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Sen. Udall Seeks Bipartisanship, Rep. Lamborn Skips State Of The Union

The 2011 State of the Union
Lawrence Jackson
/
Executive Office of the President (Public Domain)
The 2011 State of the Union

The non partisan think tankNo Labelssays over 100 members of Congress will cross party lines and sit with a member from the opposite party for Tuesday’s State of the Union speech. But one Colorado Congressmen won’t even be there.

Republican 5th District Congressman Doug Lamborn has decided to skip the event in favor of watching it on TV. In a statement released on Monday, Lamborn says he believes President Obama will be in ‘full campaign mode’ and will use the address to bash his political opponents.

This is in clear contrast to Colorado Senator Mark Udall’s efforts to bring unity to the chamber. Like last year, the Democrat is urging lawmakers to break tradition and sit with opposing party members.

“When the president speaks to the county we owe it him and the country to listen carefully to draw our own conclusions and to not turn it into a run of the mill sporting event frankly.”

The entire Colorado congressional delegation – minus Representative Lamborn – will be sitting together at what could be President Obama’s last the state of the union speech. Senator Udall is sitting next to Alaskan Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.

It is interesting to note that this is not the first time a Colorado representative has skipped the State of the Union. According to the New York Times, Republican Bob Schaffer (CD 4) sat out Bill Clinton's address in 1999.

[Ed. Thanks to Colorado Public Radio's Mike Lamb for providing the NYT link.]

 

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