Posted: 10/23/2014 02:10:25 PM MDT
Updated: 10/23/2014 02:18:43 PM MDT
First Lady Michelle Obama rallied on behalf of U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in Denver on Thursday, outlining what the Democrat stands for and what's at stake on Nov. 4.
Without Udall, she said, 'we'll see more opposition to immigration reform' and 'bosses making women's decisions about their birth control.'
'Promise everyone in this room will vote today ... and get everyone you know to vote,' she said. 'Everybody knows somebody who's sitting on the couch right now.'
Obama outlined how the economy has improved since her husband inherited a grim situation from Republicans when he took over in 2009.
The first lady slipped up in her speech, referring to Udall as a fifth-generation Coloradan. That's Udall's opponent, Republican Congressman Cory Gardner.
The first lady, more popular than her husband, is crisscrossing the country on behalf of Democrats. The Gardner-Udall race is one of the closest of several races in the nation that may decide which party controls the U.S. Senate.
A Denver Post poll released last week showed about two-thirds of likely voters say their opinion of President Obama is a factor in their decision this November. Obama's approval rating is 41 percent compared with 56 percent who disapprove.
Among those at the rally at the EXDO Center north of downtown Denver was 25-year-old Sorl Shead of Denver.
'I'm here to get the experience of a lifetime,' he said. 'I'm very impressed by the first lady.
Udall, sounding hoarse from his series of campaign events in the waning days of the race, briefly addressed the crowd.
'We have 12 days and I want six more years,' he said.
Recent polls show Gardner leading Udall, but as Colorado's other U.S. senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, pointed out, polls showed him losing in 2010 but his party's ground game carried him over the finish line.
Bennet, who praised the turnaround in Colorado's economy, said Republicans like to talk about 'taking the country back' but they don't specify which century they are talking about.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, hailed Udall's position supporting gay marriage and a women's right to choose. Gardner is a co-sponsor of the federal Life Begins at Conception Act, which DeGette said would outlaw abortion, birth control and likely stem-cell research.
The first lady also will appear at a rally at Colorado State University Thursday afternoon, her latest event on the campaign trail in what most see as an unforgiving mid-term election for Democrats.
'Michelle Obama rallies Michigan Dems in Detroit' was the headline of an Oct. 10 story in the Detroit Free Press. She delivered the same message in Detroit as she did in Denver.
'We won, because we showed up and voted,' the first lady lady said in Detroit of her husband's 2008 and 2012 victories.
She is scheduled to appear in Connecticut next month to support Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is facing a tough re-election bid.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or http://ift.tt/MoeKUk
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