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Udall, Gardner debate Ebola

Disagreement on Benghazi also raised in last debate

DENVER – U.S. Senate candidates Mark Udall and Cory Gardner found a new topic to paint stark contrasts between each other, this time weighing in on a feared Ebola outbreak.

Udall, the incumbent Democrat, largely approved of the federal government’s response. Republican challenger Gardner, a congressman from Yuma, called for a travel ban.

The two men made their comments Wednesday night during the last scheduled U.S. Senate debate for Colorado, moderated by KUSA-TV 9News.

“If the president’s not willing to put into place a travel ban, then we should have 100 percent screening of the people who are coming from those affected areas,” Gardner said.

Dr Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed concerns about a travel ban, suggesting that Ebola-stricken people would still use alternative routes to escape the outbreak, thereby landing in the U.S. without officials knowing.

But it’s been a bumpy road for Frieden.

He came under fire after a Texas nurse who had been in contact with an Ebola patient flew on a commercial jet. Another health worker who also cared for the Ebola patient already had been diagnosed with the virus.

Questions are being raised as to how the nurse, who showed Ebola symptoms a day after the flight, was allowed on the plane given the previous diagnosed cases. The nurse even reported a slight fever to the CDC.

Frieden said the woman should never have flown, but another federal official said no one at the CDC stopped her.

Still, Udall is confident with the overall approach, saying at the debate, “I do have full confidence in Dr. Frieden. When we stand together we’re going to meet this challenge. The virus is the enemy.”

The two candidates also wrangled over the response to the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack that killed four Americans. Moderators Kyle Clark and Brandon Rittiman asked the two candidates, “What’s the biggest nonissue in your mind that Congress keeps debating needlessly.”

Udall emphatically responded, “Benghazi.”

Gardner appeared appalled, firing back, “The families of this country deserve an answer on Benghazi. I think it’s outrageous that people died and Senator Udall is refusing to provide answers for the families of this country.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com



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