GRAND JUNCTION – Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall and his Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, clashed over the federal government’s role in virtually every aspect of life in Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 6, at their first debate, before a crowd of nearly 1,000 at Western Slope advocacy group Club 20’s fall meeting.

The high-stakes, hour-long confrontation took place near the end of a day chock full of debates between candidates spanning Club 20’s scope – the organization bills itself as the “voice of the Western Slope” and counts members from throughout the region’s 22 counties and the Ute Indian tribes – in the traditional start to the fall election season as campaigns head into the home stretch.

The two agreed about almost nothing – at one point Udall joked that he was “curious what problem facing the nation I haven’t caused” and Gardner retorted, “Me too!” – but hammered each other soundly with the two campaigns’ signature attacks on their rivals.

For Gardner, it was linking Udall to an unpopular President Barack Obama – the Democrat carried Colorado twice but has seen his support sink in the past year – and repeatedly blaming Udall for “cast[ing] a deciding vote for Obamacare,” as the Affordable Care Act legislation governing health care is known.

And for Udall, it was hitting Gardner again and again for his avowed pro-life stance and past support for measures that would restrict access to birth control and criminalize abortion.But it was a comment by Udall, claiming to speak for two American journalists murdered by Islamic radicals, which drew the most fire in the days after the debate and prompted an apology from the Democrat.

“I believe we need more Colorado in Washington, and less Washington in Colorado,” said Gardner, blasting the Democratic incumbent for supporting “bailouts, handouts and cop-outs” in a quest to impose “big government” control over everything from health care to the environment to education.

“One is the Washington way, where Washington knows best. But we in Colorado know better,” he said. “Something happened on the way to the Potomac that made Mark Udall more like Washington, D.C., and less like Washington County,” added Gardner, who is finishing his second term in Congress.

Udall ticked off a number of accomplishments he said benefit western Colorado – helping veterans get medical care locally, allowing ski areas on federal lands to offer attractions year-round and a bipartisan bill to speed approval of small hydroelectric projects, among others – and added, “With these and other challenges we have faced, my approach is to find the common ground we share and then work to resolve differences pragmatically, with the best interests of Coloradans foremost in my mind.”

Then he fired a shot at Gardner, who backed House Republicans a year ago when their efforts to repeal the federal legislation that overhauled the nation’s health care system led to a government shutdown while devastating floods wracked the state.

“As Coloradans, we know that we don’t shut down and go home when we don’t get everything we want,” Udall said as his supporters cheered.

The Udall cheering section – many wearing the distinctive blue vests a staffer joked were “WalMart greeter” garb, left over from the state assembly – was vocal and rocked the Two Rivers Convention Center hall with applause, but it was the Gardner backers who drew admonitions from the moderator for persistent catcalls and heckling during Udall’s time at the microphone.

Although polls have shown it’s been a tight race through the summer between Udall and Gardner – he jumped into the race in late February, recruited by GOP officials worried that lackluster hopefuls weren’t giving Udall a serious challenge – two polls released in the days following the debate put Udall in the lead for a seat analysts say could determine which party controls the Senate after the November elections. An NBC-Marist poll pegs Udall with 48 percent support, outpacing Gardner’s 42 percent support, while a Rasmussen Reports survey has Udall at 44 percent and Gardner at 42 percent. Both polls were conducted before Saturday’s debate.

“Barack Obama and Mark Udall have put tremendous pressure on this country” by increasing the national debt, Gardner contended, naming the president three times in one brief response.

Udall countered that he’s the “last person they want to see coming” toward the White House, because he’s been a thorn in the side of the Democratic administration over national security and surveillance issues as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

After Gardner made yet another reference to Udall’s alignment with Obama in Senate votes – the Democrat voted with the president 99 percent of the time, his opponent is fond of saying – Udall shot back that Gardner’s constant repetition of that statistic “takes real gumption” for someone who was ranked the 10th-most conservative member of the House by a national publication.

While the bulk of the debate was devoted to questions posed by a four-member panel of local journalists and civic leaders, it culminated in a vigorous “cross-examination” by the two candidates aimed at each other.

During his allotted time, Gardner pulled no punches, raking Udall over the coals for his support of Obamacare. First, Gardner challenged Udall to explain why he said during a 2008 debate that he opposed a “government-sponsored solution” to the nation’s health care system.Udall countered that he had kept his word.

“Government-run health care doesn’t exist in this country,” he said to cheers from his supporters. Udall went on to contend that the so-called public option – a proposed component that didn’t make it into the final legislation – would have created more competition, which he asserted was an outcome his opponent ought to have supported.

But Gardner wasn’t finished.

“You promised the American people that if you liked your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” Gardner said. “When did you know that that promise was not going to be kept?”

Over the guffaws and catcalls of Gardner supporters, Udall answered that as the law rolled out, “it became clear that the insurance companies were not keeping faith with the intent of the law,” as some audience members grumbled.

