How Gardner navigated abortion attacks

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. – Listen to Cory Gardner these days and you might think he backs abortion rights.

Calling himself “a new kind of Republican,” the affable Senate hopeful looks earnestly into the camera in his TV ads and tells voters not to believe Democratic Sen. Mark Udall’s attacks on his record on women’s issues. He disavows his past support of the so-called “personhood” anti-abortion amendment. He’s even trying to run to Udall’s left by aggressively promoting over-the-counter contraceptives.

This week alone, about 60 percent of the $635,000 Gardner is spending on TV is focused on these women’s issues, according to media tracking sources.

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A conservative congressman from a solidly Republican district who has opposed abortion throughout his career, Gardner is deadlocked in one of the nation’s most important Senate races, with independent suburban women voters the critical voting bloc. So Gardner is trying to showcase a more moderate side, on abortion and contraception as well as immigration and climate change.

That he has managed to make and keep the race so close against an onslaught of attacks casting him as a serial flip-flopper is a testament to the 40-year-old Republican’s political dexterity. Udall was seen as a solid if not prohibitive favorite before Gardner jumped into the race in March. If Gardner prevails, he will likely be held up as a model for how conservatives can blunt Democrats’ attempts to portray the GOP as anti-women. If he doesn’t, it could very well be because enough voters don’t forgive easily on a bedrock issue like abortion.

“Sen. Udall can only talk about one thing: He’s a social issues warrior,” Gardner said in an interview here outside of a state Republican Party office. “He’s been tied too closely with Barack Obama’s failed policies [so] he’s trying to do everything he can to try to distract the voters on social issues. … The people of Colorado can see right through it — especially women.”

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Democrats have saved their Senate majority the last two election cycles by running aggressively against hard-line conservatives, particularly on social issues. They pulled off improbable victories in Missouri and Indiana against conservatives who opposed abortion exceptions even in the cases of rape. And just four years ago here, tea party Republican Ken Buck lost a tough race against Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who hammered Buck on the abortion issue.

In this year’s races, Democrats are employing a similar strategy, running hard on social issues in states as diverse as North Carolina, Virginia and Alaska. In Colorado, Democrats say abortion isn’t the issue that will give them a resounding victory. But they do believe it will bring out enough swing voters to put Udall over the top.

Deft and cautious yet quick on his feet, Gardner has managed to avoid being pinned down on a number of hot-button issues. For instance, on immigration, even though he says undocumented immigrants should be able to obtain “earned status,” he won’t specify how that’s different than citizenship. “That’s something we will determine as a country,” he said.

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And while he’s now opposed to a proposed personhood measure on the November ballot, Gardner has kept his name on a federal anti-abortion bill that critics say is essentially the same thing. When asked about the discrepancy, Gardner says it’s simply a “statement” showing that he’s pro-life — and he quickly pivots to an attack on Udall. He doesn’t broadcast his opposition to abortion unless asked in media interviews or debates.

Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said that while the GOP remains opposed to abortion, there is “room in our party” for different views on the dealing with the matter, a dramatic shift from just a few years ago.

Voters “recognize that Cory Gardner is not going to outlaw birth control or take away a woman’s right to choose,” Call said. “That’s well settled law.”

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Colorado, a libertarian-minded state where support for abortion is high in the populous Denver metro area, is Ground Zero this year in the Democratic effort to seize on social issues to win over women voters. Roughly half the ads in Udall’s $9 million TV campaign have focused on abortion and contraceptives. Even billionaire Tom Steyer’s organization, which is supposed to be focused on environmental issues, is blasting Gardner’s record on abortion in an ad campaign.

Meeting with a group of people at a Mexican restaurant in a Latino neighborhood in Denver this week, Udall talked about immigration reform. Then he turned to the topic dominating the race — abortion.

Asked in an interview this week if he risked overplaying his hand by dwelling so heavily on reproductive rights, Udall deflected the question back to his opponent....