September 18, 2008 09:50 PM UTC

Al Gore To The Rescue! Drops Udall's Name In MoveOn.org E-mail

• 6 Comments
• by: redstateblues

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

In a Senate race with an opponent who was recently all but booed off the stage at a John McCain campaign event in Colorado Springs, Mark Udall should be farther ahead than he is.

The reasons for Udall’s inability to leave Bob Schaffer in the dust are numerous:

1. Dick Wadhams’ prefix of “Boulder Liberal” has been firmly affixed to any mention of Udall by right wing attacks.
2. Negative 527s have been outspending Udall, as evidenced by the non-stop barrage on area TV networks.
3. He hasn’t been able to exploit many of the missteps of the Schaffer campaign.
   

That might change soon–at least the second one.

In an e-mail today sent out to members of the influential PAC MoveOn.org, former Vice President Al Gore is asking members to support three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, including Rep. Mark Udall.

Dear MoveOn member,

Elections matter. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track. I’m personally focused on what I think is the greatest threat and greatest opportunity-averting the climate crisis and “repowering America” using clean, cheap energy sources. That’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama. He’s the sort of transformational leader who could move us through such deep, structural change.

But trust me, Barack can only succeed if we also elect more champions in the Senate to stand up to the incredibly powerful oil lobby.

Those leaders are emerging-and three of them are in close Senate races. Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Mark Udall in Colorado, and Al Franken in Minnesota are all real, clean-energy heroes who need our help to win. And they’re fighting against Republicans who have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the oil industry.

Can you help elect three champions of clean energy to the Senate? You can donate by clicking here:

https://pol.moveon.org/give/en…

At the convention, I said that the oil industry has a 50-year lease on the Republican Party. And they’re drilling it for everything it’s worth. Unfortunately, this is no joke. It’s the sad truth. Look at what’s going on in Congress right now. We’re in an energy crisis, and the burgeoning solar and wind power business is on the edge of shutting down-because Republicans are blocking the tax incentives they count on. Yet they’ll fight to the death for huge oil industry subsidies.

This election offers us our best chance ever to elect leaders who will switch our economy to home-grown, renewable, zero-carbon energy-and restore our economic health, our national security, and stabilize our climate.

Here’s a little about these good folks:

   * Kay Hagan is a North Carolina state senator and a strong supporter of solar power. She pushed to require North Carolina utilities to adopt renewable energy.

   * Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado has one of the highest lifetime scores in Congress from the League of Conservation Voters. His opponent is a former congressman turned oil executive who makes oil deals in Iraq.

   * Al Franken is fighting for green jobs in his home state of Minnesota. He’s proposing a national “Apollo project” to fuel the development of new technologies in clean and renewable energy.

You can read more by clicking below.

Will you join me in supporting three champions of clean energy? They really need our help. Just click here:

https://pol.moveon.org/give/en…

And thanks so much for all you do,

Al Gore

Whether or not this will help Rep. Udall in this race we do not know, but a plea for money from one of the most popular and respected Democrats ever cannot possibly hurt.