September 09, 2010 07:09 PM UTC

Personhood Proves Inconvenient, Risks Loom for Gardner

• 9 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Politico’s David Catanese reports on the sorts of things CD-4 candidate Cory Gardner wants to talk about…and what he doesn’t:

Gardner rarely delves into the fractious social issues that Musgrave, who now works with the anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List, championed.

Nowhere on his campaign website can you find his support for a proposed constitutional amendment that would define a fertilized egg as a person. On his issues page, “family” is listed as the seventh of eight items. Even some of his supporters who consider “traditional values” a motivating issue steer towards economic concerns when asked about their top worries…

Doug Aden, the American Constitution party candidate in the 4th Congressional District, said one of the reasons he’s running is because Gardner believes the federal government should do more for public education.

“My position would be the federal government has absolutely no jurisdiction concerning the education of our children. I do not believe I am enabling Congresswoman Markey to hold her seat by siphoning votes away from Mr. Gardner, as I am running for the concerned American, whether registered Democrat, Republican or unaffiliated,” Aden said.

Republicans believe Aden-and independent candidate Ken Waszkiewicz-aren’t likely to have a significant impact on the race, though both candidates are on the more conservative side of the spectrum and would be more likely to draw from Gardner than Markey.

As the video clip above from early this year shows, there was a time not so long ago when Gardner proudly declared his base-pleasing views on a variety of conservative shibboleth issues. But it wasn’t necessary for Gardner to keep these issues front and center through the summer, having cleared his primary field much earlier than other Republican candidates like Ken Buck. As a result, although Gardner arguably has no less in the way of unpopular right-wing positions to back away from, it’s been longer since he’s had to repeat them.

The overall point of this story–that Gardner’s best chance to win is by focusing on fiscal and economic themes–is, of course, completely correct. It’s how Betsy Markey defeated Marilyn Musgrave two years ago, and it’s why Markey is running ads that have fiscally conservative themes. Like we said this weekend, Markey’s successful re-election bid in this GOP plurality district will hinge upon her ability to sell the parts of the Democratic agenda she has supported, while distancing herself where she didn’t–and building her independent brand on those differences.

While Gardner is correct to focus on broad fiscal issues, the question is whether groups like Emily’s List will let him do so–and that’s before the sniping from his right flank pushes back.