The Democrats’ “war on women” narrative isn’t working its old magic in Colorado, and part of that reason is Republican Rep. Cory Gardner’s support for over-the-counter birth control.
Gardner’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has been hammering the Republican with the charge that he is anti-woman from the get-go. Udall has continuously hammered on Gardner’s earlier support for an amendment to the state constitution that would have defined personhood as beginning at conception. Opponents of the measure said this would restrict certain kinds of birth control and would ban abortion.
But as The Hill reports today, Democrats in Colorado have lost faith in this attack line as Udall has slipped behind in recent polls.
“Gardner gave him a lot to work with on that subject, but a lot people think he may have overdone it,” one Democratic operative told the Hill.
Much of the reason the attack now falls flat is that Gardner has since recanted his support for the personhood measure, and has suggested making birth control available over-the counter. Some Democrats in Colorado want Udall to change his strategy, according to The Hill. But those Democrats also don’t blame Udall’s failed war on women strategy — they blame the fact that President Obama and Democratic Gov. aren’t popular.
But Obama wasn’t all that popular in Colorado heading in to the 2012 election (he had a 43 percent approval rating in August that year) yet he still won the state with 51 percent of the vote.
Obama’s approval rating in Colorado has only declined to 41 percent, according to a Thursday report from Gallup. But Hickenlooper trails his Republican opponent by 10 points and he wasn’t on the ticket in 2012.
The war on women campaign slogan might be falling flat for Democrats across the country. A recent Rasmussen poll showed likely voters seeing the phrase as more of a political slogan than a reality.
Still, Republicans elsewhere should note that Gardner’s position on birth control has helped neutralize what was once a stinging attack.
