Famed Name Is Double-Edged as Two Udalls Run

[groovedaddy]

SANTA FE, N.M. — Representatives Tom and Mark Udall possess one of the most famous political names in the West, one virtually synonymous with protecting the region’s spectacular natural resources from overuse and exploitation.

Their fathers, the brothers Stewart L. and Morris K. Udall, used their own federal power more than a generation ago to set aside millions of acres of public land for national parks, wilderness areas and wildlife refuges. The sons embraced the family conservation ethic upon simultaneously winning House seats in 1998 and now emphasize that approach in their unusual cousinly quest for open Senate seats.

“We are not opposed to good sound development, but there cannot be carelessness and recklessness in the use of resources,” said Tom Udall, 60, who is running in New Mexico while Mark Udall, 57, campaigns in neighboring Colorado.

Yet with gas prices at levels where filling the family pickup truck can cost more than $100, their Republican opponents are trying to turn the Udall trademark into a black mark. They contend that the Udalls’ resistance to new drilling and to wringing oil out of Rocky Mountain shale has contributed to the energy cost squeeze.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/us/politics/07udall.html?th&emc=th

[cali]

1. good luck with that. Tom Udall will win in a blow out in NM and

Mark is pulling ahead in CO. stupid fucking media trying to make horse races where none exist.