feel they have a voice either way,” said Jon Caldara, senior political
