What did Mark Udall and John Hickenlooper do wrong?

[solarstorm]

At the beginning of this year I considered Colorado safe Democrat, both in the senatorial and in the gubernatorial election. As recently as two months ago, I couldn't have imagined that both Democrats would struggle in a state that has become more and more Democrat-leaning.

Udall was even leading until September, albeit only by small numbers. But suddenly the tide began to turn, and he cannot keep pace with Cory Gardner anymore.
Hickenlooper's poll numbers aren't as bad as Udall's, but I'm still shocked that the gubernatorial race is a tie, when I'd been assuming a walkover for him...

What went wrong? Are the two of them just members of the wrong party, or do their struggles have a specific background?

[Lief 🗽]

Cory Gardner is a very, very good liar, and the media has not called him out on it.

Hickenlooper will of course win the governor's race, so nothing to say there really.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Cory Gardner is a very, very good liar, and the media has not called him out on it.

This, and Udall has run a one-issue campaign. Gardner basically lied on all his positions and ran as a moderate while the media wrote about how much of a horserace Colorado was.

[windjammer]

The gun bill sank CO democrats at local level.

And for Udall, he's just not a good campaigner.

[Vosem]

The gun bill, and really this is just a swing state in a leans-Republican year. 2010 was an aberration caused mostly by the lack of any real GOP gubernatorial candidate -- Beauprez/Gardner (or Beauprez/Buck, or really any competent Republican/Buck) would have beaten Hickenlooper and Bennet, but Hickenlooper wasn't challenged and Buck looked worse juxtaposed next to Maes and Tancredo.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

A little premature for this thread.

[Kraxner]

The gun bill which should of never been done for this purple state, put a bad taste in the mouth of not just conservatives but independents. Midterms since 1994 with the exception of 2006, which favors republicans due to older demographics turning out more. And Obama's not very good approval ratings which has been weighing down on many democrats in the state