Among the now 10 toss-up states in the race for control of the U.S. Senate, the Democrat candidate in Colorado has hit the same pothole as did his counterpart in Alaska just a week ago.
Incumbent Sen. Mark Udall responded with an apology under public pressure for his comments during a debate following the murder by ISIS of two American journalists in Iraq.
During the debate Udall responded to a question concerning the ongoing crisis in Iraq explaining ISIS poses no imminent threat to the United States and that the beheaded journalists would agree.
“Steve Sotloff and James Foley would tell us, don’t be impulsive. Horrible and barbarous as those executions were, don’t be impulsive, come up with a plan to knock ISIL back.”
Udall’s Republican opponent Cory Gardner fired back the next day, reports Newsmax,
“It’s outrageous that Senator Udall would put words into the mouths of dead Americans.”
Udall quickly issued an apology,
“I should not have invoked the names of James Foley and Steven Sotloff. It was inappropriate and I sincerely apologize.”
According to RealClearPolitics, Udall and Gardner are in a statistical dead heat with Udall at 45 and Gardner at 42, well within the margin of error. Though Barack Obama won Colorado, Republicans see the state as a potential pickup given the clear anti-Obama climate and the expected high Republican turnout in the November election.
