I am writing about all the competitive senate races. These diaries will be updated on Yahoo! as I hear about new material. I have articles about:
AK-Sen
AR-Sen
CO-Sen
GA-Sen
IA-Sen
KY-Sen
LA-Sen
MI-Sen
MT-Sen
NH-Sen
NC-Sen
SD-Sen
For what I have on Colorado, as of April 12, follow me below.
Colorado politics
In elections for President, Colorado has been Democratic, but not overwhelmingly so: In 2012, Obama beat Romney 51-46; in 2008, he beat McCain 54-45.
Statewide, in 2008, Udall won fairly easily over Bob Schaffer. Colorado's other senator, Michael Bennet is a Democrat; Colorado's governor, John Hickenlooper, is a Democrat. Colorado has 7 representatives in the House including 3 Democrats and 4 Republicans.
The Senate race
On the Democratic side, incumbent Mark Udall is running unopposed. On the Issues rates him a "libertarian leaning progressive". He is pro-choice, favored spending to relieve the recession, is pro-equal rights for women and minorities, mostly pro-labor, favors drug reform, is strongly pro-environment, has a mixed record on free trade,
The Republican primary has three entrants, but the strong favorite is Cory Gardner, who recently entered the race officially. Gardner is currently a member of the House of Representatives. On the Issues rates him a "moderate conservative". He is anti-choice, favors a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, opposes legalizing same sex marriage, is anti-labor, has a anti-environment voting record, favors the Ryan budget, favors all aspects of the Patriot Act.
The polls:
All recent polls show a close race between Udall and Gardner, with Udall slightly ahead. The most recent PPP poll had Udall leading 42-40.
Fundraising
According to the FEC, at the end of 2013, Udall had raised $5.2 million and had $4.7 million cash on hand; Gardner had raised $900,000 and had about $900,000 cash on hand.
April 8 - In the 1st quarter
Udall raised $2 million and had $5.9 million on hand
April 11 - Gardner raised $1.4 million, has $2 million on hand
My take
Colorado is a mostly Democratic state, but Udall seems to have some popularity problems. His huge fundraising edge will dissipate; Gardner just recently entered the race. The same PPP poll showed that more than half the people had no opinion of Cory Gardner and those who had an opinion were evenly split. On the other hand, more than 80% had an opinion of Udall - again with a roughly even split. So this race seems to depend on Gardner more than Udall.