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DENVER Former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway is supporting Republican Rep. Cory Gardners Senate bid, but progressives opposing the congressman are hoping to win over some of the Broncos faithful.

ProgressNow Colorado hired a prop plane to fly an anti-Gardner message over Denver before Thursday nights home game against the San Diego Chargers. Activists also plan to hand out anti-Gardner materials during the game outside Sports Authority Field, according to a Thursday press release.

The last six polls show Mr. Gardner leading in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Wednesday found the Republican ahead by 46 to 37 percent. The statistics website FiveThirtyEight gives Mr. Gardner an 80 percent chance of winning the seat in Wednesdays update.

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Mr. Elway, the Hall of Famer who now serves as Denver Broncos vice president of football operations, recently contributed $5,000 to Mr. Gardners Senate campaign, according to federal campaign-finance records.

ProgressNows angle is to compare Mr. Gardner to San Diego linebacker Manti Teo, who was the victim of a highly publicized online hoax in college involving a fake girlfriend. The slang term for creating a false online identity in order to lure someone into a romantic relationship is catfishing.

Colorado currently has our own catfishing scandal. U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner has created a fake persona of his own with the goal of duping Colorado voters into a romance at the ballot box, said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Amy Runyon-Harms in a statement.

The banner being flown says, Cory Gardner is Catfishing Colorado. In response, the Denver Posts Lynn Bartels quipped, In other words, Democrats are worried about all those polls showing Gardner ahead of Udall.

This isnt the first time football has made an appearance in the Colorado Senate race. The website Deadspin was forced to retract and apologize for a story last week that accused Mr. Gardner of lying about playing high school football. It turns out Mr. Gardner played for Yuma High School for three years.

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John Elway backs Cory Gardner in Colorado as progressives target Denver Broncos fans