DENVER – New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a national star of the Democratic Party, believes he is qualified to talk about Corys.
On Saturday, during a campaign stop for U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in northeast Denver, the Cory he focused on was not himself, but Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner. Gardner is challenging Udall in a fierce campaign.
“I came here to talk about another Cory,” Booker said in an intimate and crowded setting at Udall’s newest campaign field office. “Please understand, this is not a man that reflects Colorado. You all are a state that cares much more about progress than partisanship. You care a lot more about moving forward than moving left or right.”
The junior senator is the second high-profile Garden State politician to highlight Colorado politics. Last month, Republican Gov. Chris Christie stumped for GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.
Booker acknowledged the significance of Colorado politics, especially the U.S. Senate race, suggesting that the election is key to Democrats controlling the U.S. Senate.
“So goes Colorado in November, so goes America,” Booker said.
He told the Udall-friendly audience that they can’t sit on the sidelines this election. He compared the race to when Christie ran for governor in 2009. Booker noticed long lines at polling centers in 2008 when President Barack Obama won the presidency. Those lines dwindled the next year when Christie beat Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine.
“I show up to vote one year later, no one was at the polls. I walked in, and I had to hug my poll workers because they were lonely,” Booker said. “We lost that election by a narrow margin.
“ ... We’ve got the numbers; the challenge right now is getting voters out,” Booker added.
He took several more jabs at Udall’s opponent, suggesting that Gardner did not fight hard for emergency federal funding after the devastating 2013 Colorado floods.
“At a time that you all needed government ... (Gardner) was voting to shut the government down,” Booker said.
He also said Gardner contributed to a “massive assault on women’s rights” and is a “wing-nut,” or an extreme, far-right politician.
“You have a guy running now for the Senate that does not represent where most Americans are,” Booker said. “He represents the wing-nuts. Please understand, he is way out there on the wing.”
Gardner’s campaign responded Saturday by saying Udall and his team are simply lying. Alex Siciliano, Gardner’s spokesman, pointed out that Gardner worked with Udall to secure funding for Colorado after the 2013 floods.
He also pointed out that on an aerial tour of the floods with Udall, Gardner spotted a group of stranded residents and the National Guard landed to rescue them.
Siciliano highlighted that Gardner backed $17 billion in disaster relief after Hurricane Sandy, which struck New Jersey hard.
Gardner also worked to add wildfire-relief funding to the legislation, although the House Rules Committee ultimately blocked the effort. Gardner later was successful in his efforts to win the wildfire dollars for Colorado.
“It’s disappointing to see Senator Udall continue to spread vicious lies about Cory (Gardner), even as Udall stands next to Senator Booker, whose state also benefited from bipartisan cooperation after a devastating natural disaster,” Siciliano said. “Senator Udall will stop at nothing to save his two-decade career in Washington, even if it means subjecting Coloradans to endless negativity and deception.”
Siciliano has also become concerned with using natural disasters as political chess pieces.
“Coloradans should be concerned that Senator Udall is stooping so low as to politicize a terrible tragedy and maliciously lie about what happened during Colorado’s floods,” Siciliano said. “Simply put, Mr. Udall’s rhetoric is unbecoming of a United States senator.”
For his part, Udall said it is “game on,” pointing to only 73 days left until the election and 54 days until ballots hit the mail.
“There’s an old sign that says ‘Scoundrels were elected because you didn’t vote,’” Udall said.
He pointed to his record supporting raising the minimum wage, equal pay, reducing student debt and extending unemployment insurance.
Acknowledging the large African-American audience at the field office, Udall spoke of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, which has seen weeks of violent protests.
The turmoil is in response to the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.
“I can’t speak as some in this room can about it, but it’s tragic, it’s unacceptable. Unarmed young black men are not criminals,” Udall said to soft applause.
Udall also was joined by his Democratic colleague from Colorado, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
“There is not a race in the country where there is a greater difference between the two people running for the United States Senate than right here in the state of Colorado,” Bennet said.
“The other guy, he voted to shut the government down, he voted to repeal Obamacare 55 times ... he voted to sue the president of the United States of America,” Bennet added. “The only way we can win it is if we get our friends and neighbors to the polls and make sure we chase these mail ballots.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
