Udall, Gardner in their own words as camapign enters its final days

Voters drop off their ballots in West Colorado Springs Saturday, with only hours to go before the close of a contentious Senate campaign with major national implications.

Incumbent Democratic Sen.Mark Udall and his Republican challenger Congressman Cory Gardner making their final pitches to get out the vote.

“There’s a tremendous amount of energy on the ground and the fact is people of Colorado understand we have the opportunity to get people back to work and better opportunities ahead,” Gardner said on the stump. “He’s [Udall] voted 99 percent of the time with President Obama and on Tuesday, voters are going to have the chance to do something about it.”

“My record is a forward-looking record,” Udall said. “This race has always been set up to be close and in the end we will win because we’ll get out the vote.”

A focus of the campaign that could make the difference in flipping the Senate into Republican hands is women’s reproductive rights. Udall’s gone after Gardner for co-sponsoring a federal personhood amendment that would ban abortion and some common forms of birth control.

But Gardner said he’s changed his mind and no longer supports the bill, but remains a co-sponsor.

“The bill is simply a statement that I support life,” Gardner said. The fact is Senator Udall’s run a divisive social issue campaign and I believe we can do better.”

Udall argues Gardner’s personhood record is a key component of the campaign.

“The freedom of frontier is the freedom to do what you believe in appropriate with your own body,” Udall said. “Congressman Gardner’s spent his entire political career trying to limit those options. This is a very important issue for millions of Colorado women and families.”

The final Denver Post poll before the votes are counted shows this race in a statistical dead-heat within the margin of error. Gardner holds a slim 46-44 lead.

Late polls like the post are breaking in Gardner’s favor but Udall believes the only poll that matters in on Election Day.

Republicans need to pick up six seats currently held by Democrats to take control of the Senate.