Senator-elect Udall pledges bipartisanship, says early TV ads helped him

DENVER--The day after winning Colorado's U.S. Senate race, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs) talked of working together with Republicans and dismissed claims that his financial advantage over GOP opponent Bob Schaffer made his victory a foregone conclusion.

Udall consistently led in the polls and in fundraising throughout the campaign.

But Udall, speaking at a Wednesday morning press conference at his Denver campaign headquarters, denied that his money advantage gave Schaffer no chance at victory.

 He said that while about $10 million was spent against Schaffer by Udall's campaign and independent groups, about $16 million was spent against himself.

"The resources we had were comparable, perhaps even a little bit of a weight towards Congressman Schaffer's efforts," Udall said. "In the end, I think this was decided on my message and record."

Udall also repeatedly emphasized that he would work in a bipartisan manner as a senator.

"In the end, the successes we're going to have will be because we're going to work together," Udall said. We're going to find those best ideas and I know in the Democratic party there's a real focus on doing that - reaching out to Republicans, including them in the policy prescriptions that we implement. Certainly that's been my record - it's what I'll do in the Senate."

Udall also said his campaign's decision to start running biographical TV ads in May helped define his image to voters before Republicans could define him.

"I do think it helped this campaign -- people had an impression of who I am based on reality, of our record, and the way in which I work across the aisle," Udall said. "So I wouldn't do anything different when it comes to the media campaign part of our overall effort."