Udall likely losing primary foe

BY MICHAEL RILEY

Mark Benner, the insurgent Democratic candidate for Colorado's open U.S. Senate seat, got just 1.2 percent of the vote in the preference poll taken during the party caucuses on Feb. 5, according to results released by the party today.

Although there is a slim chance that Benner could rally delegates during county conventions, his showing in the preference poll virtually ends his candidacy only weeks after it began. Party rules require a minimum support of 30 percent of delegates to make the primary ballot, and Benner has already said he won't try to petition on, the only other alternative.

Those results now make it unlikely that either party will have a primary in what's expected to be the most hotly contested race in the state this year.

Democrat Mark Udall, the five-term congressman, received 67 percent delegates in the preference poll, while the remaining 32 percent are uncommitted. The preference poll results released Tuesday are mostly complete, with a small number of counties left to report, said Pat Waak, Colorado Democratic Party chair.

"I didn't really plan to do this and sort of got caught up in it before I really thought through whether it was the right thing to do," Benner, an art teacher from Anton, said Tuesday. "I don't have any regrets having done it and I'm sorry I couldn't have been more successful."

Benner had focused his candidacy on a few key issues that he believed were important to the Democratic Party base, but which he said were being ignored by Udall and other prominent figures in the party - the impeachment of George Bush and single-payer health care chief among them.

But while Udall had declared his candidacy early last year, Benner announced his intention to run only in January, and then said he would only campaign on weekends. The fact that the party's caucuses had been moved to early February gave him only a few weeks to organize support.

If all uncommitted delegates decide to support Benner during the county convention process, there is a small chance he still might make the ballot, but early indications suggest that's unlikely. In Eagle County, which held its convention this week, 158 of the delegates supported Udall, according to state party spokesman Matt Sugar, while just 8 supported Benner.

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