When it came time for Udall to cross-examine, he led with the topic that has blanketed the airwaves and cable networks, asking why Gardner had supported a state bill that would have made it a felony to perform an abortion – “punishing doctors more than the rapists” – and another bill to deny emergency contraception to rape victims, in addition to a measure to defund Planned Parenthood.

“How can women and families trust you when it comes to staying out of their personal health care decisions?” Udall asked.

Gardner responded that he was working to grow the economy and was proudly pro-life, prompting Udall to press: “Why are you getting between women and their doctors?” Gardner pointed to his proposal to allow over-the-counter sales of the birth control pill.

Asked by a panelist how the United States should respond to threats posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL – Udall argued that the militants don’t pose an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and that the country shouldn’t respond rashly to recently released videos depicting the beheading of two captured American journalists.

“I can tell you, Steve Sotloff and James Foley would tell us, don’t be impulsive,” Udall said. “Horrible and barbarous as those executions were, don’t be impulsive. Come up with a plan to knock ISIL back.”

Conservative media outlets pounced on Udall’s remarks the next day, criticizing Udall for claiming to speak for the slain journalists and calling his policy prescriptions naïve.”When addressing ISIL during this weekend’s debate, I should not have invoked the names of James Foley and Steven Sotloff. It was inappropriate and I sincerely apologize,” Udall said in a statement issued Monday.

“My intent was to emphasize the importance of taking the right next steps as we confront this serious threat,” Udall continued. “It is critically important for the United States, our allies and countries in the region to beat back ISIL. These terrorists are a serious threat to U.S. interests and allies in the Middle East, and Americans are counting on their leaders to get this right. I will continue to push the Administration and demand that our country’s approach is both tough and smart.”

But the apology didn’t satisfy Gardner.

“Americans have watched in horror in recent weeks as two of our fellow countrymen have been brutally executed by terrorists, and it’s outrageous that Senator Udall would put words into the mouths of dead Americans,” Gardner said in a statement on Monday. “Furthermore, it’s deeply troubling that he views a terrorist organization like ISIL as not an imminent threat to America.”

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call jabbed Udall for “(doubling) down on his disturbing and wrong belief that ISIS isn’t a threat.”

“ISIS is raising $3 million a day, hundreds of its members have passports that allow them to enter and move about the United States freely, and they have even posted threatening pictures in front of the White House,” Call said in a statement. “Despite this, Mark Udall does not believe ISIS is an immediate threat to our nation. It is disturbing and even dangerous of Sen. Udall to think ISIS does not pose a threat to our nation.”

Answering questions from the panel, the two quarreled over issues of concern to western Colorado, including how to fix the sky-high insurance premiums facing area residents in the wake of the Affordable Care Act’s implementation.

The system was broken when insurance companies were in charge, Udall maintained. “The Republican Party had many years to respond to a health insurance system that was out of control,” he said, calling the far-reaching law “an important start to fix a system that was broken.”

Gardner, Udall charged, has done nothing to improve the system but vote to repeal Obamacare more than 50 times. “To top it off,” he said, circling back to a familiar attack, Gardner voted to shut down the federal government in order to repeal Obamacare when the state needed help most.

Gardner again hit Udall for casting a decisive vote on Obamacare, “instead of being an independent voice for Colorado and providing real healthcare solutions,” and added, “I agree, we need to fix the system.”

Asked about hydraulic fracturing as it relates to energy production in the state, Udall called Colorado central to a “best-of-the-above” approach to energy, slamming Gardner for his claims in a TV ad airing this week that he had helped jump-start Colorado’s clean energy policies.

The 2007 law co-sponsored by Gardner – “to launch our state’s green energy industry,” Gardner boasts on screen, surrounded by wind turbines – didn’t actually lead to anything, Udall pointed out. “This agency he helped create didn’t hire one person, didn’t finance one project and went out of business in 2012,” he said.

Gardner countered that his policies are aimed at making North America energy independent and that only Washington’s policies stand in the way of that.After the debate, partisans on both sides claimed victory.

“Earlier this year, Mark Udall challenged Cory Gardner to five debates, but yesterday his campaign announced that they will only attend three,” said Colorado GOP spokesman Owen Loftus in a statement. “After watching tonight’s match, it’s painfully obvious why: Mark Udall cannot defend his record. For 16 years, Mark has voted with radical environmentalists, lobbyists and special interests, and against the people of this state.”

“I was very impressed with Senator Udall tonight,” said former Colorado Secretary of State and former state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, in a statement. “Once again he showed that he understands Western Colorado and shares our values. He cares about our veterans and he knows the importance of protecting our water. Mark Udall is a true statesman.”

– Ernest@coloradostatesman.com

See the September 12 print edition for full photo coverage.