With Udall’s defeat, NSA reformers lose an ally on the inside

With Colorado Sen. Mark Udall's defeat, the Senate will lose one of its most vocal, most active and most powerfully positioned advocates for dialing back the intelligence community's surveillance powers.

There is no sign that Udall's focus on bulk data collection did any good beyond a pat on the head by the Denver Post in an endorsement that nonetheless went to soon-to-be-senator Cory Gardner. And Udall's policy focus didn't translate into raw political strength: He never received the sort of late cash infusion from the tech sector that might have helped in his race, despite pushing for many of the same goals advocated for by the industry-backed Reform Government Surveillance Coalition. Gardner, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, has been supportive of addressing bulk data collection. But with Udall's defeat, the faction of well-placed senators with laser-like focus on intelligence reform will be that much smaller come January.