From news reports coming out of Washington, D.C. on New Year’s Eve, one would have thought that our U.S. Congressmen and Senators were hard at work hammering out a deal that would allow the U.S. government to not topple over the abhorred fiscal cliff.
But, Colorado’s senior Democratic Senator, Mark Udall must have found the fiscal cliff negotiations to be so mundane that his focus was elsewhere – on his own campaign’s fiscal cliff. On Monday, December 31, 2012 at 2:38 p.m., Udall sent an email to his fundraising list that asked the question, “What does $20 million of mud look like?” Here is an excerpt from the short and sweet note, which makes no mention of the fiscal cliff:
“Getting small donations from many of my long-time supporters like you shows the extreme right-wingers and their big-money allies that my grassroots network is strong and their secretly-funded attack ads are a waste of time.”
While we don’t know if Sen. Udall sent the email at 2:38 p.m. Eastern Time or Mountain Time, neither time would be advantageous to him. According to a fiscal cliff negotiations timeline assembled by the Guardian UK, at 2:30 p.m. ET, Republicans were reacting to the recent press conference starring President Obama’s arrogance, which may have cost him a few precious votes in negotiations. At 4:30 p.m. ET (or, 2:30 p.m. MT), Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced that the House has nothing to vote on because the Senate has not passed anything.
Perhaps the Senators were too busy writing or approving fundraising letters?
While the country was in crisis, its fairly obvious that Senator Udall was more focused on his campaign efforts than representing his constituents in Colorado. Again.
Where will Mark Udall be when the debt ceiling talks reach their zenith?
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