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Mike Lawrence

Call Mike Lawrence at 871-4203 or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com.

What better place to write a column about Mark Udall than a bustling coffee shop in downtown Boulder.

Udall, a five-term Democratic Congressman, came to Steamboat Springs last weekend to give the keynote address at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner, an annual fundraiser hosted by the Routt County Democratic Party. Udall's visit also was somewhat of an early campaign stop, because the lanky U.S. representative is all but committed to running for the U.S. Senate in 2008.

"I'm in the process of putting that campaign together, and certainly, I want to have an eye on every part of the state," Udall acknowledged.

Udall has represented Colorado's Second Congressional District, which includes much of the Front Range along with Eagle, Summit and Grand counties on the Western Slope, for nearly a decade. To make the jump to the Senate, Udall said, he will have to court a new kind of Democrat - a "Western Democrat" that respects fiscal responsibility, a "live and let live" attitude toward social issues and less intrusion from government.

"Increasingly, the electorate is independent," Udall said. "Westerners don't think you should be wire-tapping people without warrants. These are demanding voters, who want problems solved."

Much of that pragmatic, hands-off philosophy of governance sounds like a Republican, or even Libertarian, mindset. To represent all of Colorado in the Senate, Udall will have to reach a kind of voter he hasn't seen much of in past elections that largely were decided on the liberal-leaning Front Range.

Which brings me back to the coffee shop.

Udall, a former Outward Bound executive director, would blend in at this place like a chameleon in the rain forest. From where I'm sitting, I can see five bicycle helmets. At the table to my right, a college professor is telling a friend about an idealistic speech he recently gave to graduate students. On the table to my left - I'm not making this up - rests a copy of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, a time-honored ode to the sweeping serenity of isolated wilderness. I would bet, with real money, that roughly half the clientele in here drive some form of Subaru.

This is the kind of liberal, athletic, tree-hugging intellectualism that Boulder breeds like Steamboat Springs breeds second-home owners. This coffee shop is the Boulder stereotype, bottled by brick walls hung with abstract paintings and filled with people wearing expensively faded clothing that can handle a rainstorm in Thailand - or a day of shopping on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.

These are the kind of voters that Udall has in the bag.

So much so, if you recall, that Udall made a campaign stop in Steamboat the Saturday before Election Day last November, despite the fact that neither Steamboat nor Routt County is part of his congressional district.

It was the move of a man confident about his chances for re-election. And it was no surprise when that confidence was justified, as Udall stomped high school teacher Rich Mancuso, a Denver Republican, by about 40 percentage points.

To say Udall is carrying similar confidence into his as-yet-unannounced Senate campaign would be unfair.

"I don't believe it for a minute," Udall said of his rumored frontrunner status in the race that likely will pit him against former U.S. Rep Bob Schaffer, a Fort Collins Republican.

To win that race, Udall will have to put his cowboy boots on. He'll have to up his Western-style ante. When he said this weekend that "Western Democrats are ascendant," Udall was talking about more than geographic voting trends. He was talking about what he believes is his party's new feel, that put Gov. Bill Ritter into the Governor's Mansion and will bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to Denver.

Time will tell if the momentum will bring Udall to the Senate, but you can be certain that in coming months, the congressman will be spending at least as much time shooting the breeze on ranches as waxing intellectual in coffee shops.

- To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4203

or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com