When a U.S. Senate Republican candidate from Colorado attracts the attention of The Wall Street Journal, George Will and umpteen millions of dollars in directed ire from the national Democratic Party, you know he must be on to something.

Joe O’Dea is running against the Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet in a race that has perked up ears throughout the political world. The most recent was an op-ed in the WSJ, penned by Faith Bottums, one of the paper’s assistant editors, in which she paints the contest as a “race to the middle,” with both candidates trying to paint the other as an extremist and position themselves as centrists: “Who’s the real extremist? The answer seems to be neither. The election may be Mr. Bennet’s to lose, but both candidates are racing for the middle, believing that the candidate who appears the most moderate, the least extremely extreme, will prevail.”

That’s one way of looking at it, and not entirely inaccurate. Bennet, for the few people who may remember, pretended to run for President in 2020 staking out a moderate position in a Democratic primary field mostly dominated by candidates who were competing to see who could furthest distance themselves from reality. He spent most of his short time on that stage trying, unsuccessfully, to get a word in edgewise, and ultimately ceding the middle ground to the far more reasonable and eloquent Tulsi Gabbard.

O’Dea, for his part, is a moderate conservative, “moderate conservative” being what used to be called a “conservative” back before the Trump-induced taint of radical populist excess. In other words, his positions are reasonable, well thought-out, and rooted in reality and experience rather than plucked from an ideological playbook. Meanwhile, Bennet is essentially trying to convince voters that he is not really a Democrat despite supporting most of the policies which have defined Democrats for the past several years.

That both parties seem to be in a position where “not crazy” is considered a key selling point tells us something of where American politics is at these days. However, it is worth noting that only one party holds the reigns of power at the moment, and its particular craziness has generated record inflation, record crime, unlivable inner cities, a pending energy crisis and bolder, more dangerous foreign adversaries. Bennet can be as “moderate” as he wants, but it’s a tough record to run from when your party is in charge.

The two candidate’s backgrounds present an interesting juxtaposition; Bennet’s privileged background is not an issue for me; I have long rejected the notion that that sort of pedigree somehow disqualifies one for public service. I am far more concerned about the votes one takes than who his or her parents are. Nevertheless, O’Dea’s self-made identity speaks highly of him and speaks as well to a uniquely American character which is befitting of one who seeks office in the American Senate.

Probably the biggest story of this race is the money – more specifically the spending that is skewed 5-to-1 against O’Dea. Democrats are pouring millions into the campaign to defeat O’Dea, trying desperately to paint him as a MAGA extremist, this after spending $10 million during the primary to prop him up as a moderate in an underhanded, and ultimately futile, effort to support his MAGA extremist primary opponent. The millions of dollars and pendular campaign messaging are signals as to how important this seat is: simply put, if Bennet loses, the Democrats lose their rubber-stamp senate. For with the odd, pre-approved exception, Bennet has been just that for the Biden administration.

Every trillion-dollar spending package, every layer of red tape, every bad economic, social, or foreign policy decision to pass the U.S. Senate in the last two years has Bennet’s fingerprints on it. He may wish voters to think he is Joe Manchin, but his voting record is far closer to Bernie Sanders.

There is another reason this race is so important, a reason the inestimable George Will eloquently elucidated: “If voters embrace O’Dea’s temperate conservatism, they will encourage Republicans elsewhere to emulate his declaration of independence from their most recent presidential candidate’s whining about imagined 2020 grievances. So, Coloradans have the nation’s political healing in their hands.”

Indeed. In Joe O’Dea, Coloradans have an impressive senate candidate motivated by reality over blind ideological allegiance. He looks to keep government in its lane, and to do its job well there. If Americans want a way out of the mess they find themselves in, they would do well to look to Mr. O’Dea.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.