Independents' day

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.—In Colorado, with its mix of Wild West libertarians, family-value conservatives, urban-hipster liberals, and mountain-dwelling environmentalists, early October polls showed Cory Gardner, an underdog Republican candidate, taking the lead over incumbent Democrat Mark Udall.

Trim and greying, the 64-year-old Udall is from Boulder, a bastion of liberal thinking and environmental passion. A former Outward Bound instructor, Udall summited the last of the 100 highest peaks in Colorado this summer. He is a Colorado transplant with political roots: two cousins in the U.S. Senate and a former-congressman dad who ran for the presidential nomination.

Gardner, 40, is from Yuma, a flat, 3,500-person farm town 50 miles from the Nebraska border. Gardner, a fifth-generation Coloradan, went to law school at the University of Colorado and worked in state-level politics before running for office. Gardner’s father and grandfather sell tractors in Yuma.

I watched Gardner campaigning at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds west of Denver. Wearing jeans and a big smile, he looked about 20 years younger than the average person in his audience. Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign had a theme of “Morning in America,” and Gardner 30 years later, as the sun set into the dark outline of the Rocky Mountains, complained that Democrats were bringing an evening of “managed decline.”

With one poll showing 56 percent of Coloradans disapproving of President Barack Obama’s job performance, Udall in his campaign appearances tried to distance himself from the White House, even to the point of making a campaign disappearance: He stayed in Washington when Obama came to Colorado to campaign on his behalf. Republicans, though, said Udall is still an Obama rubber stamp, voting for the president’s position 99 percent of the time in 2013, according to a Congressional Quarterly report.

In October attack ads and critical editorials were flying in all directions. Both candidates addressed women in attack ads and podium time: Udall portrayed pro-life Gardner as anti-women and backward, and Gardner claimed Udall’s support of Obamacare placed bureaucrats between women and contraception.

Gardner took heat from pro-life groups in March when he withdrew his support from Amendment 67, a Colorado state personhood measure to include “unborn human beings” in the definition of “person” and “child” in state law. He said he stepped back because it was too restrictive on contraception. In June, Gardner wrote an editorial in The Denver Post announcing his support for over-the-counter contraception.

Critics hit Udall for refusing to do a live TV debate with Gardner and backtracking on his earlier statement that the Islamic State does not pose an “imminent threat” to America. Udall also apologized for invoking beheaded journalists James Foley and Steve Sotloff in comments arguing the United States should not be impulsive in responding to the Islamic State. Democrats and Republicans each claim about 30 percent of Colorado voters, so whoever gathers in the 36 percent of unaffiliated voters is likely to win.

When asked if she aligns with a political party, Kymberli Nyberg, a college graduate who recently moved back to her roots in Colorado for work, says “tying yourself too strongly to either one is bad.” Her parents are solid Republicans, but she says she doesn’t like all the “bashing” in ads and debates. Last week she registered to vote in Colorado but hasn’t decided whom to vote for.

“There are issues where I lean more conservative, and issues where I lean more liberal,” says Liz Lindow, a Denver resident who works in the oil and gas industry. Originally from Texas, Lindow says Colorado’s independent spirit means more open political conversations among friends. She says she registered as unaffiliated because of a “growing dissatisfaction” with either party: “I wanted the freedom to be able to vote for a Democrat or a Republican if I felt they were the best person for the job.” She admits that TV attack ads are influential—and she’s leaning toward Udall.

Larry Queen, a Republican candidate for the state Senate, knocks on the doors of Colorado’s unaffiliated voters almost every day. The first-time state Senate candidate is ringing the doorbells of 15,000 independents and hearing their view that “the Democrats have two gas pedals and no brake.” He’s asking them, “If I tell you I’m a Republican, will you sic the dog on me?” He says more are saying they’ve voted Democratic for the last eight or 10 years, but “this is the year that I vote Republican.”