DENVER — For the past few days, the news from the campaign trail has been discouraging for Sen. Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat who was appointed to his seat 20 months ago and now is fighting to win his first full term.
New polls show his Republican opponent, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, leading by about 5 percentage points, an advantage that Bennet has been unable to surmount in recent weeks.
Still, the former Denver Public Schools superintendent said that even with the public’s widespread discontent with incumbents and, in particular, with the Democratically led House and Senate, he believes he can win by convincing voters that he is working to bolster the economy.
“I think what we have to do is focus less on the blame question,” Bennet said Tuesday. “I understand it is a reality in the political context, but we should focus on what the solutions are going to be to driving us out of this ditch.”
Bennet, appointed in January 2009 to complete the term of Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat who became President Obama’s secretary of the interior, has served less than two years in the Senate. He’s hoping that brief tenure will allow him to cast himself as a political outsider in a year of widespread, feverish anti-incumbent sentiment. He touts his newness to Washington in television ads, calling it “broken” and declaring, “It’s time to give them a wake-up call.” Them, of course, is Congress — of which he is a member.
Bennet publicly complains about the Senate, saying it has been lumbering and ineffective in addressing the economy.
“I think we could have done more and we should have done more,” Bennet said. “But I think we’ve made a good start.”
Bennet on Tuesday appeared at his campaign office to visit with volunteers and to hold a conference call with reporters to promote his efforts to help Colorado’s working women. Polls show Bennet holds the advantage over Buck with women voters.
Among his proposals is one that would potentially increase the amount of capital flowing to smaller companies by expanding the federal loan guarantee program to include a dozen small-business lenders. Bennet also touted bills he is pushing or has already sponsored in the Senate, such as legislation that would expand damages under the Equal Pay Act in an effort to protect women workers from pay discrimination.
But Bennet’s proposals may not be enough to sway voters in the Centennial State, where unemployment rose to 8 percent since Bennet took office. Complicating his task even further is the state’s tendency to switch sides, backing Obama in 2008 and former President George W. Bush in 2004. Buck, Bennet’s opponent, is betting on that fickleness.
“As much as people were looking for change last time, I think they are looking for change again,” Buck said.
For the past month, Buck and conservative groups have been pummeling Bennet in television ads, complaining about his “record of overspending, over-regulating and overtaxing” in Washington.
Bennet responded by painting Buck as an extreme, right-wing candidate, a tactic that appeared to resonate with Aurora resident Kent Johnson, who, despite being unemployed for the past two years, is willing to give Bennet a chance.
“Bennet is more moderate,” Johnson said. “Buck is just off the wall. Over the top — whatever.”
