The fact that John Ensign has been unable as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to keep up with Chuck Schumer, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in terms of fundraising, recruiting and just about everything else is having real ramifications at this point in the election cycle. Take a look, for instance, at what the cash-strapped NRSC is doing these days.

Republicans' Senate campaign arm called off television ads Tuesday that were to air in New Mexico in the run-up to Election Day, an indication that it's leaving the GOP candidate there to fend for himself as the party braces for losses.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee's decision to cancel the New Mexico spots reflects its priorities during a tough year for the GOP, with the party lagging badly in fundraising and resigned to losing seats in the Senate.

Remember, despite the fact that Democratic Congressman Tom Udall is leading in the fundraising race and in the polls, the seat in New Mexico is a Republican seat and has been for the last 36 years, so the GOP is writing off the race two months out from election day is rather remarkable. It looks like we should be seeing not only more and better Democrats in Congress, but also more and better Udalls in the Senate as well.

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Crossposted at New Mexico FBIHOP

The two most dispirited people after hearing the news of Martin Chavez dropping out of the Senate race have to be Republican Senate candidates Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce.  The two will almost undoubtedly be involved in a contentious and expensive Republican primary, while Udall coasts to easy victory in the Democratic contest.

That will allow Udall to raise more money and have near-universal support among Democrats in the state.  Udall would have almost undoubtedly received a majority of the support of Democrats in the primary.  But the damage Chavez could have done while in the race attacking Udall while attempting to gain traction could have proved fatal to Udall's chances in the general election.

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Update (Jonathan): Don't think this race is a tossup? Think again. A new Rasmussen Reports poll has this race as a statistical dead heat. Now it seems to me that Rasmussen didn't push undecideds nearly enough, and that the SurveyUSA poll showing Udall up 6 points passes the gut check a bit better. That said, this is going to be a close race, so don't forget about it, and make sure to get involved.

On Thursday evening I had the opportunity to speak with Congressman Mark Udall, the presumptive Democratic Senate nominee in the open seat race in Colorado. This campaign is getting dirty fast, with a conservative 527 already slinging mud at Udall, who they fear has a good shot at continuing the Democrats' trend of success in Colorado (the party has picked up a Senate seat, the Governorship, two House seats and both chambers of the state legislature in the past two cycles). But Udall is ready for it, with more than $3.1 million in the bank as of the end of September and a small, but noticeable lead in head-to-head polling against the presumptive GOP nominee, former Congressman Bob Schaffer. But if you want to give Udall a boost, as well, head over to Act Blue and make a contribution to his effort today.

You can download the audio of the interview here as a large .mp3 file or listen to it through the player below. I have also included a rush transcript of the interview, which covers a lot of ground, from campaign tactics to specific issues like energy independence.

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Jonathan Singer: At the beginning of the cycle this looked like it was going to be the top race, the easiest race for the Democrats in the Senate. Now there are so many open races people maybe aren't paying as much attention anymore to Colorado. Why should be people around the country - we'll get to Coloradans in a second - but why should people around the country be homing in on this race?

Mark Udall: It still is a crucial race to generate a 56- or 57-vote majority in the Senate so that we can really grab the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the Senate is not a place where you play defense and protect the rights of minorities - racial, political, whatever it may be. Historically that's the role the Senate has played, in some cases not in ways that make us particularly proud. For example segregationists held sway in the Senate for decades, that's why the civil rights that were promised weren't forthcoming for way too many years. But in order to really move this new agenda you have to have 56 or 57 votes.

I welcome all these additional competitive races. It excites me. In the summer I was saying to groups, "I intend to be the seat we hold so we hold the majority. I know Tim Johnson will win. I have every belief that Mary Landrieu will win. But this is the seat that will ensure that we have the majority." And I paused and said, "But wait a minute. By the time we get out to counting the votes in Colorado, I could be the 56th or 57th seat." Think of Maine. That has real potential. Right now, of course, it is what it is. But Tom Allen will go the extra mile to make that race. New Hampshire. Minnesota was in the mix at that point. And then, of course, Virginia came on the radar screen. Now New Mexico. There are a couple of other interesting states, Kentucky and Alaska. So we need all of these races to be successfully concluded, including mine.

So I welcome this. Think of the people who are standing up to run. Jean Shaheen, Tom Allen, Mark Warner. In Minnesota you have two very competent potential candidates, there, two very different candidates in Mike Ciresi and Al Franken. And now the race that I'm waging and the race that Tom [Udall] will wage in New Mexico.

