Recent polls have showed Tea Party Congressman Cory Gardner (R. CO) is turning out to be a competitive candidate against Senator Mark Udall (D. CO). But there is still one key issue that could seriously hurt his chances:
http://online.wsj.com/...
Rep. Cory Gardner, the Republican candidate for a Senate seat in Colorado, is trying to move away from the thorny issue of "personhood."
His problem is that neither his foes on the left nor some friends on the right will let him.
Shortly after entering the race against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in February, Mr. Gardner disavowed his past support for the idea at the heart of the personhood movement, which is to give a fertilized egg the same rights as a person, thereby outlawing abortion and some forms of birth control. In backing away, he even called for the sale of birth control over the counter.
That hasn't stopped Democrats from attacking him on these issues. Recent polling shows why: In a tight race, Mr. Udall has built a solid advantage among women voters.
Social conservatives, however, won't let go of the issue.
Despite two failed campaigns in Colorado, they are advocating another personhood ballot question in November. That is helping Democrats keep abortion and birth control on voters' minds and weighing on Mr. Gardner, whom the GOP sees as one of its bright hopes in its bid this year to win the six seats needed for Senate control.
"Cory Gardner is a big disappointment, since he was firmly on our side, and now he's throwing that away for greater political aspirations," said Jennifer Mason, a spokeswoman for Personhood USA, the lead sponsor of the ballot question.
Mr. Gardner has said he changed his mind because Colorado voters twice rejected constitutional amendments on the issue, in 2008 and 2010. He also said he hadn't realized that access to birth control could have been affected. Mr. Gardner is listed as a co-sponsor of a House bill that says life begins at conception.
The campaign for and against the ballot question is ramping up just as the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the Affordable Care Act is rekindling debates about contraception and abortion. The court ruled that a private company, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., could opt out of insurance coverage for birth control because of religious objections—similar to those raised by personhood advocates.
In Senate races in Colorado as well as Michigan and other states, Democrats are trying to use such issues to expand the advantage they have among women voters. Republicans generally are playing down social issues and making the midterm elections mostly a referendum on a lukewarm economy, an unpopular president and his health-care law.
That was the plan Colorado Republican leaders had in mind when they drafted Mr. Gardner into the Senate race to replace Ken Buck, a more outspoken social conservative who lost a Senate bid in 2010. - Wall Street Journal, 7/20/14
Gardner, as you may or may not know has quite a history when it comes to supporting Personhood Amendments:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The kickoff rally to oppose Amendment 67, which would add "unborn human beings" to Colorado's criminal code and wrongful death act, is set for tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol, exactly 45 minutes after proponents of the Personhood-USA-backed measure stage a counter protest at the same location.
If you rewind just over six years ago to the State Capitol, you'd find a related news event taking place: the 2008 personhood amendment was picking up its first real legitimacy. Personhood activists staged a press conference with, as Channel 7 reported at the time, "some of Colorado's most conservative leaders," including Bill Cadman, Mike Kopp, and Josh Penry.
Also present was then State Rep. Cory Gardner, who you can see on the left of the screen shot below.
Gardner and the others got a shout-out from Kristi Burton, the initiator of the 2008 personhood effort, in a subsequent news release about the event:
Colorado for Equal Rights and State Senator Scott Renfroe organized a press conference in which ten state legislators gave their public support to the Colorado Human Life Amendment. Endorsements were given by State Senators Scott Renfroe, Greg Brophy, David Schultheis, Mike Kopp, Josh Penry, Ted Harvey, and Bill Cadman and State Representatives Kent Lambert, Jerry Sonnenberg, and Corey Gardner.
Colorado for Equal Rights applauds the courage of these state legislators in stepping out and taking a stand for those people who have no voice... the unborn. As Senator Greg Brophy stated, "Clearly it's always the right time to take the stand for the sanctity of life."
The underlying politics of this year's Personhood-backed amendment is obviously a major part of the story. And no one illustrates the shifting politics better than GOP senatorial candidate Gardner. - Huffington Post, 7/21/14
And he's still trying to have his cake and eat it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
A spokesman for senatorial candidate Cory Gardner told The Denver Post today that the federal personhood bill, co-sponsored by Gardner in July of last year, "simply states that life begins at conception" and would not change contraception laws.
In fact, the "Life at Conception Act" aims to make personhood federal law, applicable to all states, including Colorado, banning all abortion, even for rape, and common forms of birth control.
The 14th Amendment, Section 5, allows Congressto pass legislation to re-define the definition of a "person" under federal law. This skirts the normal, lengthy process for amending the U.S. Constitution.
The 14th Amendment, Section 5, states: "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
Anti-abortion activists have seized on this provision of the 14th Amendment to push federal legislation that would define a "person" as beginning at the fertilized egg (or "zygote") stage.
