Senate ad warns of condom shortage

An ad campaign from a pro-abortion-rights group suggests if Coloradans elect  vto the Senate they’ll face a condom shortage.

{mosads}NARAL Pro-Choice America and its Colorado arm are launching radio, television and digital ads telling viewers that, “if Cory Gardner gets his way, you better stock up on condoms.”

The television and Web ads close with a shot of a couple in bed looking frustrated after they realize they’ve run out of the prophylactic.

And the radio ad features a conversation between a couple after the man has returned empty-handed from a condom run that took him to every store in the neighborhood.

“So, everyone’s sold out of condoms! How did this happen?” the woman asks incredulously.

“Cory Gardner banned birth control. And now it’s all on us guys, and you can’t find a condom anywhere,” the man replies.

The attack is based in Gardner’s previous support for a state measure that would’ve given legal rights to a fertilized human egg and in effect banned some forms of contraception. Gardner has since disavowed his support for the measure, but he remains a co-sponsor of a federal version of the bill.

That support has been a central line of attack from Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and groups supporting him, who believe if they can run up the score with women in the state, and independent women more specifically, they can ensure a win for the incumbent despite the tough political climate. The strategy has been met with considerable criticism, however, and detractors have accused Udall of running a single-issue campaign.

Most public polling has shown Gardner with a slim but solid lead, but Udall’s internals show a tied race.

Both the television and radio ads hit Gardner on climate change as well, with the man in the radio ad knocking him for a vote to cut federal education grants and saying he “flat-out denies” the climate change that’s “weirding our weather.”

“Sweet pea, Cory denies science. This guy has no idea what’s going on in the real world,” the man in the radio ad says.

The campaign, which the groups describe as “edgy,” is backed by $450,000. The television ad is running on statewide cable, while the radio ad is airing in the Denver market and the online ad is targeted at young voters, and particularly young male voters.