Dem candidates Udall, Markey to make few appearances at convention

DENVER — The city was awarded the 2008 Democratic National Convention in part because Colorado is turning from red to blue, but the party’s work in the Centennial State isn’t done.

Democrats are eyeing a Senate seat and a House seat in this swing state in November, making Colorado one of the most intense political focal points of the 2008 election.

{mosads}But that doesn’t mean the convention will be a showcase for these candidates — in fact, Senate candidate Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and House candidate Betsy Markey’s campaigns both emphasize they will only be around for part of the festivities.

Udall will not be one of a handful of Senate candidates speaking at the convention on Wednesday night.

His spokeswoman, Tara Trujillo, said her boss will be attending a pair of breakfasts Wednesday morning — one for delegates and one for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

He also plans to be one of several top Senate candidates at a DSCC press conference Wednesday morning, along with committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), but Trujillo noted that he would be back on the campaign trail immediately.

“After that he leaves the convention and heads down to southwestern Colorado,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo said Udall, who is running for retiring Sen. Wayne Allard’s (R-Colo.) seat, would be back in time for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) acceptance of the Democratic nomination at Invesco Field, but that his role in that ceremony was as yet undetermined.

Markey is challenging Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) in one of the top House races in the country. Musgrave survived with just 46 percent of the vote in 2006.

Spokesman Ben Marter said Markey was scheduled to attend a party for the Larimer County Democratic Party on Sunday night and the Electing Women Breakfast on Monday morning.

Marter emphasized that Markey would only be around for part of the convention and would spend the bulk of her time campaigning in her northeastern Colorado district, which is based in Fort Collins.

Associating with the Democratic convention is a bit risky for Markey, who is chasing a solidly conservative congressional seat. Most major Democratic candidates around the country are skipping Denver altogether in an environment that is most unkind to Republicans but is also anti-incumbent and anti-Washington.

Colorado University political science Professor Scott Adler said that if one of Colorado’s candidates should stay away, it’s Markey. She is running in a district that voted 58 percent for President Bush in 2004.

Republican Senate nominee and former Rep. Bob Schaffer’s (R-Colo.) campaign has taken to constantly labeling Udall a “Boulder liberal,” but the state’s shift toward Democrats in recent years shows that the party label isn’t necessarily an albatross statewide, Adler said.

“This isn’t a state that hates the Democratic Party or Obama,” he said. “Obama carried this state 2-to-1.”

Another major home-state candidate who should be seen around the convention is entrepreneur Jared Polis, who won a pitched three-way primary earlier this month for Udall’s House seat.

Polis is heavily favored in November to join Congress and would be its third openly gay member. His campaign said he will be attending numerous events, including several gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender gatherings.