They argue that such legislation would enforce the due-process and equal-protection guarantees of the 14th Amendment.
That's how Gardner's federal personhood bill would work, which is evident if you read the full title of the Life at Conception Act: "To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person." - Huffington Post, 7/16/14
The latest events in the news don't help Gardner either:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/...
The Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision gave Udall another arrow in his quiver. A bill he sponsored in the Senate to reverse the decision failed last week, but Democrats didn’t mind because they could still use it as an issue in races such as this one.
Democrats hope to define Gardner before the congressman can define himself. “It’s a marker on values, which is about how much you want to have government involved in your personal life,” says Rick Ridder, a Democratic strategist in Denver, who argued that Coloradans are interested in “useful government” not necessarily more or less government.
The question of government involvement is a particularly interesting one in Colorado, a state with a libertarian streak.
The health care law, for example, could be problematic for Udall. A recent NBC News-Marist poll found that while the incumbent leads Gardner by seven points, 46 percent of registered voters thought passing the Affordable Care Act was a bad idea.
Fracking is another matter of contention in the energy-rich state. Udall and Hickenlooper backed away from a ballot proposal pushed by Democratic Rep. Jared Polis that would impose tough environmental restrictions on the controversial process of extracting natural gas from the ground and would allow towns to ban fracking. Gardner has been pushing Udall on the issue for months, and Republicans have characterized the senator as anti-drilling. Udall also took flak from Republicans for supporting the administration’s new Environmental Protection Agency rules.
Immigration policy, brought to the forefront of discussion by the current border crisis, may play a larger role in Colorado races than in others around the country, as Hispanics make up 20 percent of the state’s population.
Despite this array of issues before voters, Colorado Democrats are determined to keep the state on the front lines in the so-called war on women. Seventy percent of voters there said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who backs limits on contraception, according to the NBC-Marist poll.
"The lesson out of this for both parties is where Coloradans' heads are in terms of values in the 21st century,” said Chris Harris, Udall’s campaign spokesman. “As Colorado continues to move forward, Republican candidates still have the same backward agenda—on women’s health, personhood, gay rights, and immigration." - Real Clear Politics, 7/22/14
And Gardner should be scared because with the Personhood Amendment back on the ballot, it's could bring female voters out to polls in big numbers:
http://kdvr.com/...
Few things fire up Colorado progressives like the issue of personhood, a policy they oppose and a political opportunity like few others.
On Tuesday, with personhood likely to make the November ballot for a third time as Amendment 67, a huge crowd of progressive activists gathered on the west steps of the Capitol to launch the No on 67 campaign.
The appearance of a cardboard cut-out of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner, who supported the last two personhood initiatives in 2008 and 2010 but opposes the same measure this year, shows that Democrats aren’t simply looking to defeat the initiative, which has been crushed twice, but to wield it as a political hammer.
“I personally extended an invitation to Congressman Gardner this morning to attend the rally, given that he no longer supports personhood,” said Amy Runyon-Harms, the executive director of ProgressNow. “He didn’t show up.”
Runyon-Harms, whose group brought the cardboard cutout, also encouraged Gardner to remove himself of a co-sponsor of federal personhood legislation.
“That’s just very contradictory. You can’t have it one way in Washington and another way in Colorado. It just shows that Coloradans can’t trust where he stands on this really important issue.” - KDVR, 7/22/14
And Udall wished Gardner a happy anniversary today:
One year ago today Congressman Cory Gardner signed his name to the extreme “Life Begins at Conception” bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
This is the “personhood” legislation you’ve heard about in the news and in our campaign emails. It’s an extreme bill that would ban common forms of birth control and outlaw all abortions. And while Mark's opponent said he doesn’t support personhood in Colorado, he still co-sponsors the national bill in Washington.
Let’s make sure Congressman Gardner can’t bring his extreme policy positions to the U.S. Senate.
Please help commemorate Congressman Gardner’s one year anniversary of cosponsoring the personhood bill with a $5 contribution.
https://secure.actblue.com/...
Mark has consistently fought for the freedom of all Coloradans and will always stand up for our right to make our own choices and to live life on our own terms. But Congressman Gardner continues to support a policy that would block women from making their own personal health decisions.
We’re holding Congressman Gardner accountable in the press and in our TV ads. But there are still many Coloradans that don’t know the harmful facts of Congressman Gardner’s voting record.
Will you give $5 right now to our 365 Days of Personhood fund? We need to raise $10,000 by midnight tonight in order to build our direct voter contact program.
https://secure.actblue.com/...
I can’t donate today, but I’d love to help out.
http://action.markudall.com/...
Thanks for your support of Mark,
Kim Howard
Women for Udall Director
Click here to donate and/or get involved with Udall's campaign:
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