What I will add, too, is this is a tossup. Colorado is not a blue state. You know this. It's purple right now. It's purple because there are some trends that have emerged in the Rocky Mountain West that are best symbolized by Governor Schweitzer's success, Senator Tester's success, Governor Freudenthal in Wyoming - people forget Wyoming has a Democratic Governor. And you come down that long blue bridge from the Canadian border to the Mexican border of Governorships, and it's connected now, what happened in Colorado, with Governor Ritter. There isn't one playbook or one formula for a Democrat to have success in the West. But there are some key elements I know we can talk more about.

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Bumped -- Jonathan... This is a really important race, and I just wanted to bump up this interview so that folks could make sure to be able to hear it and see it. And if you want to get involved, you can still head to DraftUdall.com and the Netroots for Tom Udall Act Blue page. Also, Tuesday morning I'll be posting my interview with Congressman Mark Udall from Colorado, who's also running for the Senate, so stay tuned.

On Thursday, as a part of what became known in some circles as "More and Better Udalls in the Senate Day" because of the official announcement by Congressman Tom Udall that he would run for the Senate in New Mexico and the San Francisco fundraiser for Congressman Mark Udall (who's running for the Senate in Colorado), I had the opportunity to speak with both cousins about their campaigns. Tomorrow I'll be posting the audio and transcript of my interview with Mark, but first my interview with Tom, who agreed to be drafted to run this cycle.

You can download the interview as a large .mp3 file here, or listen to it through the player below. I have also included a rush transcript. And if you want to help out Tom's campaign, head over to the Netroots for Tom Udall page on Act Blue today.

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Jonathan Singer: Can you tell me how much a role the outgrowth of support you saw - in the Draft Udall, and also just people speaking out saying, "Run, Tom, Run" - how much that grassroots support played a role in your decision to reconsider and in fact run for the United States Senate?

Tom Udall: It played a major role in my decision to run for the United States Senate. There was within New Mexico and I think across the nation a very sincere Draft Udall movement. The blogosphere played an important part in that and I think got people involved and engaged and stirred up, and the result was that every time I was home in New Mexico people would come up to me very excited and say, "You've got to make this race."

I was at the central committee meeting, which had 200-300 Democratic activists. They had been involved and engaged and blogging. And they held up signs, "Run, Tom, Run!" Incredible enthusiasm. The way I would describe it, Jonathan, is that it played a major part in my decision.

The other significant part was about New Mexico and the nation and the role I could play in the United States Senate. This is what many of my constituents talk to me about. They say, "Tom, you've stood up on the issues, you've been a man of principle, you speak to us from the heart, we love you, and we want you to run so that you can make a difference in the Senate. We look at the Senate" - many of them told me this - "we look at the Senate as a place where legislation goes to die." And, as you know, the House has passed some pretty significant legislation on issues like the War in Iraq and ending it; healthcare for children, the SCHIP program; trying to do everything we can to get education in our schools for all of our children and improve the levels of schools just across the board; and energy, renewable energy. All of these things get out of the House and in some way seem to die in the Senate.

So that was another big part of my decision, which many of my constituents weighed in on, telling me, "You can make a difference for us, you can help empower us to fulfill our dreams, the things we want to see done in New Mexico and for the nation." And I think those were big, big factors for me in making the decision to make this race.  It was truly gratifying to see such a sincere effort out there.

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More and better Udalls in the Senate, indeed!

I'm sitting in the lobby of a hotel in San Francisco waiting to speak with Congressman Mark Udall, the presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate in Colorado, ahead of his grassroots fundraiser in the city later tonight. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak over the phone with Congressman Tom Udall, who acceded to a draft movement and officially launched his Senate campaign in the state of New Mexico.

In short, what a lot of us are looking for -- and the reason why we're celebrating today -- is that we'd like to see more and better Udalls in the United States Senate. Of course this is not an end in and of itself. The ultimate goal, naturally, is to elect more and better Democrats. Electing more and better Udalls is just one of the means of achieving this broader goal.

To give a bit of context, there is already one Udall in the Senate -- milquetoast moderate Gordon Smith of Oregon descends from the clan as well. But what we'd like to see is the election of cousins Mark in Colorado and Tom in New Mexico this fall, helping add to the list of solid progressives in the chamber and helping the Democrats get closer to the elusive 60-vote majority in the Senate (which is still quite possible, though not terribly likely).

So if you'd like to vicariously celebrate More and Better Udalls in the Senate day, head over to Act Blue to support Tom and Mark today.

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