NYT: Udall family's environmental stance could work against them

A New York Times article published Monday outlines how Republicans are trying to turn the Udall family's tradition of environmentalism "into a black mark."

With energy now a top political issue, the Udalls' political fate this year "could also show whether voters respond to the Udall call for a more varied and comprehensive approach to energy production or to a concerted Republican push for the aggressive production of fossil fuels."

The Udall name is "virtually synonymous with protecting the region’s spectacular natural resources from overuse and exploitation," the Times article stated.

But with gas prices topping $4 a gallon, Republicans say that brothers Mark and Tom Udall, who are running for U.S. Senate in Colorado and New Mexico, respectively, have "contributed to the energy cost squeeze" by opposing new oil drilling.

“People are angry the Udalls have worked in tandem to drive the prices up as far as they are,” Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer said in the article. "They want to see us move faster on production of American resources.”