A veteran Democratic party member and art teacher from rural Colorado, Mark Benner, has announced he will oppose Rep. Mark Udall for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Wayne Allard.

Breaking from his party’s unofficial policy to push one candidate through to the general election, Benner, an art teacher from Anton, announced his intention to run Saturday night….”It was a hard decision, but I couldn’t keep up this, ‘Will I, won’t I’ flip-flop,” Benner said. “But I don’t feel like I’m running against Udall. I’m running for Senate, and I intend to win.”

Well of course he’s running against Udall. My question is, why? What are his issues and does he believe Udall is not adequately addressing them or does his position differ from Udall’s on them? The article lists two: “a universal, single-pay health insurance system and election reform.”

I don’t know the answer, but I was able to find Mark Udall’s plan for health care reform. Colorado Confidential says Udall has not endorsed a single payer system. It also lists another issue of importance to Mr. Benner: the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Udall, rightly so in my opinion, is not on board with that idea.