August 02, 2022 10:28 AM UTC

Joe O'Dea Tripped Up By "Friendly" Media Stop

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• by: Colorado Pols

Serving a population just north of 11,000, the Fort Morgan Times is not exactly what you’d call a major Colorado media outlet. Nonetheless the paper does employ a political reporter, Brian Porter, who in general can be counted on to produce uncritical puff pieces about Republican candidates who pass through town in search of the Eastern Plains’ widely scattered votes.

But even in a story intended solely to make GOP U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea look good, there’s just no way to protect O’Dea from the pitfalls awaiting him as campaign season ramps up:

“O’Dea would give McConnell the Republican majority he needs to pass a nationwide abortion ban, cut taxes for the rich and put Social Security at risk,” Colorado Democrats’ communications advisor Nico Delgado wrote in an email.

Bennet has also tweeted related to the abortion claim that it is the Republican agenda.

On abortion, O’Dea previously said in a debate with Hanks, “I do think the decision should be left up to the woman and her doctor early on in the pregnancy. I don’t support a total ban.” He added that in cases of “rape, incest or for medical reasons,” abortion should be an option. He has called the abortion law in Colorado “outrageous,” [Pols emphasis] while also often noting he was adopted at birth.

As we’ve discussed at length previously, this is an answer that satisfies no one. By expressing some limited tolerance for abortions, O’Dea sacrifices support from the religious right. At the same time, O’Dea’s heated opposition to Colorado’s Reproductive Health Equity Act codifying abortion rights in Colorado statute ahead of the repeal of Roe v. Wade makes it clear O’Dea supports further restrictions on abortion access short of a total ban–which makes O’Dea unacceptable to pro-choice voters expected to turn out heavily in this year’s elections.

So, there’s that. But then the discussion turned to another subject that Democrats are very excited to keep talking about–the public support for O’Dea’s campaign recently expressed by Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

On the issue of McConnell, O’Dea says he has met with the minority Senate leader, who is hardly considered the most conservative member of the Senate.

“He has done some great things for our country,” O’Dea said. [Pols emphasis] “But, I’m Joe O’Dea. I’m going to stay the course for Colorado. A lot of people are tired of partisanship. I’m not going to be owned by either party.”

You can forget everything after the word “but.” You’ll never see that part again.

“[Mitch McConnell] has done some great things for our country,” O’Dea said. [Pols emphasis]

The Fort Morgan Times’ small circulation means the principal value of a story like this is reuse of the copy in campaign advertisements. This story managed whether by design or misstep to draw out O’Dea’s conflicted position on abortion rights, and then land a quote from O’Dea praising the man considered principally responsible, by some analyses even more so than Donald Trump, for the last decade of partisan gridlock and dysfunction in Washington.

For these reasons, watch for Democrats to be the ones citing this ostensibly pro-O’Dea “puff piece” in ads.