June 09, 2014 04:07 PM UTC

Gardner's First TV Ad Part of Odd Age-Based Argument for Senate

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• by: Colorado Pols

Congressman Cory Gardner has released his first television ad of his Senate campaign, as Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post reports today, and it is a clear attempt at trying to create a "age controversy" that would benefit Gardner. Via Bartels and the Post, here's the script of the ad (which you can watch after the jump).

Cory: Welcome to Yuma, Colorado. Two hours from the big city.

Alyson: And a long way from anywhere else.

Cory: In a place like this, you learn to get along.

Alyson: That’s how we do it here, Dad.

Cory: It’s too bad Washington doesn’t work that way.

I’m Cory Gardner. I’ll be a senator who solves problems – instead of making ‘em worse, borrowing money and piling up debt. It’s time the Senate had a new generation — one that’s accountable to the next generation.

Alyson: That would be me.

Cory: I’m Cory Gardner and I approved this message. Let’s shake up the Senate.

The release of Gardner's first Senate ad coincides nicely with a story being pushed by the right-wing blog The Colorado Observer. Written by Mark Stricherz, the story is ostensibly about how Sen. Mark Udall is trying to present a youthful image to voters even though he's, like, really old. The Observer even goes so far as to compare the 63-year-old Udall with Sen. John Freakin' McCain. who has been around considerably longer — for 77 years, in fact.

We're certainly surprised to see Team Gardner taking this approach, since Udall certainly doesn't look like a Senior Citizen and isn't old enough for anyone to seriously worry about how his age might affect his leadership. The comparison is stark when you look at the numbers in isolation — Gardner is 39 and Udall is 63 — but in the context of the U.S. Senate, those numbers are fairly meaningless. Of the current class of 100 U.S. Senators, Udall is about average in terms of age. The median age of the U.S. Senate is just shy of 63 years old on the button, which makes Udall the 44th oldest Senator (out of 100). More Senators are in their 60s (36, to be precise) than in any other age group. As for whether age makes a difference in terms of actual leadership, consider this: 3 of the youngest Senators are Cory Booker, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.

But here's the real kicker…Gardner's first job after law school was with then-Republican Sen. Wayne Allard; Gardner served as Allard's General Counsel and Legislative Director during Sen. Allard's second (and final) term in office. When Allard retired after two terms in 2009, he had just turned 65.

Perhaps we'd better get ready for Gardner's new campaign slogan: Vote Gardner. He's Not That Old.