The onslaught of campaign commercials has come to an end, there hasn't been a candidate forum since early August, and the media coverage of the 2nd Congressional District race has all but evaporated.

Political opponents of Jared Polis -- who won a contentious 16-month, $10 million Democratic primary against former state senate president Joan Fitz-Gerald and former Colorado Conservation Trust director Will Shafroth on Aug. 12 -- say the Boulder Democrat isn't as visible as he once was.

They claim Polis is resting on his laurels and counting on electoral demographics in the heavily Democratic district to take him to easy victory Nov. 4.

Republican candidate Scott Starin, 47, said Polis' campaign Web site has barely been updated since Aug. 12. And he said he hasn't noticed Polis out at as many community events, like the Broomfield Days parade or the Louisville Labor Day parade.

"We've been actively campaigning at every festival, at every parade," the Lafayette Republican said. "Jared Polis has been missing in action at every single one of them. I think he thinks he already has the race won and he's taking the voters of the 2nd Congressional District for granted."

But Polis, 33, said his critics have it wrong.

He said if his opponents haven't seen him out on the stump, it's because he was campaigning somewhere else.

"When I'm out at farmer's markets every weekend, I don't see them out there," Polis said.

Enlarging the discussion

Unity Party candidate Bill Hammons of Boulder said he wanted earlier and more frequent debates with Polis.

"He said he wanted a robust, multi-party race in the general election," Hammons said. "What he's engaged in is a three-month victory lap."

The first of half-a-dozen October forums is scheduled for Wednesday at Longmont High School.

Polis will be there, he said.

The Democrat conceded that the frenetic pace of the primary election -- daily door-to-door canvassing and constant fundraising -- has slackened a bit, but he said his full-time job is still the campaign.

As far as claims that his Web site has fallen dormant since the primary election, Polis said his campaign doesn't "front page all the things we add."

In addition to a list of new endorsements, Polis said recent changes have been made to some of the issues sections on the site that aren't obvious from just looking at the home page.

Polis said these days he finds himself invited to various events as a guest speaker and hitting the stump on behalf of other local and national Democratic candidates. He sees it as a chance to broaden his focus beyond the solitary task of just courting his fellow party members.

"I've spent the last year and a half talking to Democrats," Polis said. "We've enlarged the discussion to include independents and Republicans. This is the most exciting phase of the campaign for the voters -- there are some stark contrasts (between the candidates)."

'No threat of losing'

Those contrasts are what Starin, Hammons, and Green Party candidate J.A. Calhoun want to highlight for voters as they embark on the last six weeks of the campaign.

Hammons, 33, thinks the imploding economy will help him capture voters who will see the sense in his call for a balanced budget.

Calhoun, of Empire, said he can pick up votes from those who are fed up with both major parties and want immediate, unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"I'm mad as hell," the 59-year-old railroad employee said. "I want to bring the corporations and war criminals of this country to justice."

Republican Starin said his background in aerospace and energy systems makes him ideally suited to the district's educated and environmentally-minded electorate.

He thinks the Democratic advantage can be overcome by siphoning off enough votes from the district's largest voting bloc -- unaffiliated voters at 172,563 strong.

Pollster Floyd Ciruli doubts that, saying most independent voters have been recently breaking for Democrats. He said the seat is Polis' to lose and that whatever effort the Internet entrepreneur wants to put into the general election would simply be a "question of etiquette."

Polis spokeswoman Dayna Morain said no decisions have been made about whether to launch any more campaign TV ads, which were constant and ubiquitous during the primary.

Ciruli hardly thinks Polis will need to.

"From any realistic or political point of view, it was over on Aug. 12," he said. "He has no threat of losing or even having a close contest."

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.