I like this:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
MoveOn.org and NARAL Pro-Choice America released Monday a new TV ad slamming Gardner for his support for "personhood" initiatives. It plays on a recent Gardner TV ad that touted his support for making birth control pills available over the counter.
The ad is airing in the Denver market on cable networks whose audiences skew heavily female: Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and OWN, among others. The groups said it would be a five-figure ad buy, though they would not be more specific when asked by TPM. - TPM, 9/8/14
Yep, it looks like Gardner's past stance on Personhood is hurting him in the polls:
http://www.usnews.com/...
Rep. Cory Gardner’s, R-Colo., campaign got some more bad news this weekend. A new NBC News/Marist poll showed Gardner trailing Democratic Colorado Sen. Mark Udall by six points, 47 percent to 42 percent. A similar NBC poll in July showed Udall leading by seven points.
With mail-in ballots dropping on October 14, Gardner’s window of opportunity has closed and he has no discernible path to victory. Polls have consistently shown Udall leading with the key voter demographics here. The same questions that were asked when Gardner announced six months ago – how does he win Colorado Latinos and suburban women – have been answered: He can’t.
Worse yet for Gardner, the NBC poll showed his favorable/unfavorable rating in bad shape, at 40/38. This says the Udall strategy of hammering Gardner on his support for birth control and abortion bans in a pro-choice state like Colorado is paying off.
This also explains the panicked move by the Gardner campaign, which ran an ad on birth control and Gardner’s denying the existence of a federal birth control and abortion ban bill, the Life Begins at Conception Act, that the congressman co-sponsors. When asked about his co-sponsorship of the federal “Personhood” bill by Denver’s KUSA/NBC political reporter Brandon Rittiman, Gardner said this:
Rittiman: How do you square your recent change on personhood at the state level with the bill that you still are on in Congress. The life begins at conception act?
Gardner: Well, there is no federal personhood bill. They’re two different pieces of legislation, two different things.
Rittiman then noted that other co-sponsors of the bill say it is federal personhood legislation. “But it’s still a piece of legislation that says abortion ought to be illegal, no?” Gardner responded, “No. It says life begins at conception.” - U.S. News, 9/8/14
And if there's one issue that could cost Gardner his shot at unseating Senator Mark Udall (D. CO), it's Personhood:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
It's clear why both sides of the race are trying so hard to lobby women in the state to their side. In July, an NBC News/Marist College poll showed that 70 percent of Colorado residents would be less likely to support a candidate who supported restrictions on contraception, and 67 percent would be less likely to support a candidate who supported restrictions on abortion. Although other Republican Senate candidates supported personhood measures -- including Iowa's Joni Ernst and North Carolina's Thom Tillis -- Gardner is the only one who has seen this position become a focal point of his politics at this point in the election. Social issues seem to play different in the Mountain West.
In 2010, women supported Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) far more than his Republican opponent, Ken Buck. Bennet's campaign ran multiple ads about Buck's opposition to abortion rights -- even in cases of rape -- and his support of the personhood amendment. And Buck didn't help matters with his notorious "high heels" comment in the GOP primary.
On Tuesday, Udall's team was quick to rebut the new Gardner ad: “Congressman Gardner will do anything to hide his backwards agenda from Colorado women. The undeniable fact is Gardner continues to push radical, anti-woman measures that would ban common forms of birth control. One 30-second ad doesn’t make up for that.”
But it's still too early to tell what effect contraception and the months of attacks and ads will have on the race, and Gardner's strategy is nothing if not novel for a Republican. September marks the start of voters actually starting to pay attention to the upcoming elections. The last polls of the race -- which have Udall slightly ahead -- are from July.
And, there are still people who support Gardner's stance on reproductive issues. Women Speak Out PAC, which has spent about $30,000 on the Colorado Senate race, has a Web site with the URL, UdallTooExtreme.com. And a week after Gardner announced his new position on personhood, Planned Parenthood actually praised him for having supported the Violence Against Women Act.
Courting controversy on reproductive issues has doomed more than one candidate before Gardner (see Akin, Todd). It's clear from the last few months that Gardner recognizes his problem. The question is whether he can effectively neutralize the problem. - Washington Post, 9/2/14
We can beat Gardner, we just have to make sure we get women out to the polls to defeat him in November. Click here to donate and get involved with Udall's campaign:
http://markudall.com/