A recent poll shows Colorado's Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell only five points ahead of democratic Congressman Mark Udall, who has not declared his intention to run.

Democrats took heart from a poll by Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc., of Boulder, showing that in a head-to-head matchup, Campbell would lead Udall by 5 percentage points - 45 percent to 40 percent, with 13 percent undecided and 2 percent naming other candidates.

Campbell's slim lead and his failure to reach 50% is considered by experts to be a sign of his weakness going into the 2004 election.

We have been a strong supporter of Udall in his past campaigns. We've worked with him and his staff on issues and find him to be honest, exceptionally dedicated and truly progressive. In fact, we can't praise him enough.

Gary Hart has also been mentioned as a possible candidate against Campbell. We think Gary Hart would blow Campbell out of the water if he decided to run. We'd champion that decision in a heartbeat.

As an aside, when we covered Gary Hart's possible presidential run months ago, we mentioned that we weren't sure of his position on some criminal justice issues, like the death penalty.

We had an opportunity to ask Hart directly a few weeks ago when we were seated at the same table at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' (NACDL) luncheon in Denver, where he was the keynote speaker.

Hart emphatically told us he opposes the death penalty and has opposed it his entire career.

In the past, we've had the opportunity to ask Mark Udall the same question. Same answer--Udall opposes the death penalty.

We hope one of these two fine men decide to challenge Campbell. Either won would win handily, in our opinion. And the nation would be far better off.