DENVER - Can loose lips sink campaign ships? Republican Senate candidates Ken Buck and Jane Norton are continuing to test that proposition in the final weeks of their competitive and combative primary, trading shots and attacks on the airwaves, in interviews and on the campaign trail itself.
In fact, the only time the candidates aren't both on the attack is when they're in the same room. During three debates last week, including Friday's at FOX 31, both Buck and Norton were on their best behavior. Even as a Norton advertisement had started running attacking Buck for his comment, meant in jest, when he told a voter to choose him because "I don't wear high heels", Norton told Buck face-to-face the comment didn't really bother her.
On Monday, Norton called a press conference to hit back at Buck over another comment caught on tape in which he told a Democratic tracker in June that the Tea Party groups were, in his words, "dumbasses" for continuing to question the authenticity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
Buck has apologized for his choice of words and most Tea Party and 9.12 group leaders have said they still support the Weld County District Attorney in the race.
But Norton is hoping voters will view Buck's latest gaffe as part of a larger pattern.
"Ken Buck's insults about Tea Partyers, who I admire, once more raise the question: Exactly who is Ken Buck, and can we really trust him?" Norton told reporters on the west steps of the State Capitol Monday. "Does Ken Buck have the temperament and character to be a United States senator?""
Now, on Tuesday, there's a new ad on Colorado television attacking Norton for -- wait for it -- saying one thing and doing another.
The ad is the latest salvo from the Virginia-based 501(c)(4) group, Americans for Job Security, which has now spent around $2 million on Buck's behalf. In the 30-second spot, titled "Talk is Cheap," a narrator tries to tie Norton to her potential general election opponent, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, and President Obama.
"Norton pushed the largest tax hike in Colorado history," the narrator says, referring to Referendum C, the controversial ballot initiative that voters approved in 2005 under then-Gov. Bill Owens, who joined Democrats in supporting the measure, along with Norton, then his Lieutenant Governor.
"As a regulator, she managed a multi-million dollar surge in government spending," the narrator continues, referring to Norton's budgets while she was the director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Here's the ad:
On the campaign trail, Norton has continued to tell voters that she cut spending at CDPHE, even though, as FOX31 was first to report in March , the budgets she oversaw have shown that spending actually increased slightly during her tenure.
Buck has countered Norton's claim on the campaign trail by referring to those media reports, but this new AJS ad is the first time that message has been featured in a television ad that will be seen by a statewide audience.
In fact, the only time the candidates aren't both on the attack is when they're in the same room. During three debates last week, including Friday's at FOX 31, both Buck and Norton were on their best behavior. Even as a Norton advertisement had started running attacking Buck for his comment, meant in jest, when he told a voter to choose him because "I don't wear high heels", Norton told Buck face-to-face the comment didn't really bother her.
On Monday, Norton called a press conference to hit back at Buck over another comment caught on tape in which he told a Democratic tracker in June that the Tea Party groups were, in his words, "dumbasses" for continuing to question the authenticity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
Buck has apologized for his choice of words and most Tea Party and 9.12 group leaders have said they still support the Weld County District Attorney in the race.
But Norton is hoping voters will view Buck's latest gaffe as part of a larger pattern.
"Ken Buck's insults about Tea Partyers, who I admire, once more raise the question: Exactly who is Ken Buck, and can we really trust him?" Norton told reporters on the west steps of the State Capitol Monday. "Does Ken Buck have the temperament and character to be a United States senator?""
Now, on Tuesday, there's a new ad on Colorado television attacking Norton for -- wait for it -- saying one thing and doing another.
The ad is the latest salvo from the Virginia-based 501(c)(4) group, Americans for Job Security, which has now spent around $2 million on Buck's behalf. In the 30-second spot, titled "Talk is Cheap," a narrator tries to tie Norton to her potential general election opponent, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, and President Obama.
"Norton pushed the largest tax hike in Colorado history," the narrator says, referring to Referendum C, the controversial ballot initiative that voters approved in 2005 under then-Gov. Bill Owens, who joined Democrats in supporting the measure, along with Norton, then his Lieutenant Governor.
"As a regulator, she managed a multi-million dollar surge in government spending," the narrator continues, referring to Norton's budgets while she was the director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
On the campaign trail, Norton has continued to tell voters that she cut spending at CDPHE, even though, as FOX31 was first to report in March , the budgets she oversaw have shown that spending actually increased slightly during her tenure.
Buck has countered Norton's claim on the campaign trail by referring to those media reports, but this new AJS ad is the first time that message has been featured in a television ad that will be seen by a statewide audience.
