Republican Cory Gardner leads incumbent Democrat Mark Udall in the fourth straight poll of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado. The new Quinnipiac poll of likely Colorado voters finds Gardner ahead of Udall by 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent, while 8 percent support an independent candidate. With that independent discounted and in a head-to-head match-up, Gardner leads 49 percent to 44 percent.
That gives the 2-term House member from Yuma a 3-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average of polls against Udall, a first-term senator. Other recent polls from CNN, Fox News, and the Denver Post show Gardner with anywhere between a 2- to 6-point lead, with Udall never registering more than 46 percent support. Udall last led a New York Times/CBS News poll in late September by three points.
In a sign that perhaps even Udall has recognized his opponent may be beating him, the Democrat accidentally addressed Gardner as “Senator” in their televised debate Wednesday night. Watch the video:
Meanwhile, a report on a liberal sports blog that Gardner did not play high school football, as the Republican has claimed, has been debunked by the Denver Post:
The main source for the story by the online site Deadspin — former Yuma High School teacher Chuck Pfalmer, who had Gardner as a student and kept football stats — says the report mischaracterized his comments. Gardner graduated from the Eastern Plains high school in 1993.
In fact, Pfalmer says, Gardner played football his freshman, sophomore and junior years at the high school.
“He was not a starter, but he played in those years,” said Pfalmer, 77, who retired from the school in 1997.
