Senate candidates pump for voter love

June 10, 2008

Are you looking forward to paying $5 for a gallon of gas this summer?

Would you still love that pimped out Yukon with blingin’ rims if it cost $125 to putter 275 miles?

Probably not, and that is exactly what political campaigns nationwide are banking on. Or in other words, the energy spin is on.

Colorado U.S. Senate candidates Mark Udall and Bob Schaffer are both working hard to paint themselves as the best candidate to ease the pain at the pump.

Republicans in Congress today successfully blocked a move by Dems to strip tax incentives for Big Oil – a move that will certainly hurt Schaffer and other Republicans trying to spin the energy crisis to their favor.

Advertisements online and on TV are also popping up and we thought it would be fun to show the good and the bad for both candidates.

We were surprised that we couldn’t find any of the bad for Udall online. Though YouTube lovers can see an ad run by the Schaffer camp promoting his work to promote renewable energy.

But Schaffer opponents aren’t letting his close ties to the Big Oil, including time spent working as an oil lobbyist, go unnoticed.

Schaffer’s camp blasts Udall energy policy here on his Web site but a YouTube search doesn’t find any negative Udall energy ads.

Not surprisingly, we were able to find this ad reiterating the Schaffer campaign’s effort to label Udall as a "Boulder liberal."

Udall, who will have an easier time convincing voters he is their guy to fight Big Oil and push for renewables than Schaffer, has begun his energy campaign with ads like this.