Udall doesn’t pick sides in Oregon’s Senate race

While U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) awaits his fate in the 2008 election on Wednesday, his Democratic cousin who was elected to the Senate Tuesday attempted to stay above the fray.

Smith’s cousin, incoming U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) was asked his opinion on the Oregon senate race Wednesday at a press conference in Denver, where he talked about his family ties to Oregon’s junior Senator, and his opinion of both Smith and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland).

"Of course it’s an important race. Family’s important, many of you know that Senator Smith is a one-and-a-half cousin – he’s between a first and a second cousin,” Udall said. “He can look out after himself, and whoever wins that seat, I know, will come to the Senate willing to work to find those solutions because both Speaker Merkley and Senator Smith have shown themselves to be that kind of elected official in the past.”

“There’s an old saying in the Udall family that blood is thicker than Goldwater,” Udall continued. “(Because) the Udall-Goldwater race in the old days where the Udall was actually Republican and the Goldwater was a Democrat."

When pressed by a reporter from PolitickerCO.com as to who he was rooting for in Oregon’s race, Udall avoided a direct answer

"I think I just told you, didn’t I?” Udall said to laughter.

PolitickerCO.com reporter Jeremy Pelzer contributed to this report