Quinnipiac: Schaffer and Udall tied at 44. McCain leads Obama 46-44.

Mirroring the change in momentum in the presidential race, the U.S. Senate race between former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Fort Collins) and U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Boulder County) has moved into a dead heat, according to Quinnipiac University polls that were released last Thursday. The poll shows Schaffer and Udall tied at 44 percent, erasing a 48 percent to 38 percent lead that Udall held as of June 26. Quinnipiac also reports that McCain has moved slightly ahead of Obama by a margin of 46 percent to 44 percent, where last month Obama had led 48 percent to 42 percent. The margin of error for these polls was 2.6 percent.

According to Quinnipiac, the shift toward Republicans, which is occurring nationwide, may be the result of a similar phenomenon: energy policy. According to Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, the debate over additional drilling in the United States has eclipsed national security as the paramount issue among voters nationwide.

"Roughly one in ten voters say they have changed their minds and now favor drilling because of the jump in energy prices," Brown said in a statement. "They support Obama, but with voters saying that the energy issue is now more important to their presidential vote than is the war in Iraq, this group represents an opportunity for the Republican."

This is also the case in Colorado, where voters are more concerned about energy policy than the war in Iraq by a 50 - 39 percent margin. At the moment, 33 percent of voters support each candidate's energy policy, with 34 percent of the electorate undecided as to whose policy they prefer.