But voters are less enthusiastic about the party now. The governor’s approval rating was a lukewarm 48 percent in August, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University, and a plurality of voters said he did not deserve reelection. Their disapproval offers a political explanation for Hickenlooper’s support for fracking, which has broad support from most voters but is derided by some environmentalists as unsafe. Backing it allows the governor, a former geologist, to recapture some of the middle ground lost during his support for gun-control measures.

“The fracking issue certainly complicates Hickenlooper’s political fortunes,” political analyst Eric Sondermann, told Fox31 News. “He has staked out some independent ground—to his credit, in my estimation—but it does pit him against a whole lot of his liberal, environmental, Democratic base.”

Udall, whose own approval rating is comparatively better off than Hickenlooper’s, has been among the earliest and most aggressive senators to ask Obama extend the Obamacare enrollment period. He and a group of Democrats—including Bennet, now chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee—met with the president last week to voice their concerns with the health care law’s botched rollout.