Democrat Mark Udall beat Republican Bob Schaffer by 10.31 percentage points in November's U.S. Senate race - the best showing by a Democrat since Gary Hart's win during Watergate.

Oddly, perhaps, that's no surprise to Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and campaign manager for Schaffer.

"I've always said we haven't seen anything like 1974 - when the playing fields were so heavily tilted to Democrats - until 2008," Wadhams said.

He said he believes any Republican challenging Udall would have had a difficult time.

But Udall's campaign manager, Mike Melanson, said that while the national climate helped his candidate, there were plenty of other reasons why Udall had such a strong showing in a swing state.

"We had a candidate who cared about Western values, not social issues," he said.

The secretary of state's office this week posted the official results from the 2008 election.

"It's truly an honor, and I'm so grateful," Udall said in a statement.

Come January, both of Colorado's Senate seats will be held by Democrats, a phenomena not seen since the Watergate era.

Schaffer and other Republicans faced an uphill battle because of President Bush's unpopularity, the spiraling economy and a charismatic Democratic presidential candidate.

Republicans in 1974 faced fallout from Watergate and President Nixon's resignation.

Enter Hart, a Denver attorney who had once worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior under Stuart Udall, Mark Udall's uncle.

Hart defeated two-term U.S. Sen. Peter Dominick by almost 18 percentage points.

"The really amazing thing was not only was I 36 and had never run for office before, I had no money," Hart said. "It was a great gamble."

The entire campaign, he recalled, cost $350,000.

Six years later, Hart would survive a tough re-election in the year of Ronald Reagan's landslide.

"That one was kind of a miracle as well," he said.

Udall, a five-term congressman from Eldorado Springs, in January will join U.S. Ken Salazar, D-Denver. Salazar is up for re-election in 2010.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

How Senate candidates fared

A look at the margin of victory for U.S. Senate races in the past several decades:

1972

* Floyd Haskell, D: 49.4%

* Sen. Gordon Alott, R: 48.3%

1974

* Gary Hart, D: 57.2%

* Sen. Peter Dominick, R: 39.4%

1978

* Bill Armstrong, R: 58.6%

* Sen. Haskell: 40.3%

1980

* Sen. Hart: 50.3%

* Mary E. Buchanan, R: 48.6%

1984

* Sen. Armstrong: 64.2%

* Nancy Dick, D: 34.6%

1986*

* Tim Wirth, D: 49.9%

* Ken Kramer, R: 48.3%

1990*

* Hank Brown, R: 55.6%

* Josie Heath, D: 41.6%

1992*

* Ben Nighthorse Campbell, D: 51.7%

* Terry Considine, R: 42.7%

1996*

* Wayne Allard, R: 51%

* Tom Strickland, D: 45.4%

1998

* Sen. Campbell, R**: 62.4%

* Dottie Lamm, D: 35%

2002

* Sen. Allard, R: 50.1%

* Strickland, D: 45.2%

2004*

* Ken Salazar, D: 50.3%

* Pete Coors, R: 45.6%

2008*

* Mark Udall, D: 52.8%

* Bob Schaffer, R: 42.49%

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