Women voters could be decisive in the Colorado Senate race, but outside Republican ads aimed at them are being criticized as ineffective.
With Democratic Sen. Mark Udall locked in a highly competitive race with Rep. Cory Gardner, the campaigns and outside groups are putting serious money into ads aimed at women.
Under attack from Udall for his past support for a pro-life personhood amendment, Gardner ran an ad touting his support for making birth control over the counter. It showed him talking to a group of women about the idea, as they nodded thoughtfully.
The ad helped bring new attention to Gardner’s proposal, which Republicans hope will neutralize the argument.
But ads from outside groups have not gotten as good a reception.
Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS put up a spot that showed four middle-aged women standing at a kitchen table adorned with olive oil, two plates of cookies and a bowl of fruit.
Holding mugs of what was presumably herbal tea, the women talk about how they aren’t “single-issue voters” who would be swayed by Udall’s attacks.
“Unfortunately, after 15 years in Washington, political scare tactics are all Mark Udall has left,” says one.
“Udall voted against Keystone,” another intones.
“Udall votes with Obama 99 percent of the time,” says a third, emphatically.
The ad was roundly criticized for wooden dialogue and its stereotypical setting in a kitchen.
Another anti-Udall spot from Generation Opportunity Colorado alluded to the dating app Tinder, which allows smartphone users to swipe right to indicate their interest (or left, if they’re not interested).
In the spot, a young woman swipes left on Barack Obama and former Congressman Anthony Weiner before pausing over a picture of Udall.
“Mark Udall’s votes for higher taxes and invasive Obamacare were lefty swipes at America’s youth,” she says.
Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said that Republicans’ real problem wasn’t their ads, but their policies.
“Points for trying to reach women, but if they really want to convince women voters to stop worrying about their birth control coverage, maybe their candidates should stop trying to get rid of it!” she said.
But Lisa Boothe, a Republican strategist with the Black Rock Group, argued that the spate of odd ads might be working, since a Quinnipiac University Poll showed Republican Cory Gardner was only losing women voters by three points, a lower margin than previous surveys.
“It’s an interesting take,” she said. “The point is, we’re talking about it right now. They’ve successfully garnered headlines. They’re working in the sense of getting attention.”
